'Neither do I,' I said wearily. 'With me the girl has to be willing -- and you're not exactly panting hotly down the back of my neck. Forget it. Consider I made a pass and got slapped down. But, Katherine, how you stand that character, I don't know.'
'Maybe it's something you wouldn't understand.'
'Love?' I shrugged. 'Or is it misplaced loyalty? But if I were a woman -- and thank God I'm not -- and a man hit me, I'd walk right out on him.'
Pink spots showed in her cheeks. 'I don't know what you mean.'
I lifted a finger and smoothed down her collar. 'I suppose you got that bruise walking into a door,'
She said hotly, 'How I get my bruises is none of your damned business.'
The door slammed in my face.
I contemplated the sun-seared woodwork for quite a while, then sighed and turned away. I went back to the big hut and opened the refrigerator and looked at the serried rows of beer cans, all nicely frosted. Then I slammed it shut and went into Fallon's hut where I confiscated a bottle of his best Glenlivet whisky. I needed something stronger than beer right then.
An hour later I heard the chopper coming back. It landed and taxied into the hangar and out of the sun and, from where I was sitting, I could see Rider refuelling and I heard the rhythmic clank of the hand pump. I suppose I should have gone to help him but I didn't feel like helping anyone, and after three stiff whiskies the idea of going into the sun struck me as being definitely unwise.
Presently Rider came into the hut. 'Hot!' he said, stating the obvious.
I looked up at him. 'Where are the brains?'
'I dropped them at the site. I'll go back in four hours to pick them up.' He sat down and I pushed the whisky bottle at him. He shook his head. 'Uh-uh -- that's too strong for this time of day. I'll get me a cold beer.'
He stood up, got his beer, and came back to the table. 'Where's Mrs. Halstead?'
'Sulking in her tent.'
He frowned at that, but his brow cleared as he drank his beer. 'Ah, that's good!' he sat down. 'Say, what happened between you and Halstead? When he climbed into the chopper he looked as though someone had rammed a pineapple up his ass.'
'Let's say we had a slight altercation.'
'Oh!' He pulled a pack of cards from' his shirt pocket and and .riffled them. 'What about a game to pass the time?'
'What would you suggest?' I enquired acidly. 'Happy Families!'
He grinned. 'Can you play gin?'
He beat the pants off me.
II
There was nothing at the site. Fallon came back looking tired and drawn and I thought that his years were catching up with him. The forest of Quintana Roo was no place for a man in his sixties, or even for a man in his thirties as I had recently discovered. I had taken a machete and done a bit of exploring and I hadn't left the clearing for more than ten minutes before I was totally lost. It was only because I had die sense to take a compass and to make slash marks on trees chat I managed to get back.
I gave him a glass of his own whisky which he accepted with appreciation. His clothes were torn and blood caked cuts in his hands. I said, 'I'll get the first-aid kit and clean that up for you.'
He nodded tiredly. As I cleaned the scratches, I said, 'You ought to leave the dirty work to Halstead.'
'He works hard enough,' said Fallon. 'He's done more than me today.'
'Where is he?'
'Getting cleaned up. I suppose Katherine is doing the same to him as you've done to me.' He flexed his fingers against the adhesive dressings. 'It's better when a woman does it, somehow. I remember my wife bandaging me up quite often.'
'I didn't know you are married.'
'I was. Very happily married. That was many years ago.' He opened his eyes. 'What happened between you and Halstead this morning?'
'A difference of opinion.'
'It often happens with that young man, but it's usually of a professional nature. This wasn't, was it?'
'No, it wasn't,' I said. 'It was personal and private.'
He caught the implication -- that I was warning him off -- and chose to ignore it. 'For anyone to interfere between man and wife is very serious,' he said.
I drove the cork into the bottle of antiseptic. 'I'm not interfering; Halstead just thinks I am.'
'I have your word for that?'
'You have my word -- not that it's any business of yours,' I said. As soon as I had said it I was sorry. 'It is your business, of course; you don't want this expedition wrecked.'
'That wasn't in my mind,' he said. 'At least, not as far as you are concerned. But I am becoming perturbed about Paul; he is proving very awkward to work with. I was wondering if I could ask you to release me from my promise. It's entirely up to you.'
I pounded at the cork again. I had just promised Katherine that I wouldn't get Halstead tossed out on his ear, and I couldn't go back on that. 'No,' I said. 'Other promises have been made.'
'I understand,' said Fallon. 'Or, at least, I mink I do.' He looked up at me. 'Don't make a fool of yourself, Jemmy.'
