“Here’s number one.” Tober handed it over. “Give it to her an hour after she comes around. Longer, if you can. Here’s number two. If you need it, give it to her twenty-four hours later. No sooner! Now remember, this stuff isn’t candy. It’s cut only a little and tastes bitter as hell. Put it in a drink like a Martini, or black coffee with a lot of chicory. If you can find a food that’s bitter, try the stuff on that and maybe she won’t tumble to it. Got that?”
“Sure, Tober, sure. Now what else do I have to know? What’ll she do when it doesn’t knock her out?”
“Whatever she’s been doing, only more so. She’ll be keen like a spring wound tight. If she doesn’t like you, watch out. If she likes you, watch out. Any way you look at it, take it easy with her when she’s charged. If you say boo she won’t turn, she’ll twirl. If you pinch her she won’t slap you, she’ll tear your head off. Anyway, it’s something like that. I kept the dose small, so maybe you’ll be all right. If you keep her swimming your way, you should do all right. Just watch she doesn’t turn the opposite direction. And Benny, if you don’t have to use it-”
“Sure, Tober. I’ll send the stuff back to you.”
Tober shook his head. “I didn’t mean that.” He looked down, rubbing his nose. “Besides, I’m getting off the junk.”
“Sure, Tober.” Benny turned to the bed.
“No, Benny, I mean it. I’m shaking that monkey. When my batch is gone, that’s it No more.”
“Stop clowning, Tober. Nobody takes the cold turkey on his own.”
But Tober wasn’t clowning. He sat down by the door and watched Benny gather up the girl. “I’ve tried everything else, kid.” His voice was a whisper. “There’s a place I’m going to. It’s all arranged.” Benny was coming toward the door. He had the gun in one hand and Pat was hanging over his shoulder.
“Wish me luck, kid?” Tober said.
“Take a look out the door. Careful.”
Tober looked, then nodded.
“Now go down the stairs and look around in the hall. Then come back.”
Tober had barely turned the corner to the staircase when Benny made a dash for the door opposite. Tober’s room.
In spite of the awkward weight he was carrying, Benny moved like a cat. In the bathroom he pulled open the door to the medicine chest, felt around with one hand, and came up with a metal box. There was a syringe in there, extra needles, a spoon, and a tin of canned heat. The rest of the space was filled with the little white envelopes. He grabbed them up in two handfuls and stuffed his pocket He turned, hesitated. His hand went into his pocket once more. He threw half of the little white envelopes back.
Benny was waiting when Tober came back.
They crept down the hall to the rear and took the stairs that went to the kitchen. It was dark.
“Hey, Benny,” Tober whispered. “Wish me luck?”
There was no answer in the dark, only the breathing. Then Benny was in the open. The night air was cool and the palm fronds overhead made a dry sound.
“Benny-”
“Shut up. Stay with her and shut up.”
The girl’s form was on the ground now while Benny was circling the yard. There was only a dim light from the main entrance of the house and a small red glow near one of the cars, like a red point where someone stood by the car. Benny crept up quietly, and when he swung at the figure waiting there, there was no sound but a dull thud. A scattering of little red sparks blinked on the gravel.
Benny went back and picked up the girl and ran across the yard. By the time Tober had followed, Benny had backed the convertible out with a sharp squeal.
“Benny, wish me luck?” Tober called into the wind that rushed by.
The car was already dipping around the turn when Benny looked back. “Luck!” he called.
Chapter Fifteen
Once during the night he stopped to close the top of the car. He reached back to fold Pat’s arm that had swung over the edge of the seat and he moved her head a little. Then he drove again.
When the morning light was still nowhere and only a gray pallor had come up, she began to stir. Benny pulled the car to the side of the road and watched her wake up. She came up suddenly, with a strong shiver running through her body, her eyes looking wide and confused.
“Benny,” she said, “what are you doing?”
“Did you sleep good?”
She looked at him, her face drawn. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I don’t know, Benny,” and she shivered again.
He opened one door and folded the front seat back. “Come on up front, Pat. It’s warmer.”
She came around. She curled on the seat next to him, waiting for the blast from the heater to loosen her stiffness.
Benny drove again. He lit a cigarette for her and watched her smoke. There was no point in waiting any longer. “Pat, are you listening?”
“I’m listening.” She had leaned back, staring at the canvas above.
“Do you remember last night?”
“I remember.” She smoked, looking up.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sure. We know each other.”
He wished she’d look at him, show what went on.
“You know me, or else you wouldn’t have done it,” she said. “And I know you, so I’m not surprised you did it.”
“Pat. Understand this. Sometimes there comes a-there is a place you come to and nowhere to turn. A god-awful thing chasing from behind, a black drop in the front. It’s like murder to jump, but you got to. So you go ahead. You do something like murder to get out, and it’s over. Never again. It worked, and it’s done.”
“You’re talking about your business deal, I think?”
“Pat, did you understand what I tried to say?”
“Of course. It’s the same with me.” She paused. “A god-awful thing chasing me and a black pit in front. So I do something like murder. I take dope.”
The answer made him crawl, or perhaps it was the way she had said it. She was still leaning back, and her eyes looked at the canvas roof as if it were a fine long view.
“Pat, listen. How long’s this been going on?”
“I stopped. I never took much and then stopped. That is, till a few days ago.”
He took a deep breath and felt a stiffness in his neck. The stiffness clamped his throat when he tried to talk again. “No more, Pat. I’ll help you.”
“Like last night?” She shifted her eyes for the first time. “Like last night, when you held me down?”
“No! Forget that Christ, they were after us and you were lying there all scrambled and crazy with it. Don’t you see that? And don’t you remember before, you and I-”
She had moved to sit up and then she stopped. Her face came down, pressing into his sleeve. “Benny, I don’t-I feel rotten, Benny, rotten.” He could feel her hands working the cloth of his sleeve.
“You’re all right, kid. You’ll be all right. Lie down, Patty. Sleep some more. It’ll be all right, Patty, from now on.”
After a moment she relaxed. She even smiled at him. “I believe you,” she said, and a little later she went to sleep.
He thought about what he’d said to her, how he’d meant every word of it. He never thought of the little white envelopes that sometimes made a small noise in his pocket. Nor did it occur to him to let go of the girl who was the hub of his deal. It was one hell of a big deal and that point he never questioned.
When they crossed into Louisiana she was still sleeping. On the other side of Haute Platte he cut off the highway and headed toward Malcotte. The land looked flat and dull. Sometimes it was dry and barren, sometimes there were swamps, and Malcotte was in between, simmering in the sultry air that moved up from the Gulf. Now and then cars would come through the town, making the loop that saved them from going through Haute Platte. That’s why Malcotte had a motel. It looked deserted and strictly homemade.
They took the cabin in the rear where the live oaks crowded in. Benny pulled the car under the trees so it couldn’t be seen from the highway. He turned off the key and let his hands drop from the wheel.