Free The Getaway (Read a Great Movie) by Jim Thompson

dismay at the killings, and fearful that I might be a frail reed to tie to…"
    It was wicked, cruel. And still he wasn't through. Beaming falsely, he drove home the final nail in Doc's cross of doubt.
    "Carol, sweetheart-" Beynon pushed back his chair and stood up, extended one arm in an embracing gesture. "I hope you won't think ill of her, Mr. McCoy. After all, you were locked up for a long time-your first separation since your marriage, wasn't it?-and she's a healthy, vigorous young woman with perhaps more than her share of…"
    Carol let out a low moan. She came at him with a rush, and jammed the gun into his stomach. And the room rocked with its stuttering explosions.
    Beynon shrieked wildly; it sounded strangely like laughter. He doubled at the waist, in the attitude of a man slapping his knees; then collapsed, dead, riddled with bullets, before his body completed its somersault.
    The gun dropped from Carol's fingers. She stood very straight, eyes squeezed shut, and wept helplessly.
    "He-he was lying, Doc. The mean, h-hateful, dirty-! I wish I could kill him again…"
    "There, there now. Don't let it throw you." Doc held her in his arms, caressed her with hands that were still damp with sweat. "I'll get you a drink of the booze here, and…"
    "He was lying, Doc! Y-you believe me, don't you? There wasn't anything at all like-like he said."
    "Of course there wasn't," Doc said warmly. "I never thought for a moment that there was."
    "I-I was just friendly, I-just pretended to be. I couldn't help it. I had to be nice, make him want to know me, or he wouldn't have…"
    It was a moment before Doc realized that she was talking about only the one facet of Beynon 's story: her supposed or actual infidelity. That was all that bothered her, all that she was denying. Which must mean there was nothing else to deny.
    It was a comforting thought, and he hugged her to him fiercely with a kind of shamed ardor. Then he realized that if the undisputed part of the story was false, the other must be true. And he had to fight to keep from shoving her away.
    "T-that's why I didn't want to come here, Doc. I-I was afraid he'd say something-rn-make up a lot of lies, just to get even with me, and
    Doc sat down on a chair and pulled her onto his lap. Smiling lovingly, he got her to take a drink, gently dried her tears with his handkerchief.
    "Now, let's look at it this way," he said. "You wanted to get me out. The only way you could do it was to compromise him, so-wait, now! There had to be something between you. After all, if you didn't have a club to swing over his head, how -.
    He broke off. The look in her eyes stopped him. He forced a laugh which sounded reasonably genuine, then stood up, lifting her in his arms.
    "A very clever man," he smiled. "It's hard not to admire him. But I think we've let his gag bother us enough, so suppose we forget it?"
    Carol brightened a little. "Then you do believe me, Doc?"
    "Believe you?" Doc said warmly. "Now, why wouldn't I believe you, my dear?"
    He carried her upstairs and laid her down on a bed. She clung to his hand when he started to straighten, made him sit down at her side while she told him how she had compromised Beynon. It sounded reasonable. Doc seemed satisfied. Urging Carol to try to rest, he went back downstairs and lugged Beynon's body down into the basement.
    It was the work of a few minutes to bury the corpse in the coal bin. Afterward he stood at the corner sink, scrubbing his hands and arms with gritty mechanics' soap, drying them on a handful of waste cloth. Then, lost in thought, he remained where he was, a brooding shadow in the near blackness of the basement.
    Carol. Why couldn't he accept her explanation? Beynon was a hard drinker at times. Carol had had to call at his apartment to talk to him. So, playing upon his weakness, she had got him so drunk that he passed out. And he was still dead to the world early the next morning when she slipped out of the place. That was all she had had