“I don’t know, but it’s more scientific.” He laughed again.
“Doc, listen. Can you do it for us? Help her get off the horse?”
“Sure, Benny. The fee’s the same.” Doc Welch closed the door.
Benny went to the kitchen and had a cup of coffee. The house was very quiet, as if exhausted. Benny finished his coffee and went up to bed.
He woke late. The house was quiet again, big and empty, but it wasn’t the quiet of the night before. It was more like a wait, like holding the breath for the next big effort. Only there wasn’t a thing for Benny to do, not a thing but wait.
Alverato was gone, and so was Birdie. The rest of the guys had their stations in town and at points down the coast. This was the day for the pickup.
There was a radio man on Alverato’s yacht who was going to talk to a man on shore, and that man had a phone open to the place in Westchester, where Benny was going to listen to the pickup. That way nothing was out of hand, everything was tied up and prepared for the shipment.
Benny walked through the empty house, from the room with Alverato’s desk and the phones down the hall to the paneled bar. There was a boar’s head hanging on the wall, and two dumb eyes, made of glass, looked across the room to the door.
Benny walked back again.
It was twelve-fifteen. Back to the bar and maybe have a drink. He didn’t. He turned to go upstairs. The glass eyes showed a glint now, because the sun had shifted.
Pat was at the piano, staring across the room without seeing. “Pat,” he said. “How is it?”
“O.K.”
Benny went across the room and touched her arm. “One more day, Pat, and we’re free.”
She turned her head to see him. “It’s time,” she said. “It’s past twelve.” She pulled the sleeve of her sweater up, exposing the fine skin on her arm.
“Later, Patty.” He smiled at her and slowly pulled the sleeve back down. “It isn’t bad now, is it?”
“It’s time.”
“You got that pill, Patty. You’re all right now, aren’t you?”
The light from the window seemed to hurt her eyes. She turned away.
“Lie down a little. I’ll be back later. You don’t need it now, Patty, you’re fine.”
“Fine,” she said.
For the moment he had forgotten about the day and the phones and the waiting, but he saw the clock on the mantel now and went to the door. “You’re fine now, Patty. Wait for me here.”
“Fine,” she said again.
When he closed the door she said something else, but he didn’t hear it.
Twelve-thirty.
With a switch of attention that was almost automatic, he was alone again. Time shrank, but not the waiting. The dead pig on the wall looked at him and then past his shoulder. He turned, walked back.
One o’clock.
He had left the door to the bar open, so the glass eyes were on him halfway down the hall. That goddamn pig was getting on his nerves, and he veered to walk close to the wall. That goddamn pig didn’t let go till he was halfway into the bar.
One-twenty.
Perhaps Pat should have a small one just for safety’s sake; he’d be busy for a while.
Then he saw her through the glass of the front door, on the steps to the driveway.
“Pat!”
She turned, watching him come.
“You all right, Pat?”
“I got a headache. Benny, it’s time. Over an hour now.”
“A little later, Pat Go upstairs now.”
“You said you’d help me.”
“Go upstairs. You’re all right now, aren’t you?”
“You won’t let me have it?”
“Pat, listen to me. Later. I’m busy now and you’re fine.”
“Fine,” she said.
One-thirty-five.
“Pat, I gotta run. I-”
“Fine, fine,” she said, and then he turned to go back inside. So he didn’t see her hand come up, plucking her ear lobe with an unconscious gesture.
One-forty. The phones now. No, too early. The bar. The glass eyes and the glass bottles looked dim again because the sun had shifted. Benny wanted a drink. He rarely did, but he wanted one now. Any old bottle, one of the bottles under the dry-looking head of the pig up there. The drink was sharp, feeling hot. He started to pour again but stopped.
One-forty-five.
The phone rang. He was out of breath, hoarse even, but the other end was talking already. “This is Mick. That you, Benny?”
“Sure, sure, let’s have it. Everything going?”
“Just heard from the radio man and it looks O.K. Hey, you should see the setup, Benny. One ear under the headset and the other one listening to you. I look like a-”
“Never mind that. Where are they?”
“Right on the button, same place like on the map. Christ, you should see the fog out here, Benny. I can’t even-”
“Fog! They got fog yet?”
“That’s right, he never said. Hold on, Benny, I’ll ask. Kip! Hey, Kip! This is Mickey How’s the weather out there?… Huh?”
“Mick, what’s he say?”
“Shut up a minute, Benny. I can’t listen with both ears, for-Huh?”
Benny waited. He shook a cigarette out of his pack and held it.
“Benny? They got beautiful sunshine, he says.”
“Did they find the spot, Mick? Ask him if they found the spot.”
“O.K., hold on… He don’t know, Benny. He just sees water from the radio room. Hold it… You’re what, Kip?… Coming about what?… Oh. Benny, they turned the ship around or something and took it out of gear. I guess they-”
“Don’t guess, you jerk! Ask him what’s going on!”
“Not so loud, Benny. Say that again, Kip… Oh…”
“Mickey, what’s he saying, for Chrissakes?”
“O.K., Kip. Benny? He says they’re looking around. I guess they’re looking for that yellow stain now.”
“O.K., O.K., I know what they’re looking for.”
It was two-fifteen and nothing was happening. Benny held the phone close to his ear and switched hands. His palms were sweating. The noise in the earpiece was a rhythmic crack and crunch. Benny thought he was going to jump out of his skin. “Mickey! Mick, will you stop chewing that goddamn gum?”
Mickey stopped and started to whistle instead. There wasn’t any news from the radio man on the yacht, only that they were looking around.
Benny got up and stretched. Through the window he saw the long garage in the back, all the stalls empty. They had taken all the cars except the Mercury at the end of the oval. Alverato’s Cadillac, Birdie’s Jaguar, the two Dodges. The convertible wasn’t there, either. They hadn’t needed the convertible, but it wasn’t there.
“Mick, listen to me. Sit tight while I put the phone down for a minute. I got to put it down and check.”
“Go ahead, Benny. I ain’t leaving.” Mick started to whistle again.
Pat was nowhere. The man who worked in the kitchen helped look all over the house, and then Benny thought of calling the gate.
