The Hot Kid

by Elmore Leonard

  “He came looking for that redhead, not you. But he’s willing to put you under arrest and take you back to Oklahoma.”

  “In chains?” Jack said.

  “To keep Teddy from shooting you.”

  “So Carl can do it?”

  It went on like that, Jack not caring to put himself in the hands of this marshal who liked to shoot offenders. He said to Heidi, “How much money have you got?”

  “A hundred and sixty, tip money you never found.”

  “I still have what the bank gave us, just about seventeen hundred.”

  “What about my tip money you took?”

  “I spent it,” Jack said. “But I’m thinking, if we offer Teddy—what’s a hundred and sixty and seventeen hundred…twenty-three hundred? I bet he’ll settle for it, it’s close.”

  “It’s only eighteen hundred and sixty, you dope. He’ll take it,” Heidi said, “you bet he will, and then he’ll shoot you. He swiped five hundred off that little redhead, Kitty? And kept it.”

  “Five bills—with all the money he’s got?”

  “It’s his nature. If there’s money Teddy can get hold of he’ll take it. He don’t have to need it, it’s why he’s a crook. Carl came from Tulsa to help Kitty get her money back and Teddy had him beat up. With a baseball bat.”

  “Then how’s he gonna help me?”

  “Kitty says he’s all right, just sore. She called this morning to find out when Teddy’s coming. I told her he said noon. But then I said he might come earlier to surprise you, thinking you might take off on him. She mentioned that’s what Carl said he’d do, not trusting you to wait around.”

  “But I’m supposed to trust him.”

  “Honey, he’s all you have.”

  “How do I know he’ll come?”

  “He’s still set on getting Kitty her money.”

  They sat in the Ford Roadster on Edgevale, on the same side of the street and three houses down from the bungalow they were watching. There was one car between them and the Ford Jack Belmont stole from the True Detective writer but now wouldn’t run. According to Heidi.

  “If it’s true,” Carl said.

  “Why would she lie about it?” Louly sat behind the wheel wearing a cloche down on her eyes, beige, to go with her camel coat.

  “I can’t think of a reason,” Carl said. “I already told the marshals office here to let Antonelli know where to pick it up.”

  “How will they find him?”

  “Call the magazine long-distance.”

  She turned her gaze from the house to look at Carl. “What are the chances Teddy having five hundred dollars on him?”

  He could sit and stare at her dark brown eyes all day.

  “Better than fifty-fifty.”

  “Don’t I wish.”

  The edge of the cloche came straight across her eyes and gave her a smart look, not some country girl from Sallisaw but still a girl, Jesus, that perfect mouth pouting at him.

  “I think Teddy gets payoffs wherever he goes,” Carl said. “He’s out driving around—why not make some stops?”

  “Will he be alone?”

  “Not if he’s out collecting. I hope Tessa’s along, with his Pepper Martin bat.”

  Louly said, “You scare me sometimes.”

  “Did I scare you last night?”

  Now she was grinning at him, not at all self-conscious. “It was the best time I’ve ever had in bed—my God, in my life.”

  “I was afraid at first,” Carl said, “you’d never done it before.”

  “I have, but just once.”

  “Well, you sure catch on quick.”

  “And you were in awful pain.”

  “It wasn’t that bad, or you took my mind off it. I woke up this morning I was stiff—I mean my entire body was stiff and sore.” He said, “You know what I’m dying to do right now?”

  Louly said, “Why don’t you?”

  He slipped his arm around her. She sprang at him and they were kissing, meaning it, and didn’t let go till she bumped his hat from the way he’d set it and he had to take it off knowing he looked dumb. Louly said, “Carl, you’re the best kisser I’ve ever kissed. You don’t ever get too wet and sloppy, just enough.”

  “We take Jack with us,” Carl said, “we won’t have much time for ourselves.”

  “Have you decided where we sit?”

  “You drive, he’s in back.”

  “What about going to the bathroom?”

  Carl said, “What about it?” and saw the La Salle glide up the street past them.

