Native Son Part 29

"Has he ever sat down in your presence without being asked, like he was used to being around white people?"

"No, Mr. Britten. Only when I told him to."

"Does he speak first, or does he wait until he's spoken to?"

"Well, Mr. Britten. He seemed always to wait until we spoke to him before he said anything."

"Now, listen, Peggy. Think and try to remember if his voice goes up up when he talks, like Jews when they talk. Know what I mean? You see, Peggy, I'm trying to find out if he's been around Communists...." when he talks, like Jews when they talk. Know what I mean? You see, Peggy, I'm trying to find out if he's been around Communists...."

"No, Mr. Dalton. He talks just like all other colored folks to me."

"Where did you say he is now?"

"Upstairs in his room."

When Britten's voice ceased Bigger was smiling. Yes; Britten was trying to trap him, trying to make out a case against him; but he could not find anything to go upon. Was Britten coming to talk to him now? There came the sound of other voices.

"It's a ten-to-one chance that she's dead."

"Yeah. They usually b.u.mp 'em off. They're scared of 'em after they get 'em. They think they might identify them afterwards."

"Did the old man say he was going to pay?"

"Sure. He wants his daughter back."

"That's just ten thousand dollars shot to h.e.l.l, if you ask me."

"But he wants the girl."

"Say, I bet it's those Reds trying to raise money."

"Yeah!"

"Maybe that's how they get their dough. They say that guy, Bruno Hauptmann, the one who s.n.a.t.c.hed the Lindy baby, did it for the n.a.z.is. They needed the money."

"I'd like to shoot every one of them G.o.dd.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, Red or no Red."

There was the sound of a door opening and more footsteps.

"You have any luck with the old man?"

"Not yet." It was Britten's voice.

"He's pretty washed up, eh?"

"Yeah; and who wouldn't be?"

"He won't call the cops?"

"Naw; he's scared stiff."

"It might seem hard on the family, but if you let them s.n.a.t.c.hers know they can't scare money out of you, they'll stop."

"Say, Brit, try 'im again."

"Yeah; tell 'im there ain't nothing to do now but to call the cops."

"Aw, I don't know. I hate to worry 'im."

"Well, after all, it's his his daughter. Let him handle it." daughter. Let him handle it."

"But, listen, Brit. When they pick up this Erlone fellow, he's going to tell the cops and the papers'll have the story anyway. So call 'em now. The sooner they get started the better."

"Naw; I'll wait for the old man to give the signal."

Bigger knew that Mr. Dalton had not wanted to notify the police; that much was certain. But how long would he hold out? The police would know everything as soon as Jan was picked up, for Jan would tell enough to make the police and the newspapers investigate. But if Jan were confronted with the fact of the kidnapping of Mary, what would happen? Could Jan prove an alibi? If he did, then the police would start looking for someone else. They would start questioning him again; they would want to know why he had lied about Jan's being in the house. But would not the word "Red" which he had signed to the ransom note throw them off the track and make them still think that Jan or his comrades did it? Why would anybody want to think that Bigger had kidnapped Mary? Bigger came out of the closet and wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He had knelt so long that his blood had almost stopped and needle-like pains shot from the bottom of his feet to the calves of his legs. He went to the window and looked out at the swirling snow. He could hear wind rising; it was a blizzard all right. The snow moved in no given direction, but filled the world with a vast white storm of flying powder. The sharp currents of wind could be seen in whorls of snow twisting like miniature tornadoes.

The window overlooked an alley, to the right of which was Forty-fifth Street. He tried the window to see if it would open; he lifted it a few inches, then all the way with a loud and screechy sound. Had anyone heard him? He waited; nothing happened. Good! If the worst came to the worst, he could jump out of this window, right here, and run away. It was two stories to the ground and there was a deep drift of soft snow just below him. He lowered the window and lay again on the bed, waiting. The sound of firm feet came on the stairs. Yes; someone was coming up! His body grew rigid. A knock came at the door.

