Free The Crossroads by John D. MacDonald Page A

belly a hundred times. They had no right to treat a man that way. Not after five whole years. They weren’t hurt by the little bit he had taken. He’d been worth that much to them. Actually. it hadn’t cost them a thing. He’d made it all back by shorting the other customers whenever he could.
    He remembered everything he had known and heard about the Droveks, trying to find some weakness, some way he could hurt them badly. Finally he thought of a way. A big way. But he couldn’t do it himself. Too much risk. But it could be done. If he could get somebody to do it.
    Finally he saw how Sylvia could be fitted into the picture, how she could be the one to make it work. When he was certain he called her at her home one afternoon, taking the chance he’d find her alone.
    “Mrs. Drovek? This is Mark Brodey. You remember me? The bartender?”
    “Sure. I remember you.” She sounded very cautious.
    “I guess you heard I got fired.”
    “Yes.”
    “You know why?”
    “You were stealing.”
    “That isn’t true. I wasn’t stealing, Mrs. Drovek. I was framed. But nobody will listen to me. They won’t give mea chance to explain. I wonder if you’d be willing to help me.”
    “How could I help you, Mark?”
    “It’s like this. If you could come see me, I can show you the proof how I was framed and explain it to you. Then you can put in a word with Mr. Charles for me. Honest, I need help bad, Mrs. Drovek.”
    She agreed. He told her where he would be, where she should slow down and look for him. She came along a half-hour later. It was his day off. He got into the car with her and directed her to the Ace Cabins.
    “Why are we going there, Mark?”
    “Slow down now. You take a right just down beyond that sign. I got the proof in my cabin, Mrs. Drovek. I got to show it to you. Turn here. It’s the last cabin. You can park the other side of it.”
    The nearby cabins were empty. As soon as he got her inside he grabbed her. She put up a good battle at first. It was a silent struggle, just the scrape of their feet on the floor, the gasping sound of their breathing. He was beginning to be scared about it, thinking that if he had sized her up wrong and this didn’t work, he might be charged with attempted rape. Finally, when he got room to swing, he belted her a couple of good ones. It knocked the wind out of her and all the fight out of her. She started crying in a meek way and from then on she let him do just what he wanted, even co-operating with him in a half-hearted way. He knew he was getting back at the Droveks this much anyway. Punishing something that was theirs. Making it do what he wanted it to do. Making it yell with pain.
    He kept her there until nearly dark. And then he said lazily, “You know how it was, Sylvia. You kept coming in the bar to see me. I got fired. You asked what happened to me. You looked me up. You came here because you wanted to come here.”
    “No.”
    “Sure you did. You couldn’t keep away from me. Be a hell of a thing for Pete and Chip and Leo and Joan andthe old man to find out what a roundheel bitch Pete married. You going to tell them?”
    “No,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
    He bent her little finger back. “Make it no darling . It’s friendlier.”
    “Oh! Ah! Stop! No, darling. No darlingnodarlingno.”
    “That’s nice and friendly.”
    When she was dressed and he was ready to let her go, he caught her and twisted her arm behind her. “Wednesday is my day off. You be here by three.”
    “I don’t want …”
    He bent the arm until pain twisted her mouth out of shape and she gave a gasping scream. “You be here, you bitch! Or I’ll be after you. And what I’ll do to you will make all this seem like we were having a dreamy waltz. And all them Droveks will get a letter about where you spent today. Promise!”
    After she left he could not be sure. He was not sure until the following Wednesday when, a little before three, he heard the car stop beside the cabin and