The bouncer at the foot of the stairs there knew me and let me go up to the VIP section, though I could see he wasn’t thrilled with my attire. Upstairs there were ten tables, but only six of them were occupied. No one paid me any attention as I crossed over to where the balcony leaned out over the dance floor like the edge of a cliff. I was standing there peering down into the crowd, completely absorbed in my search for Vivian, when I recognized the man standing against the railing with his back turned to me. I went over and tapped him on the shoulder. It was Nick.
He turned casually enough but when he saw who it was, his head jerked forward and he spit an ice cube out of his mouth. Then he began to cough. I sat on the stool next to him and waited for him to get hold of himself.
“Where’s your sister?” I asked.
Nick jumped a good six inches sideways, but I grabbed him by the arm and jerked him back to earth. He shook himself free.
“Jack! My God! We all thought you were dead!” he said in a loud whisper.
“I almost was, but guess what: Jack is back, and now Jack wants to know why Williams tried to kill me last night while I was doing your father’s dirty work. I’d like to hear your thoughts on that.”
Nick took a nervous puff from his cigarette and leaned closer to me. “This is bad, Jack. We’re all in a lot of trouble. Williams has lost his mind. I’m afraid he’ll kill every one of us. He’s an animal, you know.”
“Where’s Big Daddy? At the house?”
“No, not there. He had to leave. He couldn’t stay there.”
“Why not?”
Nick looked out over the crowd. “My father is in trouble,” he shouted. “Big trouble. I don’t know where he is, and I don’t really want to know either.”
“Williams is on his way here,” I told him. “We don’t have a lot of time to play around. You better tell me what you know fast, before I get nervous and shoot the wrong person.”
“Williams is coming here? Do you have a gun?”
I pulled back my shirt so he could see the butt of the .45 that Space had given me. “Sure,” I said. “Doesn’t everybody? Now tell me what kind of trouble the Colonel is in. I’m not going to ask you again.”
Nick glanced around nervously, like a cornered animal that didn’t know which way to run. “Please, Jack. For God’s sake. Let’s just get my sister and get out of here. Then I’ll tell you everything. I swear I will, please!”
“Where is she?”
“Down there, dancing.” Nick moved closer to the railing, but warily, as though he expected me to pitch him over the side. He took his glasses off and polished the lenses with a handkerchief. Then he put them on and looked down again. After a moment he pointed. Even in the dark, he looked scared and badly in need of a suntan, like someone who had spent too many years in an office without windows.
“See her? There, in the black dress. She’s dancing with another girl.”
I looked down and spotted Vivian. She was dancing, all right, and I very nearly got lost in watching her. It was not the kind of dancing you learn at any decent school. I watched her for a moment, horrified and at the same time completely transfixed by the way she moved. It was as though the music had melted every bone in her body. Then she and the girl exchanged a kiss. South Beach at its finest, I thought. Nick leaned closer to me and shouted in my ear.
“We thought you were dead!” he yelled.
“You said that already. Don’t act disappointed. Tell me this: Why is Williams after you and Vivian?”
“It’s a long story, but he thinks we’re out to double-cross him.”
“Double-cross him how?” I asked.
“Please, Jack. Can’t we just get out of here first? Aren’t you afraid of Williams?”
“If you’re so afraid of Rudolph, what are you doing here?”
“We thought we’d be safer in a crowd,” Nick answered.
“Is that right?” I said. “Think again.”
I took out the gun under cover of darkness and stuck it into his ribs. I looked around, but no one was watching us. The couples at the tables were leaning into their conversations, their faces aglow with candlelight and probably cocaine, which I could have used a bit of myself at that point, it having been a longish couple of days.
“What are you doing?” Nick said desperately. “Put that away!”
“Let me ask you a question, Nick. How crazy do you think I am?”
“What kind of question is that to ask a person? I don’t know. I have no idea. Personally, I never thought you were crazy. A bit stupid perhaps, but not crazy.”
“Did your sister ever tell you I was crazy? Did she?” I jabbed him with the barrel of the gun.
“No! Never! She never said you were crazy. I swear to God she didn’t!”
“Well, guess what? She lied! I am the craziest person here tonight! Next to me, Williams is a bishop. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? Do you? Repeat it so I can hear it: ‘You are the craziest son of a bitch I ever met.’ Go on!” I put the gun a little closer to his pancreas.
“You are the craziest son of a bitch I ever met,” he said meekly.
“You don’t sound convinced. Say it louder. Say it! Say it before I pitch you over the side!”
“You can’t do that. I might land on someone!”
“That’ll be their problem. They’ve got no business being in this hellhole anyway.”
“All right, okay! You are the craziest son of a bitch I’ve ever met! I mean it, Jack. At first I didn’t, but now I do. You’re fucking insane. I think you’re even crazier than Williams.”
“Right now I take that as a compliment.” I stuck the gun back under my shirt. Nick relaxed visibly, but I didn’t want him too relaxed, so I grabbed his elbow and pushed down on the ulnar nerve with my thumb. He tried to pull away, but I held him. “Walk ahead of me,” I told him. “We’re going down and get your sister. Try to run away and I’m going to kick a bone loose in your ass.”
