by Tom Epperson
Sophie stood up indignantly. “I hate you! You’re the whore!”
Lois slapped her. She lifted her arm to slap her again, but I lunged up off the sofa and grabbed her by the wrist. She spit in my face.
I felt the warm sticky wetness oozing down.
“If you weren’t a girl, I’d deck you.”
“And if you weren’t a crummy little cripple, I’d be scared of ya!”
Sophie had had enough. She ran out the door. Lois stumbled after her, yelling: “Sophie Gubler, you come back here! You run away again, I’ll call the cops!”
I went in the bathroom to wash off my face. Needed to wash it several times before I was satisfied.
Chapter 11
“SOME OF THESE state places can be pretty bad,” I said.
“Unfortunately,” said Dulwich, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do. Except, as you promised, visit her. Write her. Remain her friend.”
I’d slept most of the day; now I was having dinner with Dulwich. Spaghetti and tomato sauce, broccoli, French bread, and plonk.
“This is great,” I said. “I didn’t know you were such a good cook.”
“Spaghetti’s easy. But thank you. I do enjoy cooking, I admit.”
Tinker Bell walked over to the table. The veterinarian had given her some medicine to put on her battle wounds and said she ought to be fine. Now she meowed up at us.
“There’s nothing here you’d like, old girl. Sorry.”
“How come you’ve never been married, Dulwich?”
“Oh, I’m a confirmed bachelor, Danny. I’ve discovered that romance roils my soul intolerably.”
“Maybe I oughta be a confirmed bachelor,” I said gloomily.
“So let’s talk about this.”
“About what?”
“About what on earth you plan to do?”
I pushed at a strand of spaghetti with a tine of my fork.
“I plan to live a long, happy life. And to pass away peacefully in my sleep in the year 1999.”
“Do you have any interest in what I think?”
“Sure.”
“You’re a decent young man who has fallen into a nest of vipers. Your position’s becoming increasingly untenable. I’ve grown quite fond of you, Danny, and for selfish reasons, I would hate to see you leave. But I do think it would be for the best.”
“Not without Darla.”
“Then take her with you.”
“But Bud’ll hunt us down. And those other guys, Schnitter and them—they said they’d hunt me down too if I took off. Guys like that, they never give up.”
“Oh, that’s just a lot of rot. That’s what they want you to think. In reality, they’re just stupid, brutal thugs who aren’t half as smart as you. They’re the dull-witted hounds. You’re the sly, quick fox.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“No. I think it will be desperately difficult. And I think you have no choice.”
It was dusk. Outside, we could hear a noisy cawing of crows. Every day about this time, dozens of them would pass overhead, in a hurry to find a place to roost before night fell.
“‘Crows make wing to the rooky wood,’” said Dulwich.
Chapter 12
BY THE NEXT morning, I was peeing yellow again, and I felt well enough to go back to my own bungalow. I took a long hot bath, then inspected myself in the mirror. It was fascinating to look at the blue and black imprints of Otay’s pigskinned knuckles that covered my torso, front and back. Then I got dressed, went out in the living room, and called Wendell Nuffer.
I told him I was trying to find out some information about a reform school: the Sonoma State Home in Eldridge.
“I believe I’ve heard of it, Danny, but that’s all. Why are you interested?”
“There’s this little girl I know, she’s a neighbor of mine. She’s being sent there.”
“For what reason?”
“Her mother’s a bitch and wants to get rid of her. Anyway, she’s a good kid, and I’m concerned about her.”
“Tell you what. I’ll make some calls, find out what I can, and call you back.”
“Thanks, Mr. Nuffer. I appreciate it.”
“Always glad to do whatever I can for a friend, my boy.”
Nuffer was acting as happy as if I’d called him up to tell him he’d just won a million dollar jackpot.
“Sounds like you’re in a good mood,” I said.
Nuffer laughed. “I’m in the best of all moods in the best of all possible worlds.”
“How come?”
“My Violet has come back to me. It’s been eleven magical days now. She told me she’d only been with Loy Hanley a short time when she realized she’d made a dreadful mistake. That it was me that she loved. When she told Hanley she was leaving him, he wept, he pleaded, he begged her to stay. All to no avail. But don’t think I was just a pushover when she came back, my boy, oh no! I was hard as stone. Cold as ice. But gradually I melted in the warmth of her obvious repentance and affection.”
“I’m glad you’re happy, Mr. Nuffer, but—are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, the last time things didn’t work out so great.”
“Time will tell, time will tell. But think of it this way. I’m sure you’ve had the bittersweet experience of seeing some unbearably beautiful girl in a crowd, and watching her for a few moments, and knowing you’re never going to see her again. But I am going to see that girl again, Danny! In a little less than three hours, I’ll be in her adorable arms again! No joy matches that! It’s worth risking everything for!”
After I hung up with Nuffer, I called Bud’s house. Anatoly picked up. I asked to speak to Darla.
“She is resting now, Danny. Probably better not to disturb her.”
I heard somebody in the background say: “Hey, is that Danny?,” then suddenly I found myself on the phone with Bud.
