In the wide street were a few parked car, and a thin afternoon crowd was lazily inspecting the shop windows. A man lounging near the hotel disinterestedly picked his teeth. It seemed to me he observed our slow progress curiously. I directed my wife’s attention to him but she gravely shook her head. Then suddenly she gripped my arm. Her lips fell open and her face paled. She pointed at a shabby car parked near the hotel. A man was locking the car door. “That’s him!” she whispered.
My blood quickened. “Are you sure?” I asked finally. Her eyes followed him as he put the keys in his pocket and turned toward the hotel.
“That’s him,” she insisted,”that’s him...”
I pulled to the curb in front of his car and stepped out quickly. “Wait here,” I said. “Don’t move - “ I looked about me with unassuming carelessness. The lounger, I saw, was facing the other way. No one else seemed to notice me. I sauntered into the lobby, a few steps behind the man. I decided to wait for him near the elevator, and sure enough he was soon standing beside me absently fingering his room key.
I was calm as he answered my knock. I spoke to him through the door and represented myself as the buyer from a local store. He opened the door wide.
I went in, took the hammer (wrench) from my waistband of my trousers and as he turned to walk ahead of me I smashed him mightily in the back of the head.
It was evening when we stopped again. I drove furiously past a dozen villages, hurrying toward the city that lies, now, below and behind us at the foot of the mountain.
I thought her expression softened; certainly a tear glistened in her eye. I wanted right then to hold her in my arms, to caress and comfort her. I pointed to a hotel we were approaching. “Would you like that one?” I asked.
Her glance followed my pointing finger. She paled. She gripped my arm tightly and her lips parted. She stared straight ahead and pointed at a man on the street. - “That’s him, “ she whispered. “That’s him...”
Excerpt from, “Revenge”, 1947 by Samuel Bas in “Verdict” Magazine. Gifs are Ann Savage from Detour, 1945, photo still from “Revenge” 1955, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season one, Episode one.
