Out of simple vengeance, and out of an even simpler desire just to have the meddlesome old man out of the way, the García-Cifuenteses delegated certain members of the family to assassinate James Bright. Three attempts failed; the fourth succeeded. It had been nine-year-old Armando’s first blood; the child, the García-Cifuenteses considered, was promising.
Back in New York, Rodolfo would have gone through with his plan to marry Susan, but he suspected her distrust of him, and he’d learned from home that James Bright had accused the García-Cifuenteses of the attempts on his life. With Susan no longer a possibility for him, he turned his attention to Libby—and persuaded her in joining him at the altar. In Cuba, he learned of the death of James Bright with satisfaction. It would now be possible, with Libby’s money, simply to buy the land from Susan when she inherited it. But when Jack and Susan showed up—married—and began making troublesome inquiries, he altered his plan. It had been Rodolfo’s revised intention to have Jack and Susan convicted of the murder and then to have the will suppressed. Because Susan was James Bright’s only living relative, the property would have reverted to the Cuban government. Rodolfo’s family had already made preliminary bribes to ensure that the property would be sold to them at a price far less than the actual market value.
In short, Rodolfo had had a surfeit of plans and contingency plans. He would have won if he’d married Susan, and he certainly won in marrying Libby. If he’d succeeded in burning Susan and Libby up in The Pillars, he would have ended up not only with that property but with Libby’s fortune as well.
“As plots go, it was a bit ex tempore, wasn’t it?” Jack said with a gesture of his cast—a brand-new one, all in one piece and lacking a resident arachnid.
“A bit,” said Susan. “I’m quite embarrassed that I didn’t see through him immediately.”
“I did,” put in Libby. This was in the first-class section of the Douglas DC-6 that was taking them back to New York; Libby had paid for the tickets, as well as for all of Jack and Susan’s other Cuban expenses. “I saw through him the second I laid eyes on him. Don’t you remember, Jack? In that terrible restaurant in the Village.”
“Libby,” Jack pointed out, “you married him.”
“Yes,” agreed Susan, “at least I didn’t marry Rodolfo.”
“I was confused,” said Libby. “Jack, after all, had just tried to commit suicide and Rodolfo was very good-looking in a Rudolf Valentino sort of way, and I liked his voice. Besides, I had never gotten married before and I thought it would be a sort of interesting thing to do. And it was certainly a very nice way of getting away for the summer. I loathe summers in New York. I do wish one thing, though.”
“What?” said Susan.
“I wish one of us had killed him. Oh, I guess I don’t mean that. I mean I wish that little gun had gone off accidentally and shot him through the head. I’d make a much better widow than a divorcée, I think.”
Jack and Susan exchanged glances.
“Widows have to wear black,” said Susan. “Divorcées can wear any color they like.”
“Oh!” said Libby, reconciled, and no longer particularly regretting Rodolfo’s remaining alive. “And Jack,” she added, “I’m going to make sure you get your job back.”
Jack smiled, and said, “Thank you, Libby,” though he was by no means sure that he wanted it.
He did take his job back, however, and even managed to wrest Maddy away from Mr. Hamilton. Susan inherited her uncle’s wealth, which was substantial: two million dollars. This was exclusive of what was left of The Pillars and the land surrounding it.
A few weeks after the probating of the will, Susan received an offer of nearly a million dollars for that property from a large American corporation that had been looking for land on Cuba’s Caribbean coast on which to build a gambling resort. Jack and Susan speculated that Rodolfo had known about this company as well, and that had been one more reason he was so anxious to get his hands on The Pillars. It also explained why he was so willing to burn down the plantation house; he knew that it would be razed anyway.
A few months later Jack made inquiries on behalf of Libby regarding her soon-to-be ex-husband. Rodolfo had been indicted, tried, and convicted on numerous charges, including attempted murder and arson. He was sentenced to a term of eighteen years in jail, but he soon escaped with the aid and connivance of his brother Armando, and joined a growing band of guerrilla rebels in the hills of western Cuba.
Jack and Susan moved to an apartment on Park Avenue that was a bit too near Libby, whose story of a frightening marriage to an unscrupulous Latin American appeared, with many photographs of Libby past and present, in the tabloids and several weekly magazines. When they’d recovered a little from their Cuban exploit, Jack and Susan decided they deserved a real honeymoon, and with the money to do anything they wanted, the choice among so many possibilities was daunting. Eventually they decided on Paris. Paris was lovely, but it was dull compared to their adventure in the tropics and they came back sooner than they’d planned.
Even after an absence of only three weeks, Woolf pretended not to remember who they were.
THE END OF
JACK AND SUSAN’S ADVENTURE
IN 1953
For My Father
All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious.
JACK & SUSAN IN 1953
A Felony & Mayhem “Wild Card” mystery
PUBLISHING HISTORY
First edition (Ballantine): 1985
Felony & Mayhem print and electronic editions: 2013
Copyright © 1985 by Michael McDowell
All rights reserved
E-book ISBN: 978-1-937384-65-4
You’re reading a book in the Felony & Mayhem “Wild Card” category. We can’t promise these will press particular buttons, but we do guarantee they will be unusual, well written, and worth a reader’s time. If you enjoy this book, you may well like other “Wild Card” titles from Felony & Mayhem Press.
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Michael McDowell, Jack and Susan in 1953
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