Sleep with the devil, p.1
Sleep with the Devil, page 1
Day Keene
Sleep with the Devil
1954
Chapter One
HE WAS IN NO SPECIAL HURRY to kill Bennett. He would
know when the right time came. It might be tomorrow; then again, this waiting might go on for months. At the moment, Ferron merely envied Whit Bennett. Right now Whit was probably sitting in some air-conditioned bar, working on a tall cold Collins and a babe.
Ferron wished he was doing the same thing himself. Instead he was sweltering in the small frame church where the summer heat was a living, tangible substance. Night was a hot black blanket hung over the open windows. It seemed as if the sermon had been going on for hours. Ferron's cheap white shirt and shiny blue serge suit were sodden with perspiration. He was glad there were no screens on the windows. The drone of the mosquitoes attracted by the flickering oil lamps and the constant slap, slap, slap of the congregation were all that was keeping him awake. He'd never been so bored or so uncomfortable. Still, considering the score for which he was shooting, he could stand some discomfort. He could wait.
A big blond man in his early thirties, Ferron decided he could be as patient as the situation required. Now he looked across the center aisle that separated the men from the women. He watched Amy. He wished things were different regarding Amy. It would make the waiting less boring.
Dewy was the word that best described her. Dewy, virginal, untouched. Her face was elfin. Crisp black curls peeked out from under the modest poke bonnet she habitually wore. Not even her simple gray gown could disguise the perfection of her form. There was a hidden devil in her graygreen eyes. She was a smouldering volcano, as yet unawakened, awaiting the touch of the master's hand. Ferron slapped at a mosquito. And she was his, but only on one condition. He studied the earnest young face, then dropped his eyes to the snug fit of the girl's bodice, and perspired even more profusely.
In the six months he'd courted Amy, the greatest intimacy she'd granted him had been a kiss, and that only after they had been formally engaged and the banns had been read from the pulpit. Now they kissed goodnight regularly. On occasion they even held hands. There would be nothing more until their wedding night. Ferron doubted if in her entire years the girl had even thought one improper thought. On the night she became his wife she would be his to do with as he pleased, a willing and eager participant in the Biblical injunction to beget. Until then, they could continue to hold hands.
Ferron patted at the perspiration on his face with his handkerchief.
Still, biologically speaking, all women were very similar. And until he
and Amy were married, there was always Lydia.
Ferron suppressed a smile as he thought of the red-haired nightclub singer. Lydia would howl if she could see him now. She'd ask:
"What the hell are you made up for, a Holy Joe or a Bible salesman or something?"
As usual, with her gamin-like perception, Lydia would be right.
Ferron glanced down at his shiny blue serge suit. The too-tight coat
bound his broad shoulders. The archaic, stiffly starched white collar was choking him. His black string tie had worked its way under one ear. It was an effort for him to cross his legs because of the heavy, thick-soled shoes he was wearing.
More, his clothes and the pious attitude he assumed on his weekly visits to New Hope did something to his face. He didn't even look like Les Ferron. In New Hope, he wasn't Les Ferron. He was Paul Parrish, former rural schoolteacher, and current itinerant peddler of Bibles and religious objets d'art. It still surprised him how many of both he sold in the few days a month he was able to devote to this new identity he was building.
Ferron forced himself to listen to what the minister was saying. One thing was for sure. The guy was death on sin. Anyone who drank or smoked or played cards or desecrated the Sabbath in any way was hell bound for the hot place in a bucket. The thought amused Ferron. It was little wonder the small, obscure sect washed up into a fertile pocket in the foothills of the Catskills had so many children. There was nothing else for them to do.
He lifted his eyes to the open windows and the thick black night behind them. It seemed incredible that he was less than a hundred miles from the hurly-burly of Times Square, an hour and a half's drive in the 210-horsepower yellow convertible Cadillac garaged at the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge. Of course, in the ancient Plymouth he always drove to New Hope the drive took him a little longer. One night the heap of junk was going to fall to pieces under him. Still, it was in keeping with his role. Itinerant peddlers of Bibles didn't drive yellow Cadillacs.
He looked back at Amy had found her looking at him. She blushed and returned her attention to the preacher.
Like shooting a sitting quail, Ferron thought.
He studied the congregation. With the possible exception of young
Swinton, they wouldn't give him any trouble. They liked him. They were a simple-minded, honest folk who thought alike. Even their dress was uniform. The men wore shiny blue serge suits, white shirts, and wide-brimmed black felt hats. The women wore plain black or light gray dresses with bonnets to match, the younger and unmarried women adding a bit of white ruching to their bonnets.
The physical aspects of the community were in keeping. No main highway bisected it. There were several general stores, a bank, and a hotel of sorts, but there was no movie theater, no bar, no beauty shop, no poolroom; there were no restaurants, no ice cream parlors.
