The Soft Centre

She paused, wiped her flushed face with the back of her hand and looked over at Beigler. ‘Am I going too fast for you?’?‘You’re doing great,’ Beigler said sarcastically.?‘Why take a U-Drive car? You’d have to show your licence,’ Terrell said.

Gina sneered at him.?‘You think I’m that dopey? I stole a handbag off some girl and used her licence. I even bought a blonde wig.’ She paused to sip the whisky, then went on, ‘I gave Lee half-an- hour’s start, then I drove after him. I was within ten miles of the Park Motel, driving slow because I

didn’t want to run into Lee and besides, I was tight, when a man walked right in front of the car. I stopped fast, but he was close enough for the fender to be touching him, when I did stop.’

She peered at Terrell.?‘You don’t have to believe any of this. I can’t prove it.’?‘Keep going,’ Terrell said.?‘Well, this guy asked for a lift. I said I was going to Ojus and he said that would be fine with him. So he got in. I had had a good look at him in the headlights and he wasn’t the kind who would worry me. Anyway, few men worry me. I know how to handle men. But this guy was something special. He was a looker: a real doll.’ She paused to sip her whisky, then went on, ‘There was something about him that made me want to confide in him. I was drunker than a skunk and weepy. I had to be drunk if I was going to do what I planned to do. Okay. I guessed I talked too much. I told him about Lee. I told him about the Parnell bitch. I told him I had to get these papers from her or kill her. By the time I started shooting my mouth off, we had arrived at the Park Motel. Then he started talking as we sat in the car in the motel’s parking lot. He said he would take care of everything. He said he liked me: he was sorry for me: he knew what it was to be in love. He had lots of authority, looks and confidence. I was so goddamn drunk I was glad to listen to him. He said women like Sue Parnell weren’t fit to live. He said he would take care of her. On the back seat of the car I had left the knife and a tyre lever. He took them. As he got out of the car, I suddenly got scared. I said I didn’t want him to do anything. I could handle it. He smiled at me. “You couldn’t fly a kite,” he said. By this time the drink was really hitting me. I knew if I got out of the car, I couldn’t even stand. I let him go and sat in the car, waiting. After a while he came back and got in the car. He said,

“I’ve fixed it.” By this time, I was ready to pass out. I had a pint in the car and I kept hitting it. I felt him push me into the passenger seat, and then I felt the car move. I guess I passed out. The next thing I remember was waking up on the grass verge of the highway. He and the car had disappeared.’ She again blew out her cheeks and passed her hand across her face. ‘Gee I’m tight. That’s all. Lee never killed her. It was this guy.’

‘How do you know he killed her?’ Terrell asked. ‘Hardy could have killed her and this guy you talk about could have walked in and found her.’

‘Think so? I say different. When he went into the cabin he was wearing a sports jacket. When he came out, he was carrying the jacket, inside out… why? He gave me the knife. It was wrapped up in her pants. He said, “You’re lucky. I’ve fixed it. You have no more worries the way I have.” I found the knife and her pants in my handbag the following morning when I got, sober. There was blood in my bag, on the knife and the pants. I put the bag and pants into the basement furnace… he killed her all right.’

‘Let’s look at it another way,’ Terrell said. ‘Suppose this, convenient nut never existed? Suppose you went into the cabin and failing to make Sue Parnell part, you killed her. That would be a lot more simple, wouldn’t it?’

Gina finished her drink. She sneered at Terrell as she put down her glass.?‘That’s a cop all over. You hear so many lies, you don’t believe the truth when you hear it.’ ‘I like it better this way. I think you’re trying to talk yourself out of a murder rap.’?‘That’s right. Take it the easy way,’ Gina said. ‘It would suit you to pin this on me, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t have to look further. You wouldn’t have to hunt for this boy friend, would you?’

‘For the record,’ Terrell said, ‘let’s have something more about this boy friend. If you saw him again, would you recognise him?’

‘I’d know him anywhere. He was the kind you couldn’t help but know again … a real doll!’ ‘Let’s have something to work on: what was he like: give me a description of him.’?‘He was tall, handsome and dark. He had everything. He was sympathetic. He was the kind of man you would tell your frankest secrets to.’

‘You said he was a nut. Why do you say that?’?‘Of course he was a nut. He wouldn’t have gone in there and ripped her unless he was a nut. I provided him with an excuse to kill a woman. I guess I was lucky he didn’t kill me.’

Terrell looked at Beigler who lifted his shoulders. Gina’s story sounded as corny to him as it did to Terrell.