the big gray and brown dog and Jed's ginger-colored head were locked in mock combat. They rolled around the floor in a ferocious-sounding battle so real the bar customers scattered like quail. One customer climbed on a table.
Jed got to his feet finally, laughing. He brushed the floor dust from his uniform. Kaiser wagged his big tail appreciatively. Jed sat down in the booth again. 'That's a lot of dog,' he said, then continued in the same breath, 'I hear you're dating Lucille Grimes.'
'She hasn't said yes.'
'lint yon asked her, according to a dear lady who can give a large mouthed bass cards and spades. You know, I feel a little guilt in the matter. Are you tryin' to prove somethin' to me because I threw you smack dab up against the shark-toothed widow?'
'Shark-toothed?'
'I live in this town, Chet. Do you need a blueprint?'
'I asked the woman to dinner. Does that enlist me among her love slaves?'
'It enlists you on Blaze Franklin's shit list,' Jed said soberly.
'How come Franklin's got this whole town buffaloed?'
Jed spread his hands. 'You've met the gentleman.'
'I've met him,' I agreed. 'And I size him up about twenty-five cents on the dollar.'
'Goddammit, you're askin' for it with that attitude!' Jed bristled. 'Look, I'm just concerned my big mouth pushed you into somethin' with a stinger attached.'
I pulled up on the reins. The kid meant all right. 'Forget it, Jed,' I said. 'She hasn't said yes. If she does, we'll have dinner. It's a big deal?'
His expression was still serious. 'Would you believe a couple of guys who've gone out with our beauteous postmistress have had—ah—accidents? I don't believe she's had an invitation in a year. Until yours.'
'Why doesn't Franklin have any accidents, Jed?'
'Who likes to go up against a badge?'
'Okay, okay. You told me. Thanks. Now can I buy you a drink before you leave to show off that Boy Scout uniform?'
'I'll have to ask you to speak with more respect to this minion of the law, suh. I'll take a raincheck on the drink.' Jed reached down under the booth to pat Kaiser on the head before he got up and left by the back door.
For the first time since I'd known him I was glad to see him go. It's strange what the sight of a uniform does to me. I was happy to see Kaiser take to Jed so quickly, though. If the cards fell so I had to pull stakes in a hurry, I wouldn't be leaving the big dog high and dry.
I went to the phone booth and looked up Lucille Grimes' home phone number. 'Chet Arnold, Lucille,' I said when she answered. 'How are we fixed for Wednesday night?'
'Oh, ah—' There was a five-second pause. She hadn't repeated my name. I wondered if Franklin was with her. Not that I gave a damn. 'Would five o'clock be too early? You could pick me up at the post office, Chet.' Lucille's voice sounded a bit breathless.
'Five o'clock will be fine.' She didn't want me picking her up at her home for some reason. 'See you then.'
'I'm looking forward to it.'
I replaced the receiver. She'd almost cooed the last words. Something about the way she said it—it was almost as though she'd suddenly turned up the voltage. She was definitely an attractively long-legged female, yet there was usually nothing soft about her. In Dixie Pig conversations I'd surprised an occasional feral gleam in the eyes under the long-lashed lids. Unless I missed my guess, she was a dandy little cutting tool. And now she was sounding cuddly. Interesting.
Hazel was at the booth when I returned to it. 'Is Jed coming back after he finishes with his deputy routine?' I asked.
'No. He said he was going courting.'
'I wonder what it feels like,' I said before I thought.
'What's that?'
'Oh, sitting with a girl on her living room sofa.' I tried to say it lightly. 'Object: matrimony, if you can't get it any other way.'
'I imagine you never tried it.' It was a statement, not a question. I didn't try to reply to it. Neither of us said anything for a couple of minutes.
'I've been thinking ' I began.
'Do you suppose ' Hazel started to say at the same time.
We both laughed.
'You've got the floor, Horseman,' Hazel said.
I searched tor the right words. 'Maybe we ought to try it again some flight.'
'There's a point to it?' She reached across the table quickly and captured my hand. 'No, no; I didn't mean that lie way it sounds. Why do you want to try it again?'
'Maybe because you don't have 'Chet Arnold is an impotent slob'up on the front of the building in neon lights.'
'What the hell do you think I am?' she began indignantly, and then she started to laugh again. 'Can the corn, man. Why d'you want to try it again?'
'It offends my miserly soul to see such a brick pagoda going to waste.'
'I suppose even a left-handed compliment is more than I rate most days around here,' she said good- humoredly. Then she turned serious. 'The fact you want to is what counts with me. I've been around enough gamblers to know that a lot of the time they're wired into different sockets.' A glass bottom rapped on the bar. 'I'll be back.'
I watched her walk away from the booth, and suddenly I knew it was going to be all right.
I never know how I know.
I just do.
The bar stayed busy, and Hazel couldn't get away. I went over finally to one end of the bar, away from the customers. 'I'll be back at lock-up time,' I told Hazel when she joined me.
She looked at me quizzically but nodded acquiesence.
I had a couple of hours to kill, so I drove downtown. I went into Bobby Herman's tavern, where I'd been when I ran into Franklin. Herman was friendly because I let him show off his encyclopedic baseball knowledge. He had the type of mind that could rattle off the batting orders for the Yankees and the Pirates in the '28 World Series.
Herman greeted me with a smile and the usual tight-collared shell of beer. 'Quiet tonight,' he said, automatically wiping off the already spotless bar in front of me. There was only one other customer at the bar and a young couple in a booth.
Herman retreated to his washrack and began rinsing out beer glasses. The other customer finished his beer, grunted goodnight, and departed. The only sounds were the low murmur of voices from the booth and the clink of glasses as Herman placed them on the drainboard.
When he looked my way again, I was ready. I nodded down the bar in a way that took in two-thirds of the tavern. 'Say, whatever happened to the big, rugged-looking guy who used to stand down there when I first started coming in?'
Herman paused, a sparkling glass in his hand. 'Big, rugged—? Oh, yeah. The one with the scar on his throat. That's right, I haven't seen him lately. He must've found greener pastures. He wasn't a regular, anyway.'
I felt a tightening sensation in my stomach muscles. 'Did he work around here? He reminded me of someone, and I finally remembered who. I thought I'd ask him if he was related.'
Herman had returned to his glasses. 'I don't think he works around here. I never heard him say. He was a real quiet fella. Drove a blue sedan with out-of-state plates.'
A real quiet fella.
I've seen people lose hard cash betting Bunny could talk after they'd been around him for days. He had a trick of walking into a bar and getting his first beer by holding up a finger when the bartender drew one for someone else. He got his refills by snapping a coin down on the bar. He never joined a group but stood in the background, smiling and nodding at the general conversation. He usually anticipated a direct question by turning his shoulder so