"Yessuh!"

"Open up!"

He pulled on the light, opened the door and met a white face.

"They want you downstairs."

"Yessuh!"

The man stepped to one side and Bigger went past him on down the hall and down the steps into the bas.e.m.e.nt, feeling the eyes of the white man on his back, and hearing as he neared the furnace the m.u.f.fled breathing of the fire and seeing directly before his eyes Mary's b.l.o.o.d.y head with its jet-black curly hair, shining and wet with blood on the crumpled newspapers. He saw Britten standing near the furnace with three white men.

"h.e.l.lo, Bigger."

"Yessuh," Bigger said.

"You heard what happened?"

"Yessuh."

"Listen, boy. You're talking just to me and my men here. Now, tell me, do you think Jan's mixed up in this?"

Bigger's eyes fell. He did not want to answer in a hurry and he did not want to blame Jan definitely, for that would make them question him too closely. He would hint and point in Jan's direction.

"I don't know, suh," he said.

"Just tell me what you think think."

"I don't know, suh," Bigger said again.

"You really really saw him here last night, didn't you?" saw him here last night, didn't you?"

"Oh, yessuh."

"You'd swear he told you to take that trunk down and leave the car out in the snow."

"I-I'd swear to what's true, suh," said Bigger.

"Did he act like he had anything up his sleeve?"

"I don't know, suh."

"What time did you say you left?"

"A little before two, suh."

Britten turned to the other men, one of whom stood near the furnace with his back to the fire, warming his hands behind him. The man's legs were sprawled wide apart and a cigar glowed in a corner of his mouth.

"It must've been that Red," Britten said to him.

"Yeah," said the man at the furnace. "What would he have the boy take the trunk down for and leave the car out? It was to throw us off the scent."

"Listen, Bigger," said Britten. "Did you see this guy act in any way out of the ordinary? I mean, sort of nervous, say? Just what did did he talk about?" he talk about?"

"He talked about Communists...."

"Did he ask you to join?"

"He gave me that stuff to read."

"Come on. Tell us some of the things he said."

Bigger knew the things that white folks hated to hear Negroes ask for; and he knew that these were the things the Reds were always asking for. And he knew that white folks did not like to hear these things asked for even by whites who fought for Negroes.

"Well," Bigger said, feigning reluctance, "he told me that some day there wouldn't be no rich folks and no poor folks...."

"Yeah?"

"And he said a black man would have a chance...."

"Go on."

"And he said there would be no more lynching...."

"And what was the girl saying?"

"She agreed with 'im."

"How did you feel toward them?"

"I don't know, suh."

"I mean, did you like 'em?"

He knew that the average white man would not approve of his liking such talk.

"It was my job. I just did what they told me," he mumbled.

"Did the girl act in any way scared?"

He sensed what kind of a case they were trying to build against Jan and he remembered that Mary had cried last night when he had refused to go into the cafe with her to eat.

"Well, I don't know, suh. She was crying once...."

"Crying?"

The men crowded about him.

"Yessuh."

"Did he hit her?"

"I didn't see that."

"What did he do then?"

"Well, he put his arms around her and she stopped."

Bigger had his back to a wall. The crimson l.u.s.ter of the fire gleamed on the white men's faces. The sound of air being sucked upward through the furnace mingled in Bigger's ears with the faint whine of the wind outside in the night. He was tired; he closed his eyes a long second and then opened them, knowing that he had to keep alert and answer questions to save himself.

"Did this fellow Jan say anything to you about white women?"

Bigger tightened with alarm.

"Suh?"

"Did he say he would let you meet some white women if you joined the Reds?"

He knew that s.e.x relations between blacks and whites were repulsive to most white men.

"Nawsuh," he said, simulating abashment.

"Did Jan lay the girl?"

"I don't know, suh."

"Did you take them to a room or a hotel?"

"Nawsuh. Just to the park."