She glared at Max, still speaking to the Sheriff. "Get your warrant," she said. "Tear the room apart."
"Oh. Come on now, Grover," Max said in a pouting voice.
(He still has that at his command as welU I thought, incredu- lous.) "Don"t do it that way. What fun is it to tear a room apart? That"s no challenge."
He pointed at Plum, a look of provocation on his face.
"But to find it yourself," he said, "with your own wits."
138 Richard Matheson
He threw down the gauntlet.
"Come on/ Grover/" he said, "be a sport. How hard can it be to find one measly agent in a room this size?"
The Sheriff stared at Max. Remarkably/ he seemed to be considering the offer.
" have always dared my audience to find me out," Max said. (True; for both of us.) "I dare you now." He actually looked exdted. "He"s here, Grover," he promised. "I guar- antee you."
The Sheriff remained quiet, regarding Max without ex- pression.
"You wouldn"t want to deprive my fattier of watching you meet the challenge, would you?" asked Max. "If you take me in, he has nothing."
My mind was split. Max, I"d rather have nothing, half of it said.
Go/or it, Sonny! the other half was shouting. Shamefaced, but shouting.
"Sheriff, get the warrant/" Ca.s.sandra said. She stared at him in disbelief-
"You aren"t actually considering-"
She could not complete the statement.
"All right," said Plum- "As long as you realize that be- cause of your confession to me, you"re already in deep s.h.i.t"
Max beamed.
"A predicament not unknown to me," he said-
"Sheriff-" Ca.s.sandra looked astounded,
Plum held up his right hand to stop her from speaking.
"I like a puzzle as well as the next man," he told her.
"And it"s a slow day at the office, nothing going on in town.
They"ll telephone if anything important comes up." He looked at Max.
"I accept your challenge," he said-
chapter 11.
N.
ax looked euphoric.
"Capital!" he cried.
His ebullience was not transferable. True, I did feel a sense of antic.i.p.ation regarding what was about to happen.
At the same time, however, the deep-set apprehension re- mained fixed in place. After all, he wasn"t speaking about giving a show, he was speaking about murder.
"Tm going to find that body," Plum was telling him white I was ruminating- "And when I do-" his voice hard- ened "-I"ll see to it personally mat your a.s.s is nailed to a cross."
Max looked at him with mocking admiration-but he must have felt at least a twinge of uneasiness.
Obviously, Ca.s.sandra still didn"t believe that this was really taking place.
"I can take him in anytime, Mrs. Delacorte," Plum told her, "and I must say, I don"t understand your objection.
You"re tile one who said we should find the body first."
Touche, Graver, I thought.
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Ca.s.sandra"s teeth were bared. "All right," she said. "Play his stupid little game, then."
"I"ll need your help," said Plum.
"Oh, now wait a mo," objected Max. "That"s not fair. She knows this room better than you do."
"That"s right," said Plum. His smile was thin and smug.
Ca.s.sandra looked at Max with sudden, vengeful plea- sure.
"You think you"re going to get away with this, don"t you?" she said. "You know very well that mis room is al- most as strange to me as it is to him."
She pointed at Max, smiling now. Or was it leering?
"I"m not without means, however/" she told him.
"Not without means at all!" cried Max.
He clapped his hands three times quickly as though an- nouncing the commencement of a toumey.
"C"est merveilleux!" he cried. "What fun we"re going to have!"
Thus the nightmare continued.