“Hi ya, kid! How’s things?”
“I’m fine. I was just calling to see how Darla was doing.”
“Well, that’s real thoughtful of you, Danny. She’s been kinda down in the dumps, but she’ll be okay. It’s funny, I was just thinking about you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You and me, we need to get together. We gotta make some plans. Wait a minute. Maybe you ain’t heard the news.”
“What news?”
“Fay Wray went on the lam. They dropped the fucking charges. I beat the bastards!”
“Gee, that’s great, Bud.”
“I’m gonna be busy all day, but why don’t you come over tonight. Maybe around eight o’clock.”
My cretinous shadows, the Kornblum brothers, were manning the front gate.
“What do you want, kid?” said either Freddie or Mousie; I wasn’t sure which was which.
“It’s okay,” said the other one, Mousie or Freddie. “The boss is suspecting him.”
I assumed he meant expecting. I headed up the driveway. Several powerful floodlamps had been installed since I was last here at night, and the grounds were awash in harsh light. I parked and got out. Anatoly in his red velvet vest was standing in front of the house, staring toward the swimming pool.
Bo Spiller and Willie the Coon were there, laughing and clowning around. Bo had his shotgun. He pointed it at the seagull, then yelled: “BLAM!” The gull squawked and flapped at the end of its tether, as Bo and Willie yukked it up.
Anatoly’s lips curled in contempt.
“Muzjiki,” he said.
“What’s that mean?”
“Peasants.” He looked at me, and sighed. “This job is not any good anymore. I think I am leaving soon. I take the bird and go. To Papeete, maybe.”
“Would you tell me something, Anatoly? What happened to your fingers? Did you really get them shot off in the Russian Revolution?”
He nodded.
“How did it happen?”
“It was cavalry charge. Across open field. The Bolsheviks were waiting for us in the trees. I was holding sword, I was waving it like this,”
and he circled his three-fingered hand over his head. “I feel very happy at that moment, Danny. I feel like I am Cossack. I feel like I am Bog. God! But the Bolsheviks have machine guns. They shoot sword out of my hand, shoot my fingers away. Shoot my horse. My poor horse. Horses no good against machine guns.
“He is waiting for you, Danny. In billiard room.”
He and Dick were playing eight ball. Dick was lining up a shot, a cigarette with an inch of ash hanging from his lips. Bud was puffing on a cigar. His face lit up when he saw me.
“Hey, Danny! How’s it going? Want a drink? You take over for Dick. Dick, get outa here. Give Danny your stick. Scotch all right?”
“Sure.”
“Beat his ass, kid,” said Dick as he handed me his stick and sauntered toward the door.
Bud brought over a glass of scotch. He had one too. “Here’s mud in your eye,” he said, and we both took a drink.
I eyed the table. There were five stripes left and three solids.
“What am I?”
“Stripes.”
I decided to knock the nine in the side, which ought to set me up for the fourteen in the corner. But as I leaned over the table, pain ripped through my ribs. I sucked in my breath and winced.
“Jesus Christ, Danny. What’s the matter?”
“I was moving some furniture around and threw my back out. It’s no big deal.”
I took the shot, and missed. Bud was looking at me with concern.
“I got a bum back too, it’s nothing to fuck around with. I got a great chiropractor. Why don’t you go and see him tomorrow?”
“Dr. Brunder?”
Bud grinned. “Nah, not Brunder. I hear he just went outa business.”
He sank the three, but missed the six. I put the twelve into the corner.
“So how come Darla’s down in the dumps?”
“Aw, it’s always something with that broad. Now she’s acting sorry about what she done. So the stork ain’t gonna be paying her a visit after all. Well, that’s life. You make a choice, you gotta live with it.”
Evidently I’d misspent a significant part of my youth in pool halls, because I was a pretty good player. Now as I chalked my stick, I saw I could run the table on Bud if I didn’t screw up.
“Sorry to hear about your wife.”
“Yeah. What a terrible accident.”
He said it with a straight face.
“You really think it was an accident?”
“Who the hell knows? All I know is, some people deserve what happens to ’em. Bernice deserved to drown like a rat in a fucking sewer. You don’t know what kinda hell she put me through. Aw, nice shot. Hey, I got good news for you. I’m giving you another raise. To a yard and a half a week. How does that sound?”
A yard and a half was a hundred fifty bucks.
“It sounds great, Bud. Thanks.”
I lined up another shot. A tricky bank.
“Ten bucks says you miss it.”
“You’re on.”
“Shit! You’re on fucking fire, kid. So I’m gonna have a party. It’s been a while since I throwed one. But since things is starting to look up for me again, it seems like a good time. And I’m gonna make a couple of announcements.”
“What kind of announcements?”
“That I’m your old man, for one thing. That way, people’ll start treating you with the proper respect.”
I knocked in the ten.
“What’s the other announcement?”
“That Darla and me’s getting married.” He went in his pocket, pulled out a little box. Opened it to reveal a diamond ring, one big stone set in a twinkling constellation of smaller ones. “Wait’ll she gets a gander at this, huh? I got it today at Lackritz. That’s the fanciest jewelry joint in Beverly Hills.”