  They watched Teddy Ritz in his black chesterfield come out of the passenger side of the sedan, parked behind the True Detective writer’s Ford. Lou Tessa came out of the driver’s side in his long black overcoat and hustled to join Teddy on the front steps. They saw Heidi open the door. The two entered and the door closed. Louly looked at Carl.

  Carl said, “Let’s give Jack a few minutes with them.”

  Louly said, “That’s mean.”

  “When was it Teddy swiped the check?”

  “Four days ago.”

  “Where’d he put it?”

  “In the inside pocket of his overcoat.”

  “The one he’s wearing?”

  “Yeah, with the velvet collar.”

  “What do you know about Tessa?”

  “He might be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen.”

  “That’s all you know?”

  “He gives you the eye, acting like Casanova, but doesn’t do anything. He told Heidi he’d call her but never did.”

  “Sets you up and then plays hard to get?”

  “I don’t know,” Louly said, “he’s strange.”

  “You ready?”

  They walked up the street to the bungalow and the door opened before Carl could touch the bell, Heidi waiting for them but acting surprised—“Well, hi, you two”—asking what they were doing in the neighborhood. Louly saying Carl had a surprise for Jack and Heidi saying, “Really?”

  Teddy watched deadpan from the morris chair, Tessa a few steps away from him. Jack was to the left, toward the kitchen. Carl was eye to eye with Teddy staring at him before turning to Jack, deciding to do him first. He didn’t care if Teddy believed this show or not.

  He said, “John Belmont, I’m placing you under arrest for multiple felony allegations pending. I’m taking you back to Oklahoma to face these charges. Turn around.”

  Jack said, “What charges you talking about?”

  Carl brought a pair of handcuffs from the pocket of his raincoat hanging open. “One’s parked out in front.”

  “The Ford? What’s his name, Tony, said I could borrow it. That writer.”

  “What about the seven guys in bedsheets?”

  “I was protecting my life. Jesus, yours, too.”

  Carl thought Jack was doing okay in front of Teddy, Teddy looking from one to the other, but now Carl wanted to get it done and stepped up to Jack, took him by the arm and snapped a cuff on his wrist. This stirred Teddy.

  He said, “Hold it there. I don’t know if this is a show you’re putting on—”

  “Watch,” Carl said, “I’m taking him in.”

  “Well, before you get him trussed up, me and Jack are doing some business here.”

  “You can write to him,” Carl said, “care of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.” He brought Jack’s other arm in front of him and cuffed his wrists together, the way he’d ride the 350 miles south and realize the fun was over. He said to Jack, “You weren’t gonna pay him, were you?”

  “I told him the other day I didn’t have it.”

  “He must’ve thought you’d go out and steal it.”

  “He said this wop’d shoot me I didn’t pay him.”

  “You mean Luigi?” Carl looked at Tessa staring at them. He said to Jack, “How were you gonna handle it?”

  “I was about to go in the kitchen,” Jack said. “I got a gun in the bread box. I’d lock these guys in a closet if I didn’t have to shoot �
��em, and me and Heidi’d drive down to Old Mexico in Teddy’s La Salle.”

  Heidi said, “Mexico?” The idea not sounding much fun to her.

  Teddy was hanging on every word, his hands gripping the arms of his chair, pushing himself up now. Carl didn’t know what he had in mind, but stepped over to push him down again and stand over him. He saw Tessa’s hand go inside his overcoat.

  Carl said, “Luigi, you want to get involved in this?”

  Tessa didn’t answer or move. It was like his hand was caught inside his coat.

  Carl shook his head from side to side, slow about it, and looked over at Louly and Heidi, the two of them smoking, Heidi holding a glass ashtray.

  “Show you how dumb these two are, Teddy thinks this ex-convict, who blew off seven guys like he was in a shooting gallery, is too scared not to pay him, even if he doesn’t owe it. And Jack thinks Teddy would let him out of his sight, go in the kitchen and get his gun out of the bread box.” He said to Heidi, “That’s where he keeps it?”

  “One of ’em,” Heidi said. “He keeps his money in a Quaker Oats box.”