I expected him to make a break for it, but he stayed just ahead of me as we edged past the tables and toward the carpeted stairs. Maybe it was the beginning of old age, and maybe it was the mileage of the last few days, but Embers seemed like bedlam to me now, and I wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. I needed to get Vivian and her brother to someplace quiet where we could have our long-overdue sit-down, someplace with a couple of steel chairs without cushions, a few bottles of truth serum, several pairs of handcuffs, and an overhead light that never blinked.
It was even harder to move on the ground floor than it had been on the stairwell, and it took a good five minutes to slowly weave my way to the spot on the dance floor where I had seen Vivian dancing. I went through beautiful women without seeing them. The music banged at my ears like a storm. I was as focused as a bloodhound on speed, and I had to do a fair bit of shoving. Not everybody liked it. A tall kid with a GQ face started to object, but something in my expression seemed to discourage him. I caught his eye and held it briefly, but in that moment I had read his mind to perfection: This guy’s a fucking cop. Once you get that look, you never lose it.
Vivian wasn’t dancing anymore when I found her. She was sitting at the horseshoe-shaped bar at the raised center of the dance floor with a drink in her hand. She had her back to me. A tall man in a black shirt and black pants was lighting her cigarette as I sat down next to her. Nick was standing beside me, looking like the Ghost of Christmas Past. I tapped her gently on the shoulder. I guess she was used to people doing that, because she didn’t turn around, so I rapped on her beautiful bronze shoulder with my knuckles as though it were a door. The man in black gave me a hard look that I ignored. Vivian turned around, and her mouth fell open. She glanced at her brother, and about five different emotions went haywire on her face all at once.
She was good, at least as good as Nick, I’ll say that much for her. She jumped off the stool and threw her arms around me while I glared at the man in black over her shoulder. I gave him my best lunatic glare, and his f
ace lost some of its tan.
“Why are you lighting my wife’s cigarette, you son of a bitch?” I asked.
He looked flustered. He was about thirty-five, handsome, and prematurely gray.
“Your…wife?” he stammered. “I didn’t know anything about that. She asked me for a light. Let’s just forget about it, okay?” He held up both hands in front of him like a pair of starfish. He grinned at me as though we had just signed a peace agreement at Camp David, then took his drink and entered the crowd.
Vivian kissed and hugged me like I’d just come back from Vietnam. Nick looked on grimly. I fought the urge to bite her neck and instead grabbed her by the shoulders.
“My God! I was so worried about you!” she said. “I thought you were dead!”
“That accounts for the black dress,” I said, scanning the crowd. “Let’s get out of here. We need to have a discussion. I don’t want to hear any more crap right now.”
Just as I stood up, Nick nudged me with his elbow. I followed the direction of his gaze to the other side of the bar and saw Williams there, his bald pate gleaming dully in the swirling lights. He was looking around. I grabbed Vivian by the arm, but it was too late. Williams had already spotted us. Our eyes locked across the bar, and I thought I saw a smile cross his face. It was the smile of a man who had amputated noses and ears and enjoyed every slice.
There was no hesitation in him. Almost at once he came for us, parting the crowd with his massive fullback shoulders, plowing forward, swimming through people, pushing them aside as though they were stalks of wheat in a field. There were at least a hundred bodies between us, and that should have been enough to delay almost anyone. But they didn’t stop Williams.
“Let’s go!” I said. “Stay with me.”
I got out in front and barreled forward, not making any friends and not caring. I wasn’t as big as Williams, nor as strong, but I had fear on my side. The crowd, like a beast with one mind and many faces, began to sense that a chase of some kind was in progress, and I felt the silent wave of expectation rippling around me as the dancers turned and got quickly out of our way. I looked back and saw a bouncer in his white shirt and pink bow tie cutting crossways through the grain on a collision course toward Williams. Two more of his buddies in identical getups were coming in from the rear. I pushed Vivian and Nick ahead of me. We were almost at the edge of the dance floor.
Vivian slipped and nearly stumbled. She reached down, tore off her pumps, and ran barefoot ahead of me. The crowd, partial to the prey, parted for her. I was aware of staring faces blurred by speed. Nick was way in front now. I thought for sure he would run for it on his own, but he stopped and waited for Vivian. I glanced back in time to see a bouncer with a purple Mohawk grab Williams and spin him around. Williams went with the spin and hit the man under the chin with the heel of his palm, dropping him. Then the other bouncers leaped on him, bearing him down, swinging for all they were worth. I wished them luck. They would need it.
I ran forward and herded Nick and Vivian toward the fire doors to the left of the dance floor. There was no sense trying to make it out the main entrance. The police would be sure to stop anyone attempting to leave. I hit the crash bar running with both hands out in front of me and slammed it behind me when we were through.
“Where’s your car?” I yelled at Nick.
“I gave it to the valet.”
“We’ll take mine,” I said. “It’s down by the park. Come on.”
I pushed them ahead of me, urging them forward. Vivian ran with her black shoes still in her hand. I kept looking back over my shoulder, expecting to see the juggernaut coming at us. We got to the Beemer and jumped in. I looked through the rearview mirror and saw a giant shadow running toward us.
