Savage Night
Jim Thompson
Language: English
Pages: 160
ISBN: 0679733108
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Is Carl Bigelow a fresh-faced college kid looking for a room, or is he a poised hit man tracking down his victim? And if Carl is really two people, what about everyone around him? Savage Night is Thompson at his best, with plot reversals and nightmarish shifts of identity.
you.” “Did you, honey?” She patted my hand. “I should think you could get some kind of singing job,” I said. “Something that would give you a better life.” “Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know,” she said. “If I had some clothes, the dough to look around with. Maybe I could, but I don’t know, Carl. I’ve been out of things so long. I don’t know whether I could work any more, even to get away from this.” I nodded. I took another step. It was probably unnecessary, but it wasn’t any trouble and it could
probably be the only day I could get in before Sunday.” “Oh,” he said. “Well, of course, in that case—” “I would like to have the job, though,” I said. “That is, if you can hold it for me.” He said that he could, rather reluctantly, apparently not too pleased at failing to get his own way. Then his face cleared suddenly, and he slid down off the table. “I can give it to you, now,” he said. “We’ll say that you’re just laying off for a couple of days.” “Fine,” I said. “I know I’m overcautious
in the kitchen with Ruth. I stood at the foot of the stairs a moment, listening to her lay down the law in that husky, what-are-you-waiting-on voice. Then I cleared my throat loudly, and went on up to my room. About five minutes later, Fay came in. She said there wasn’t a thing to worry about. Kendall and Jake had swallowed the story whole. “And I’d know if they hadn’t, honey. I was watching, believe you me. They didn’t suspect a thing.” She was feeling pretty proud of herself. I told her
guffawed and put her hand over her mouth—“I’d be afraid I’d get scalped. But everyone knows him and knew his folks, and he has some trade. On Fridays and Saturdays, you know, when all the shops are busy. And he’s usually hanging around there, at night, staying open, when the other shops are closed.” One day—Wednesday, I think it was, when she brought my lunch up—I asked her if Jake had ever mentioned going back to jail. She shook her head firmly. “For ten years? He couldn’t take it when he was
being paid off heavy—when he knew he’d be taken care of when he got out. They wouldn’t play with him any more, would they, Carl? If he was willing? He’d just do his time and they’d get him when it was over?” I nodded. “If they couldn’t arrange to get him inside…Why in hell did he do it anyway, Fay? I know the cops probably shot him a big line about how they’d protect him and no one would dare touch him because it just wouldn’t be good business, but—” “And how! I hated to lose out on that payoff