Few people traveling north or south on the broad modern highway along the Hudson River even knew that New Hope existed. It was still much as it must have been when Rip Van Winkle took his famous nap and the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow had galloped through the hills. Its main occupation was farming and, whatever it was that it had, the community had something. Its old stone houses were still solid and well kept. Its white-painted barns were bursting with produce. Its green pastures were rich with cattle. Its one concession to modernity was its acceptance of trucks and tractors and cars. Every family in the group had one or more of each. More, they were good businessmen. All the New Hopers asked was a chance to sell their produce on an open market, and to be left alone.
Amy's father was sitting directly in front of Ferron. Ferron stared at the old man's thick red neck. Old man Wayne was worth at least a hundred thousand dollars in cash. His lake front farm, exclusive of the buildings, would bring three times that much if the old man could be persuaded to sell it to the summer resort syndicate that had bombarded him with offers for years.
Ferron was wryly amused. It was, in a way, funny to think of a rube having that much money while he, who had been a sharper all of his adult years, would be hard put to scrape a thousand dollars together. And to do that he would have to sell his fairly extensive wardrobe and the mortgaged yellow convertible to boot.
Ferron continued to be amused. True, on the day he and Amy were married, old man Wayne had promised to deed one of his farms to them. Not the lake farm, but a good working farm. Ferron wondered what the hell he would do with a farm. He didn't know one end of a cow from another. Milk came in paper cartons and corn in cans as far as he was concerned.
His active mind raced on. But the farm would be a start. With what he intended to get out of Whit Bennett's strong box on the day that he killed Whit, he'd have a firm foundation on which to build his new identity. Then, after a few months or years of enjoying Amy, once he'd worn the gloss off the apple, it would be easy to figure out some way to get his hands on the old man's money and take off for less grazed pastures. All in all, if only he was patient, he ought to realize better than a quarter of a million dollars. Ferron sat sober faced, pretending to listen to the preacher. It was funny how things happened. A man played along for peanuts all his life. He played bit parts on radio, he was a professional model, he lived off old bags who should know better, and a few young ones like Lydia who did. He broke arms and legs and noses for a louse like Whit Bennett. Then blooey, he had it made, seven no trump, doubled and redoubled.
It was equally funny how he'd found New Hope. He certainly hadn't been looking for it. All he'd been looking for was a place to lie low for a few days in case Roberts' widow went to the police. That had been last February. He'd been driving a rented Ford, posing as a hunter, and had blundered into New Hope accidentally. He could still remember how cold and hungry he'd been. The hotel had taken him in but the ancient proprietor had suggested that he eat at the church social the women of the community were giving.
Ferron shook his head at the thought. He'd never seen so much food for four bits. The same meal at any halfway decent New York restaurant would have cost him twenty dollars. More important, he'd met Amy and, from force of habit, had asked to drive her home. And when her red-faced, square-bearded father, sprinkling his conversation liberally with thees and thous had asked him what he did for a living, what could he tell the man? That he was a part-time male model who posed for the lurid pictures in true crime magazines; that he was a bit radio actor and small time gigolo; that he broke arms and legs, and backs if necessary, to keep a nasty little loan shark's creditors in line? Of course not.
What he had told Wayne had been sheer inspiration. Ferron chuckled inwardly at the thought.
"Why, I'm a former rural school teacher," he'd told him, "although I'm currently selling Bibles."
The lie that made him the white-haired boy from the start. That and the fact that because his father had been an itinerant street preacher, Ferron had heard it expounded so many times he knew the Bible better than most preachers. He could quote it from Genesis to Revelations and, during the last six months, had done so every time an occasion presented itself.
The rest had followed naturally. Amy had fallen in love with him. To her he was romance with a capital R, a man from the outside world she'd never seen, a young Joseph come to Egypt, David in search of an unmarried Bathsheba.
He'd learned old man Wayne had money. The widow Roberts hadn't gone to the police. And almost as if by divine—or more likely diabolical— revelation, he'd seen his way, at long last, to get away from Whit Bennett and make a good profit to boot.
Now, if he could only be patient, wait for the right moment to strike . . .
Ferron realized with a start that the minister had finished and was
announcing the closing hymn. He rose with the rest of the congregation and shook his head, smiling, as his neighbor offered to share his hymnal.
"No, thank you," Ferron said smugly. "I know all the old songs by
heart."
He spoke a little louder than usual, to make certain that old man Wayne heard him. He wanted Wayne to want him for a son-in-law, just in case he should have trouble with young Swinton.
Ferron looked for the burly young farmer. Swinton was glowering at him, as usual. Swinton had reason to hate his guts. Until he had shown on the scene, the prosperous young fanner had enjoyed an informal understanding with Amy. The oaf had hoped to marry her himself. The hymn, Bringing in the Sheaves, was, Ferron thought, especially appropriate. He meant to bring in as many sheaves as possible. He sang in a lusty baritone, eyeing the tempting curves of Amy's slim young back. He had a lot to which to look forward. It was going to be a pleasure to follow the Biblical injunction to forsake all others and be fruitful with her.
Ferron smiled to himself as he sang. That was the nice thing about being a heel. A heel was the lowest thing in the human nervous system and, consequently, had no conscience.
