“Hell, I trust you, Abe.”
“Okay,” he said.
I gave him a thousand dollars... and it hurt. I had two hundred bucks left and about a thousand in the bank. I didn’t mind spending the money, but I hated to be short. Money was the one thing that made me feel sure of myself. Bell hops and head waiters and lots of other people always had a big smile for me, but not because I was a good guy who never got caught beating his mother. It’s that ready green stuff that makes friends out of everybody.
Abe counted the money and put it in his pocket.
“Good luck, Johnny.”
“Thanks. Let me know if I can help you out some time.”
“Sure thing, keed,” he said, and walked away down the corridor. I closed the door and took the package out of my pocket. I looked down at the blonde and tossed the package up and down in my hand.
“Want to open this up while I make a drink?”
She was like a kid with a little red wagon when I flipped that cube into her lap. I made a couple of drinks, then sat on the arm of the chair while she tore the paper off with fingers that trembled.
It was a nice ring. It was big as a headlight, with a few chips set around the stone in a square pattern. The thing was too big for a thousand bucks unless it had some flaws in it and I suppose it had them. I didn’t care. It looked flashy and expensive and it was the kind of ring people would expect me to give a girl.
She looked at it like she couldn’t believe her eyes. Then she put her head against my arm and started to cry.
“It’s so beautiful, Johnny. I never thought any guy would want to give me a ring like this.”
“It’s nothing to cry about,” I said. “See if it fits.”
She tried it on and it was all right. A little big, because she had awfully small hands, but that didn’t make any difference to her.
I patted her on the shoulder and handed her the drink.
“Let’s drink to us,” I said.
She took the drink and sipped it but she kept looking at the ring. I took a look at my watch. I had to be out there at eight and it was six-fifteen now. I had plenty of time, but the waiting was getting on my nerves.
She smiled at me then, a funny little smile, and got up and went over to the bed. She walked carefully, but once she almost stumbled. The liquor was working.
When she got to the bed she looked back at me with the same funny smile and then she stretched out and put her hands behind her head.
“Sleepy?” I said.
I went over and sat on the edge of the bed.
“It’s nice being here alone with you,” she said. “This is the first time we’ve ever been really alone. There’s always been a crowd around, or a floor show, or something like that. We couldn’t even talk before.”
I grinned. “You want to talk?”
“I guess not,” she said. She gave a sigh and twisted around a little on the bed. “I guess I just want to be with you.”
I bent over and kissed her and she put her arms around my neck and pulled me down close. “Oh, Johnny,” she whispered. “I never knew there were guys like you in the world.”
I didn’t want things to go too far. I didn’t feel like it for one thing: I was too tight and nervous, and I wanted her drunk so she’d go to sleep. I didn’t want to do anything to keep her awake.
I sat up and she let her arms drop back beside her.
“I’ll get us a drink,” I said. “Then I got a little bad news for you.”
When I brought her drink she got up on one elbow, her expression worried. “What kind of bad news, Johnny?”
“Not too bad,” I said. “But something came up this afternoon I’ve got to handle. It’ll take about an hour. Will you mind waiting until I get back?”
“It’s all right, Johnny. When do you have to go?”
“About seven-thirty.”
“Is it that girl who called you at my house?”
“Well... that’s how I got the news.”
“Who is she, Johnny?”
“Just a girl. Nobody you’d know.” I tried to make it sound right but it wasn’t easy. I was talking about Alice. “She’s a guy’s secretary. She just gave me a message is all.”
I coaxed her into finishing her drink and by that time she was pretty tight. I was putting double shots in her drinks and she’d had enough to make anybody foggy.
About seven she went to sleep. I went into the bathroom and shaved in a hurry and got into a clean shirt. My fingers were shaking while I buttoned it and I couldn’t shake the idea that something was going wrong. I hadn’t been drinking enough to matter and I needed one bad. I wanted to be sharp, but not with the kind of sharpness that comes from booze.
By the time I finished dressing, it was seven-thirty. Time for me to go. I took a look at the blonde. She was sleeping like a baby. She had turned on one side and drawn up her legs so she looked even smaller. Her blonde hair was spread over the pillow and the little red bow of lipstick on her mouth made her look almost too young. She was out for the count.
I turned out the lights, locked the door from the outside and went on downstairs.
Chapter VIII
I hadn’t put the car in the garage so I went around to Madison Street where it was parked and drove out North. It wasn’t quite dark yet and it was cool and nice.
I tried to stop thinking. I tried to make the tight cold feeling inside me go away, but when you start thinking about murder I guess that feeling goes along with it, and stays with you.
It was just a little before eight when I pulled up in front of the apartment on Winthrop. I went into the vestibule and rang the bell and when I reached the steps to the second floor landing Frank was standing there. He was wearing a blue suit and he had a clean shave. His red hair was damp with water and slicked down and he looked just like what he was; a big Irishman wearing a cheap suit and ready to go away to do some fishing.
He said, “Well you’re right on time.”
“Sure. You all set to leave?”
“Yeah, I’m all set,” he said. “Come on in. I got a few things to do yet, but it won’t take me more than a minute.”
I followed him into the front room. His suitcase was in the middle of the floor. Alice was sitting in one of the big chairs.
“Hello, Johnny,” she said.
“What’s all this?” I looked at Frank and then back at her with a lot of surprise on my face. “Aren’t you coming along?”
“No, she’s not going,” Frank said. He looked at her and his expression was stubborn and angry.
“Well, how come?”
She put the magazine down in her lap and said, “I’ve got some work at the office to take care of. It came up at the last minute and I simply couldn’t get away. I’m taking the noon train tomorrow.”
“You could have told them to go to hell,” Frank said. He was still looking at her and his face was flushed.
Alice looked up at him and I thought she was going to rip wide open. She looked cold and hard. She didn’t have any make-up on except a smear of bright lipstick and it made her skin look white and drawn. Everything about her looked pulled in tight.
“There’s no point in going over all that again,” she said. “I’m coming up tomorrow. That’s only one day.”
“That’s not it,” he said stubbornly. “You think more about the people down at your office than you do of me.”
I knew they’d been having a bad time. There was something between them that was close to hate right now.
“Well,” I said. “It’s eight o’clock now. Too bad about Alice, but if we’re going to catch that train we’d better hurry.”
He looked at her for another few seconds and then he let out his breath and said, “All right. I’ve got a few things to pack. I’ll get at it.”