Part 20 (1/2)
It wasn't until after ten when things had slackened off that we three sat down to supper. It seemed odd to have Roy opposite and Lola on my right.
Roy was enthusiastic about the job.
”This is certainly some place!” he said. ”Boy! Am I glad I walked in the way I did! This is a lot better than selling safes.”
We were eating Lola's famous spaghetti and veal cutlets. Lola, her spaghetti neatly rolled up on her fork, paused to look at him.
”Is that your linea”safes?” she asked.
”I'll have you know, Mrs. Jenson,” Roy said, grinning at me, ”Chet and I are the two best safe men in the country. That's right, isn't it, Chet?”
”Well, we're not so lousy. I've known worse.”
”Chet and I started in the same business on the same day,” Roy said to Lola. ”He is a better safe man than I am, but I'm better at locks. The trouble with him is he is too conscientious. Ever since I've known him he's pulled me out of jams. Usually, I get him into a mess and he gets me out of it.”
”You're going to find it pretty quiet here, Roy,” I said. ”There's not much to do except work.”
”It'll suit me,” he said, his expression suddenly serious, ”but what will Mr. Jenson say when he comes back and finds he has another mouth to feed?” He looked at Lola. ”I would like to think this is a permanent job, Mrs. Jenson.”
”I'm not sure he is coming back,” Lola said, picking up her cue fast.
Roy blinked.
”Is that a fact?” He looked quickly at me, then at her. ”Some trouble?”
”The usual.” She made it sound very casual. ”I haven't told anyone yet, but I don't think he's coming back. He's found someone he likes better than me.”
Roy looked embarra.s.sed.
”I'm sorry a”
She smiled at him.
”You don't have to be.” She reached out and put her hand on mine. ”You see, Chet and I . . .” She stopped and squeezed my hand. ”At least my husband left me this placea”and Chet.”
Roy shook his head wonderingly at me.
”What a guy! Talk about luck!”
”That's the way it is.” I pushed back my chair. ”Come over to the cabin, Roy. You may as well get settled in.”
Roy stood up.
”Thanks for the swell meal, Mrs. Jenson.”
She smiled up at him.
”You'd better call me Lola. We're not formal here.”
”Okay. How about helping with the dishes?”
”I'll do it. You go with Chet.”
As we walked across the moonlit sand to the cabin, Roy said, ”Some chick! I'm glad for you, Chet. You're sure I won't be in the way?”
”Of course not. The one thing this place lacks for me has been male company.”
I unlocked the cabin door and we went in.
”This is pretty good,” Roy said, looking around. ”Even a TV set.” He moved to the window and looked across at the bungalow. ”Is that where you are?”
”Where else do you think I'd be?”
”Yeaha”your way with women.” He lit a cigarette, then dumping his bag on a chair, he began to unpack. ”This guy Jenson must have been nuts to have walked out of here for a woman. I can't figure it. Seems to me his wife has it alla”what more does he want?”
”It's my guess he's settled for some fat, comfortable woman of his own age,” I said. ”Lola is twenty years younger than he is, and she isn't all that easy to live with.”
Roy drew on his cigarette, sucked down smoke, then exhaled in a long, steady stream.
”Why didn't he get rid of her then and keep this place for himself?”
Roy was no fool. I could see he was puzzled by the set-up. I had to convince him or he might begin to suspect the truth.
”That's easier said than done,” I said. ”You can't just get rid of your wife when you happen to feel like it.”
His dark, quizzing eyes searched my face.
”How long has he been gone?”
”Four or five weeks.”
”And she's heard nothing from him?”
”No.”
”She doesn't know for certain there is another woman?”
”She's pretty sure.”
He shook his head.
”But he could walk in here at any moment and catch you in bed with her?”
”He's not coming back, Roy.”
He looked sharply at me, then away.
”Does she know you're in this fix, Chet?”
”Yes. I told her.”