“It’s some ring, all right.”
“So Darla’s gonna be your stepmom. What do you think of that?”
I tapped the thirteen, watched its orange stripe wobbling across the table till it dropped into a pocket. I’d left myself an easy shot on the eight.
“Geez, kid. You oughta have some mercy on your old man.”
But there was a glint in his eye of paternal pride as I finished him off.
“Double or nothing on the sawbuck?”
“Sure.”
I got the balls out of the pockets and rolled them to Bud as he racked them up. I sensed Darla’s presence in the house. Something more fundamental than my physical body could see the glow of her golden hair, could smell her Jean Harlow perfume. I had my gun on me. I could break my cue stick over Bud’s head and knock him out and rush upstairs and grab Darla and we’d run outside and jump in my car and I’d gun down anybody that got in my way. We’d highball it out of this insane city into freedom, into the future. And then in a little cabin in a tourist camp out in the desert we’d do what Adam and Eve did, what guys and girls do. And she’d murmur and grow sad over my bruises and my tortured toes and the dent in my head and I’d say are you kidding? No man could be happier than I am at this moment.
“I want you to go out to Palm Springs with me this weekend. I got a very important business meeting.”
“Yeah? Who with?”
“Some guys I know from Chicago. I’m looking for ’em to be my new partners. Since my old partners stabbed me in the fucking back. But I want you right there with me in the meeting. From now on I’m including you in everything.”
He positioned the balls properly then lifted up the rack.
“Break.”
I exploded the bumpy bright pyramid of balls. The two and eleven dropped in.
Bud drank some scotch and shook his head. “Geez. I might never get another shot.”
But I missed the next shot, even though it was easy. Bud looked at me suspiciously. “You do that on purpose?”
“Course not.”
“’Cause when you got your foot on somebody’s neck, you don’t ever let ’em up.”
He walked around the table, cleaning his cue with a Kleenex as he examined the angles.
“You know, I had the goddamnest thing happen to me the other night.”
“What?”
“I was in here by myself just knocking the balls around. I do that sometimes when I can’t sleep. And guess who comes strolling in the door.”
I shrugged.
“Doc Travis! That’s who.”
“The bootlegger or the monkey?”
“The bootlegger!”
“Did he still have his head?”
“Oh yeah. I woulda fucking fainted if he’d come walking in here without a head. He was just like he always was. But he was real mad at me ’cause he thought I had something to do with what happened to him. He said when that stripper died up at the lake, what was her name?”
“Vera.”
“Yeah. He said it wasn’t no accident. He killed her ’cause he knew it’d make trouble for me.”
“Doc said he murdered Vera?”
“Yeah. And you know ever since I come back from the lake I been feeling fucking hoodooed.”
“Then what happened?”
“Nothing. He just turned around and walked back out the door. So either I’m losing my marbles or I seen a ghost.”
“Well, I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“So you’re saying I’m losing my marbles.”
“No.” I stared down into my glass, swishing the scotch around in it. “Maybe you were dreaming.”
“Danny, I was as wide awake as I am right now.”
I couldn’t help but jump a little as out of the corner of my eye I saw somebody walking through the door. But it wasn’t a ghost, it was just Darla. Though she looked a little like a ghost.
She was wearing a fluffy white robe over a pink nightgown. One hand clutched the robe shut over her throat. The strange thing was, she had on sunglasses, which stood out starkly against the pallor of her face.
Bud started toward her.
“Baby, what are you doing out of bed?”
“D
on’t touch me!” she hissed.
“Why are you wearing sunglasses?” I said.
She took them off. I expected to see that one or both of her eyes had been blackened, but that wasn’t it. They were blue and red. The irises blue, the whites shockingly blood-red.
“What happened to your eyes?”
“They turned this way last night. After he tried to choke me to death. See?”
She let her robe fall open so I could see her throat. It was covered with bruises.
I turned to Bud.
“You bastard.”
He looked at me warily. “This ain’t none of your business, Danny.”
“Why’d you do it?”
“I’ll say it again. It ain’t none of your business.”
“I’ll tell you why he did it,” said Darla. “’Cause I told him I couldn’t stand him anymore. That I’d rather be dead than stay with him.”
“It didn’t happen like she said. I wasn’t trying to choke her to death. I just flew off the handle a little bit, that’s all. I told her already I was sorry.”
Darla was looking at me with her unsettling blue and red eyes.
“Can she leave if she wants to?” I said. “Is she a prisoner here?”
Bud gave an exasperated sigh, ran his fingers through his thinning Grey-Goned hair.
“Come on, Danny. What are you talking about ‘prisoner’? Can’t you see she’s a fucking basketcase? She don’t know what she’s doing. I’m looking after her, that’s all. So she don’t hurt herself.
“Hey, let’s don’t fight no more,” he said to Darla, then he went in his pocket and pulled the little box back out.
“Lookit, baby. Look at what I bought you.”
He took the ring out and held it out to her.