Chapter Two
IT WAS AS HOT IN THE SMALL CHURCHYARD as it had been inside. Ferron stood in the dark, slapping at mosquitoes and making small conversation with the men around him while he waited for Amy.
Another Sunday was over. It was time for him to get on his horse.
He would have to push on as soon as he had seen Amy home.
Young Swinton joined the group in which he was standing. "How's the Bible business?" he asked.
"Fine," Ferron assured him.
"I'll bet. I'll just bet," Swinton said.
Young Swinton started to say more and changed his mind as Amy and her father came out of the church. The bearded farmer transferred the small hand on his coat sleeve to Ferron's arm. There was a twinkle in his eyes when he spoke.
"I know thou are waiting for Amy, Paul. Eyah, I was young once myself. An excellent sermon, eh, son?"
Ferron patted the small hand on his arm. "An excellent sermon, sir. I enjoyed every word of it."
"You'll be going back to the Falls tonight?"
"Yes, sir," Ferron said. "As soon as I drive Amy home. I hope to start out early in the morning as I've quite a bit of ground to cover in the coming week."
Wayne nodded sagely. "Eyah. You're doing a good and a Godly work." He squeezed Ferron's arm. "But I'll be glad and I know Amy will when we have you with us always. Don't make it too far distant, Paul. I have enough of the world's goods for us all."
Ferron had a feeling of unreality as he watched the broad-shouldered old man join another group of fanners discussing current crop prices and government regulations. The old fool meant what he said. Wayne liked him. Wayne trusted him.
The thought amused him as he walked Amy through the moist black heat to the leafy chestnut tree under which his pre-war model Plymouth was parked. He could marry Amy tomorrow and Wayne would set him up for life. Wayne would give him a farm, and a car, and money. He had enough of the world's goods for them all.
For a moment Ferron was tempted. Life would be pleasant with Amy. It would be nice to relax, to stop figuring angles. On the other hand, what the hell would he do on a farm, especially a New Hope farm? Right now he wanted a drink and a smoke so bad his nerves were screaming. Besides he
would never be safe, really safe, as long as Whit Bennett was alive.
"You're awfully quiet tonight," Amy said.
"Just thinking," Ferron told her as he helped her into the car.
"About us?"
"Yes. About us."
He started the ancient car and drove slowly through the hills toward the Wayne farm. It would be different once they were married, but as things were he always felt a little uncomfortable with Amy. He'd never known a girl like her before. He was always conscious of her innocence, afraid he would make a break that would startle or perhaps frighten her away before he closed the trap.
She rode with her left hand resting lightly on his thigh. "When are we going to be married, Paul?"
Ferron considered the question. "Soon."
"This summer?"
"Yes. Some time this summer."
"I'm glad." Amy said. "So glad." She patted the thigh on which her
hand was resting.
"If you only knew how much I love you, Paul, how much I want to be your wife."
Ferron wished she'd take her hand off his thigh. It was all he could do to keep from parking the car and taking her in his arms. But if he did, he knew what would happen. He wouldn't be able to restrain himself. Amy would be shamed and tearful and frightened. In the world in which she lived, good girls didn't do such things. And that would be the ball game. No. It was better to wait.
Ferron drove on doggedly. "I love you, too," he said. "And we'll be married soon. I may know just when I come back next week."
"I'm glad," Amy said. "So glad."
Ferron turned down the moonlit and leaf-mottled lane that led to the
Wayne farm. The lake was a vast sheet of silver ringed by the black silhouette of trees. As he braked the Plymouth in front of the farmhouse, a dog yapped, the cattle in the barnyard lowed, a sleepy squirrel awakened and began to scold.
His feeling of tension increased. He usually sat and talked to Amy for a half hour or longer. Tonight he was afraid to. He was afraid to trust himself.
"I'm sorry, but I think I'd better get right on to the Falls," he said. "Like I told your father at church, I'm going to have to start out early in the morning."
"Whatever you think best," Amy said.
Ferron walked around the car and helped the girl to the ground. For a moment their bodies touched, the feel of her setting him on fire; then Amy raised on her tiptoes and kissed him.
"Good night, Paul. Until next week. And God and my love go with you."
She kissed him again, her lips clinging a moment longer than was necessary. Then she was gone. Shaken, Ferron got back in his car and sat watching the dark farmhouse until an oil lamp flickered, then showed yellow in the parlor. Ferron made a mental correction. In the sitting room. The closed off parlor was never used except for weddings and funerals.
The soft black night closed in around the car. The dog stopped yapping and the cattle in the barnyard ceased to low. Some of Ferron's tension left him. He almost wished things could be different from the way they had to be. But they couldn't. He knew himself. He couldn't keep up this sanctimonious pose forever. He had to drink and smoke and bet on a horse and sit in on an occasional game of poker. The so-called false appetites of life were as much a part of his life as breathing. Then, too, no matter how dewy they might be the first time a man knew them, all women were basically the same. No one woman could content him for long. The black-haired girl was strictly secondary in the scheme of things to be.
