«Shoot. But no more haymakers. Promise?»
I promised him rather reluctantly. «Why did you leave the employ of Mrs. Penruddock?» I asked him.
He looked at me from under his shaggy blond eyebrows. Then he looked at the bottle he was holding in his hand. «Would you call me a looker?» he asked.
«Well, Henry —»
«Don’t pansy up on me,» he snarled.
«No, Henry, I should not call you very handsome. But unquestionably you are virile.»
He poured another half-waterglassful of whiskey and handed it to me. «Your turn,» he said. I drank it down without fully realizing what I was doing. When I had stopped coughing Henry took the glass out of my hand and refilled it. He took his own drink moodily. The bottle was now nearly empty.
«Suppose you fell for a dame with all the looks this side of heaven. With a map like mine. A guy like me, a guy from the stockyards that played himself a lot of very tough left end at a cow college and left his looks and education on the scoreboard. A guy that has fought everything but whales and freight hogs — engines to you — and licked ’em all, but naturally had to take a sock now and then. Then I get a job where I see this lovely all the time and every day and know it’s no dice. What would you do, pal? Me, I just quit the job.»
«Henry, I’d like to shake your hand,» I said.
He shook hands with me listlessly. «So I ask for my time,» he said. «What else would I do?» He held the bottle up and looked at it against the light. «Bo, you made an error when you had me get this. When I start drinking it’s a world cruise. You got plenty dough?»
«Certainly,» I said. «If whiskey is what you want, Henry, whiskey is what you shall have. I have a very nice apartment on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood and while I cast no aspersions on your own humble and of course quite temporary abode, I now suggest we repair to my apartment, which is a good deal larger and gives one more room to extend one’s elbow.» I waved my hand airily.
«Say, you’re drunk,» Henry said, with admiration in his small green eyes.
«I am not yet drunk, Henry, although I do in fact feel the effect of that whiskey and very pleasantly. You must not mind my way of talking which is a personal matter, like your own clipped and concise method of speech. But before we depart there is one other rather insignificant detail I wish to discuss with you. I am empowered to arrange for the return of Mrs. Penruddock’s pearls. I understand there is some possibility that you may have stolen them.»
«Son, you take some awful chances,» Henry said softly.
«This is a business matter, Henry, and plain talk is the best way to settle it. The pearls are only false pearls, so we should very easily be able to come to an agreement. I mean you no ill will, Henry, and I am obliged to you for procuring the whiskey, but business is business. Will you take fifty dollars and return the pearls and no questions asked?»
Henry laughed shortly and mirthlessly, but he seemed to have no animosity in his voice when he said: «So you think I stole some marbles and am sitting around here waiting for a flock of dicks to swarm me?»
«No police have been told, Henry, and you may not have known the pearls were false. Pass the liquor, Henry.»
He poured me most of what was left in the bottle, and I drank it down with the greatest good humor. I threw the glass at the mirror, but unfortunately missed. The glass, which was of heavy and cheap construction, fell on the floor and did not break. Henry Eichelberger laughed heartily.
«What are you laughing at, Henry?»
«Nothing,» he said. «I was just thinking what a sucker some guy is finding out he is — about them marbles.»
«You mean you did not steal the pearls, Henry?»
He laughed again, a little gloomily. «Yeah,» he said, «meaning no. I oughta sock you, but what the hell? Any guy can get a bum idea. No, I didn’t steal no pearls, bud. If they was ringers, I wouldn’t be bothered, and if they was what they looked like the one time I saw them on the old lady’s neck, I wouldn’t decidedly be holed up in no cheap flot in L.A. waiting for a couple carloads of johns to put the sneeze on me.»
I reached for his hand again and shook it.
«That is all I required to know,» I said happily. «Now I am at peace. We shall now go to my apartment and consider ways and means to recover these pearls. You and I together should make a team that can conquer any opposition, Henry.»
«You ain’t kidding me, huh?»
I stood up and put my hat on — upside down. «No, Henry. I am making you an offer of employment which I understand you need, and all the whiskey you can drink. Let us go. Can you drive a car in your condition?»
«Hell, I ain’t drunk,» Henry said, looking surprised.
We left the room and walked down the dark hallway. The fat manager very suddenly appeared from some nebulous shade and stood in front of us rubbing his stomach and looking at me with small greedy expectant eyes. «Everything okey?» he inquired, chewing on a time-darkened toothpick.
«Give him a buck,» Henry said.
«What for, Henry?»
«Oh, I dunno. Just give him a buck.»
I withdrew a dollar bill from my pocket and gave it to the fat man.
«Thanks, pal,» Henry said. He chucked the fat man under the Adam’s apple, and removed the dollar bill deftly from between his fingers. «That pays for the hooch,» he added. «I hate to have to bum dough.»
We went down the stairs arm in arm, leaving the manager trying to cough the toothpick up from his esophagus.
THREE
At five o’clock that afternoon I awoke from slumber and found that I was lying on my bed in my apartment in the Chateau Moraine, on Franklin Avenue near Ivar Street, in Hollywood. I turned my head, which ached, and saw that Henry Eichelberger was lying beside me in his undershirt and trousers. I then perceived that I also was as lightly attired. On the table near by there stood an almost full bottle of Old Pantation rye whiskey, the full quart size, and on the floor lay an entirely empty bottle of the same excellent brand. There were garments lying here and there on the floor, and a cigarette had burned a hole in the brocaded arm of one of my easy chairs.
I felt myself over carefully. My stomach was stiff and sore and my jaw seemed a little swollen on one side. Otherwise I was none the worse for wear. A sharp pain darted through my temples as I stood up off the bed, but I ignored it and walked steadily to the bottle on the table and raised it to my lips. After a steady draught of the fiery liquid I suddenly felt much better. A hearty and cheerful mood came over me and I was ready for any adventure. I went back to the bed and shook Henry firmly by the shoulder.
«Wake up, Henry,» I said. «The sunset hour is nigh. The robins are calling and the squirrels are scolding and the morning glories furl themselves in sleep.»
Like all men of action Henry Eichelberger came awake with his fist doubled. «What was that crack?» he snarled. «Oh, yeah. Hi, Walter. How you feel?»
«I feel splendid. Are you rested?»
«Sure.» He swung his shoeless feet to the floor and rumpled his thick blond hair with his fingers. «We was going swell until you passed out,» he said. «So I had me a nap. I never drink solo. You O.K.?»
«Yes, Henry, I feel very well indeed. And we have work to do.»
«Swell.» He went to the whiskey bottle and quaffed from it freely. He rubbed his stomach with the flat of his hand. His green eyes shone peacefully. «I’m a sick man,» he said, «and I got to take my medicine.» He put the bottle down on the table and surveyed the apartment. «Geez,» he said, «we thrown it into us so fast I ain’t hardly looked at the dump. You got a nice little place here, Walter. Geez, a white typewriter and a white telephone. What’s the matter, kid — you just been confirmed?»