"Five thousand."
"That's not piss in a bucket, Howard. Tell him, Angel."
"That's not piss in a bucket," Angel said.
"You'd have to pay me more than that to fuck your sister if she had six feet of legs and a pussy like a velvet clam. That's nothing. I make that in a day, Mr. Howard. You're wasting my time. Give me the five thousand."
Howard dug in his jacket, came forward and gave Soldier the five thousand, went back to stand by Trudy. Soldier put the automatic on the table and thumbed through the money. "Five thousand, all right. This'll be part of my share. That okay with you, Paco? Angel?"
Neither answered. It wasn't meant as a real question.
"Now, here's what we're going to do," Soldier said. "You're going to tell me where the money is, Mr. Howard."
"Leonard's place," Howard said. "We buried it."
"I see, buried it," Soldier said. "What I ought to do here is shoot the lot of you, 'cept Howard. Then you and me, Howard, we can go dig up this money."
"Be less messy to take everyone and go get it," Paco said.
"You say something, man?"
"I don't want to kill anybody 'less I have to," Paco said. "I've done it, but just when I have to."
"I say you have to, Paco, you have to. You think I didn't have to kill that asshole a while ago? That what you're thinking? A little bloodshed could have been avoided here?
I'll tell you, that asshole had no respect. That's the difference between you and me, Paco. I demand respect."
Soldier sat down on the soft drink crate and looked at us. "What about you, girlie?" he said to Trudy. "What you think about all this?"
"I'm not giving you the money," Trudy said.
"I see," Soldier said. "Spunk. Not much respect, but spunk. Just the same, I'm feeling generous as Jesus, so we'll do this Paco's way. We'll go to Leonard's . . . Leonard, that's the nigger, right?"
"Right," Paco said.
"We'll go to the nigger's place, dig up the money, take it and go our merry way, leave you holding your asses. How's that sound? You up for that, Howard? A little digging?"
There were tears on Howard's cheeks. "Yes," he said.
"Good," Soldier said. "Knowing you're happy makes me happy."
Chapter 23
Soldier went through Chub's pockets, took his money and the mini-van keys. He put on the porkpie and got his umbrella. We left Chub where he lay and went out into the rain.
Soldier and Angel had a worn white Lincoln parked on the other side of the concession, and we went there first, stood in the cold rain while Soldier told us a little about respect. Paco got behind the wheel of the Lincoln. Angel sat up front, twisted in her seat to watch Howard and Trudy in the back.
They left ahead of us.
Soldier made me drive the mini-van. He put Leonard beside me, and he took the backseat. He said, "Don't drive fast and don't think about any stupid shit like wrecking. I can put a bullet in both of you before we wrap around a telephone pole."
I didn't know which was preferable, a telephone pole or a bullet. I didn't want either.
I put the van in gear and started driving. When we were on the highway, Soldier tapped me on the shoulder with the automatic. "Angel. Whatda ya think of her? How she looks, I mean."
"She's all right," I said. "The gun takes away some."
"Those muscles bother you?"
"No."
"Yeah. Well, I tell you. Climb on top of her, it's like climbing on boulders. You can get a bruise. Stick your dick in her, you don't know you're getting it back. Got a bear trap for a pussy. We're talking about getting married. Whatda ya think?"
"You're a match made in heaven," I said.
"Yeah, maybe," he said. "But I don't know a man ought to marry some woman can bench press more than him, know what I'm saying? It far to the nigger's place?"
"Reasonably far," I said.
"Yeah, well, drive careful. I've seen some bad wrecks, weather like this."
By the time we got there the weather had really gotten bad. There were flakes of snow mixed in with the blowing rain and ice and the sky was dusk as near sunset. Last time I had eaten was early that morning, and I was famished and felt a little light-headed.
We went into the house, which had been left unlocked, and Angel was standing by the couch holding her gun. Paco had his automatic in his waistband and he was stacking kindling in the fireplace. Trudy and Howard sat on the couch side by side with their hands on their knees. They glanced up when we came in, then glanced away.
Soldier shook out his umbrella on the living room floor and snapped it shut so briskly we all jumped. He smiled and propped the umbrella against the door frame.
Angel waved me and Leonard over to the couch, made us sit with Trudy and Howard. It was a tight fit. Me, Leonard, Trudy and Howard, the four dumb assholes.
Angel leaned on the wall next to the fireplace, held her gun against her thigh and watched us. Her eyes were dark and clueless.
"Look around," Soldier told Angel. "Paco, you watch things. I'm going to find the head." He went in search of the bathroom and Angel went out the back way.
Paco pulled the automatic out of his pants as if the act were tiring, stood by the couch and hardly looked at us at all.
I said softly to Paco, "Guess this is what you meant by a truck going downhill."
"Guess so," he said.
"You should have robbed the World Savers," Leonard said. "Fat boy would still be with us if you'd done that."
"I didn't want that to happen," Paco said. "But what happens happens. Soldier's got some possibilities for me. I'm willing to gamble for the bigger score. I robbed these fools I'd have that money and that's it."
"You could have set your own deals," I said.
"Soldier, he's got better connections. He's done some big deals."
"Drugs?" Leonard said.
"Drugs," Paco said.
"But the guy's crazy," I said. "He may have some connections, but he's not firing on all cylinders. He thinks he's some kind of gangster."
"He is ... and he's fucked in the head. I don't like him any, but I've seen the kind of dough he gets. I invest my part here, I could make millions, then I'm out of the shit for good. I'll buy me a face and a life."
"You don't have to do this," I said.
"Think I don't know that?" Paco said. "I throw in with you, what do I get? Your gratitude? I can't buy a thing with that. Guy like me, record I got, way I look. This is the end of the line, and I'm going to throw the dice for the big one this one last time."
Soldier came back.
"Got a slow flush in there, nigger. Water pressure's down."
Angel came in the front door.
"How's things?" Soldier asked her.
She nodded.
Paco returned the automatic to the front of his pants and placed a couple of logs on the kindling and lit the pile with one of the big matches. It smoked a little, began to catch. "I'm going to light the heaters," he said, and he went about the house doing just that. When he came back into the room he returned to the fireplace and poked another log into the flames.
Soldier watched him, pushed his hat back on his head and let his right hand-rest on the hilt of the automatic jammed into the front of his pants. His face still had that unhealthy sheen of sweat. He worked his tongue around inside his bottom lip and said, "You going to make some sandwiches next, Paco? Get cozy, maybe have a little picnic?"
Paco turned and said, "Look here, Soldier, don't give me a hard time. I'm sick to death of being cold. And I ought to make a sandwich. We could all use a sandwich. None of us have eaten."
"You got to think about this kind of shit ahead of time. Me and Angel we ate, didn't we, Angel?"
Angel nodded.
"When was it, right at noon, when you're supposed to eat? Had some sandwiches. What was it we had, Angel?"
"Bologna."
"Yeah, bologna. Listen here, now, we get through with this little deal, I'll buy you a steak. Hey, I'll even buy these shits a steak. Okay? Hey, you, the dick, what is it? Harry?"
"Howard," Angel said.
"Come on, let's go do some digging," Soldier said. "Hell, all of you come. I'm going out in the shit, you're all going. We need a shovel for this?"