  “You know where he got it,” Teddy said, “across the river. He held up the National Bank over there.”

  “I believe it,” Carl said, “but can’t see him giving you any of it. You told him you’d have him shot if he didn’t? If I was Jack I’d get hold of that Pepper Martin bat—I bet a dollar’s out in the La Salle—and use it on Teddy, after I worked over Luigi with it.”

  See what they thought of that.

  Tessa held his pose, hand in his coat, giving Carl his deadpan stare. Teddy’s look said he was listening to Carl talk, no more than that.

  “But I’m not Jack,” Carl said, “or a sucker-puncher like Luigi.” He looked at Louly and Heidi. “This jelly bean’s wanted in Oklahoma on a pair of homicide warrants, one in Krebs, one in Hartshorne. He killed a man in each town. Each owned a restaurant. Each was shot in the back. But he works for Teddy Ritz, so the courts here won’t send him back.”

  Carl’s hand went to Teddy’s shoulder and he leaned in close to him saying, “Where’s Kitty’s check?” as his hand slid over the velvet lapel to dip into Teddy’s chesterfield. “In here?” and came out holding an envelope, Carl sure it was the one the way Louly screamed and came to get it. She took out the check, but then hesitated and looked at Teddy.

  “Where’s the letter that was with it?”

  Teddy looked up at her. “What’re you trying to pull?”

  “From the Bankers Association.”

  “It isn’t even your check.” Teddy getting in a huff now. “It’s made out to somebody else.”

  “He threw away the letter,” Louly said, “didn’t even read it.”

  Carl laid his hand on Teddy’s shoulder again. This time he gave it a pat saying, “That’s her name, Louise Brown. She only uses Kitty for serving drinks in her underwear.”

  He stepped away from Teddy in the morris chair to stand facing Tessa.

  “What’re you holding on to in there?”

  Carl felt he’d have to say something this time.

  He did, he said, with his accent, “Keep shooting off your mouth you find out.”

  Carl shook his head. “You won’t pull unless I turn my back on you,” and stared in Tessa’s face giving him time, his moment, the way he gave the sidecar drinkers time, the hotshots having fun with Kitty Cat. What you did, you called. And what they did next let you know who they were. He turned to Louly to see her brown eyes wide open beneath the hat brim, Louly ready to scream.

  But she didn’t, and this business was over.

  Heidi was staying. She could make more wearing only a pair of black silk stockings than she could screwing commercially. She went in the kitchen to make her boss a cup of tea, and while the water was on to boil, she took Jack’s money out of the Quaker Oats box and wedged it behind the twenty-five-pound block of ice in the icebox.

  Louly came in to say good-bye and Heidi said, “Who are you now, Kitty or Louly?”

  “Carl likes Louly, so I guess that’s who I am.” She said, “I know he’s kind of a show-off—”

  “Kind of?”

  “The way he talked to Lou, kept egging him on. I was scared to death.”

  “Got him down and wouldn’t let him up,” Heidi said.

  “But Carl’s a nice guy, really.”

  “He’s also a federal marshal and wants you to know it. Tell him to keep Jack away from me, all right? I don’t want to have to talk to him. He’s cute but he’s crazy. I mean there’s something wrong with his head. His mama didn’t nurse him long enough or something. I don’t want to tell him I’ll wait for him when I know I won’t.” She nodded at the bread box. “Take that thirty-two’s in there. You’re driving to Oklahoma with a crazy man.”

  Louly said, “Which one?”

  In the front room Teddy, on his feet now, told Lou Tessa to go get in the car and wait for him. He said to Carl, “There’s something I have to ask you. You’re packing that Colt you had last evening, right?”

  Carl said, “You could’ve had your boy find out.”

  “Tell me you’re packing,” Teddy said. “Clear my mind.”

  “I’m packing.”

  “You want a job? You can have Lou’s.”

  Jack said, “I’ll take it,” jumping at the offer.

  “What do you pay a man,” Carl said, “goes around with his hand stuck in his coat?”

  “I’ll pay anything you want.”