Almost in a single motion, I started the car and pulled out of the spot, not switching on the lights until I made a turn at the corner.
“Where are you taking us?” Nick asked.
“To Disney World,” I said. “It’s time to see Mickey.”
“You are crazy,” Nick said. “I didn’t think so before, but now I do.”
“Good. You’re starting to catch on.”
Collins Avenue was jammed, so I headed west. At Meridian we swung north again, and it was then I started thinking about what to do now that I had two of the last three members of the Partridge Family together again.
Vivian sat up and looked back at her brother hunkered down in the rear seat. “Nick,” she said, “we need to tell Jack the truth.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “Start slow. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“This is turning into something hellish,” Nick said. “My life is over.”
“Stop being so selfish,” Vivian said.
“Okay, kids,” I said. “This is how it works: Nobody’s getting out of this vehicle until I find out what’s going down. Got that? I have a full tank of gas and nowhere to go, so somebody better start talking before we get to Orlando.”
“Are we really going to Disney World?” Nick said.
“Shut up,” I said. “Vivian, what the hell is going on?”
“Go ahead, tell him,” Nick said. “He’s the only chance we’ve got against Williams.”
Vivian looked straight ahead. We were on Indian Creek now, heading north, amid that long, interminable stretch of buildings called Condo Canyon, gliding under the glare of a thousand well-lit windows staring down at us from above, each filled with the promise of rest, safety, a nightcap, and a bed with clean sheets and a thin, cool pillow. I was so tired that exhaustion now seemed my natural state. I half closed my eyes just to get the feel of it, then snapped them open as Vivian started to speak.
“How much do you know about my father’s company?” she asked.
“He made drugs. Got the seed money from your stepmother, now deceased. You didn’t like her. The company was privately held, never went public. Why do you ask?”
Nick leaned forward in his seat. “Did you know that Pellucid Laboratories nearly went bankrupt about a year ago?”
“No. But then, as maybe you recall, that was about the time I checked out of the picture. Obviously the company survived.” Then I recalled the article I’d read at Susan’s.
“But you don’t know how. He had to bring in some outside money,” Vivian said. “Quite a bit of it.”
“You’re not telling it right,” Nick said. “It really started years ago, about the time when all the major drug companies had jumped on the antidepressant bandwagon. Dad had had a drug in development for ten years. It was called Morphitrex. Ever hear of it?”
“Never.”
Vivian lit a cigarette. She waved the match in the air and tossed it out the open window. We were in Surfside now, among the parallel rows of ratty motels where the Canadians used to stay before they got smart and took their business north to Hollywood Beach. But to me, as tired as I was, every chintzy neon sign was the entrance to the palace of sleep.
“That was the trouble,” Vivian said. “No one else did either. The FDA killed it just as it was about to be approved. They found out he had faked some of the research. It turns out the drug had way too many side effects.”
“That’s when the money trouble started,” Nick added. “The big boys like Merck and Pfizer can afford to lose huge like that, but not Dad. You know why he never took the company public?”
“Because he’s a control freak,” I said.
“That’s right,” Vivian said. “He’s a control freak. But when he saw the company he’d built from nothing going under, he had to bring in the venture capitalists, the deep-pocket people. But they didn’t just give him the money and then go home and take a nap. You don’t borrow a hundred million dollars and not give up control. It almost killed him, but it was the only way he could save Pellucid.”
“Happens all the time,” I said. “What’s the point?”
“Guess where the money came from?” Vivian said.
“The Tooth Fairy,” I offered.
�
��Matson,” Nick said.
“Impossible,” I said. “Matson had money, but not that kind of money. He made booty movies,” I told him. But then the image of The Carrousel and what Agent Hackbart had said at Susan’s place about Matson and Duncan came back to me.
“Matson had friends,” Vivian said.
“That reminds me,” I said. “You forgot to mention that there was a second dead man on the boat. I know it’s a minor detail, but I don’t recall announcing any two-for-one-sale on dead-body disposal. He was the other lucky guy in the home movie your pops gave me to watch.”
“His name was Harry Duncan. He was a friend of Matson’s. Anyway, what difference does it make?” Vivian said. “They were both dead, weren’t they? All you did was get rid of them.”
“From what I saw on that video, you seem to have known him pretty well,” I said.
“Not as well as you might think. They gave me Morphitrex. That stuff makes everybody your friend.”
“Are you on it now?” I asked.
“A little.”
“Is that why you were kissing that girl back at Embers?”
“Yes, but I would have kissed her anyway.”
I looked at her for a moment and wondered who she was. I glanced at her half brother and noticed for the first time that they both had the same eyes. Not the same color—his were a washed-out blue, and hers were dark almond, almost black. But they had the same penetrating sheen to them, making them look like grown-up naughty children caught in the act. It came to me then that I had lived too long in a foreign country, and that country was my own. With a pair like these two riding with me, I was glad I had the gun. Too bad it wasn’t loaded with silver bullets.
Straits of Fortune Page 17