  “Just so you know,” Jack said, “he ever spoke to me like he did to Lou Tessa, in front of everybody like that? The first remark out of his mouth, I’d of pulled and killed him where he stood.”

  Teddy looked at Carl and Carl said, “Jack’s never faced an armed man looking him in the eye.”

  Jack said, “How do you know?”

  Carl took a moment to say, “You want us to meet sometime, don’t you?”

  Jack said, “Don’t you?”

  They brought Jack out to Louly’s car and put him in the backseat with her things. Jack said, “What about my clothes? I got shirts, I got a brand-new suit hanging in the bedroom closet.” Carl didn’t answer him. Jack said, “You gonna take these cuffs off?” Carl told him not yet. Jack said, “Well, when are you?”

  This time Carl walked away. Louly, sitting behind the wheel, watched him go up to the driver’s side of the La Salle and rap on the window. It seemed like Tessa hesitated before rolling it down. Carl said something to him that only took a moment. He came back to Louly’s car and got in.

  “What’d you say to him?”

  “I told him he ought to find a different line of work.”

  Jack said from the backseat, “I told a fella that once. Seventy-eight years old with a Frontier-model Peacemaker in his holster.”

  “The bank guard you shot?” Carl said.

  Jack caught himself. “I’m not saying another word.” But he did, he said, “Why don’t we get out of here?”

  Louly got the car going and turned south at the corner.

  “We’re going back the way I came.”

  “Any way you want,” Carl said, “me and Jack are along for the ride.” He turned enough to look at him. “I recalled Teddy saying you robbed a bank across the river. You’re facing more charges’n I thought.”

  It brought Jack forward to grab on to the front seat.

  “You told Heidi you don’t have a warrant. All you’re doing, you’re pulling me out from under Teddy, keep him from shooting me. Isn’t that right?”

  “No, I told her you’d likely go to prison on one charge or another. She said prison was better than getting shot and thrown in the river. I know that’s a matter of opinion, so I didn’t argue with her. I didn’t care if she told you or not.”

  Carl watched Jack staring at him from barely two feet away.

  “You thought I’d turn you loose?”

  “It’s what she told me.”

  “Then what? I blindfold my eyes, count to a hundred and say h
ere I come ready or not?”

  Jack said, “Buddy, if I go back to prison,” making it sound like he was taking an oath, “I’m gonna bust out shortly and come looking for you.”

  “’Cause I said you’d likely do time and Heidi didn’t tell you?”

  “She knows how I see prison. She’d of given me the choice of taking a chance with Teddy or being locked up.”

  “I can’t help it if she didn’t tell it straight.”

  “I remember saying to her, ‘I’m suppose to trust him?’ I let you trick me.” Jack eased back in the seat. “It’s my own fault, but I’m gonna get you for it. Only you don’t know when.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Carl said, “grow up, will you?”

  “I promise,” Jack said, “I’m gonna plug you as soon as you’re in my sights. You know why? So I won’t have to hear that horseshit about you shooting to kill if you have to draw your weapon. Any time you shoot some poor fella and get your picture in the paper, there it is, ‘If I have to draw my weapon—’ Or do you say if you have to pull your weapon? I know you say it the same way every time. The hell are you pulling it for you don’t shoot to kill? What’re you packing a gun for? Saying that never made sense to me. But it gives you an excuse, huh? There’s a dead man lying there—somebody says, ‘It’s too bad he’s dead, but it’s his own fault. He made Carl pull his weapon. Yeah, otherwise Carl wouldn’t hurt a flea. He’s a swell guy. Loves peach ice cream cones.”

  Louly glanced at Carl to see him looking straight ahead.

  Now Jack raised his hands in front of his face.

  “I suppose, now that I’ve said my piece, you’re leaving the cuffs on.”

  “All the way to Tulsa,” Carl said. “Keep talking, I’ll cuff you from behind and gag you.”

  16

  The sky hung as a shroud over the Bald Mountain Club, gray and unforgiving, a day that dawned with an indifferent beginning, but would end in violent deaths for twelve victims of the massacre.’”