Blue Belle

'I ain't walking into no . . .'

'This is a safe place, Marques. The only fucking safe place for you in the city, you don't show up.'

I hung up.

McGowan stood on one side of me, Morales close on the other.

'You know Sadie's Sexsational?'

I laughed.

'What's so funny?'

'Girl got beat up there. Real bad, right? So bad the cops moved in, closed it down.'

Morales turned to me. 'You think that's funny?'

'I think you're funny,' I said to McGowan. 'You've been running the place ever since, right? That joint doesn't belong to the federales. You called One Police Plaza, not the FBI.'

McGowan touched the brim of his hat. 'What d'you care?'

'I don't. in fact, that joint is perfect.'

'Why?'

'Good location,' I told him, eyes flat.

Morales didn't like any of this. His eyes scanned the pier, waiting for the pimp.

'You guys know what to do?' I asked McGowan.

'We'll make it clear to him.' I lit a smoke.

'How you gonna get the shooter into this one massage parlor?' McGowan asked.

'I know what he wants.'

143

The Rolls purred into the parking lot.

'That's him,' I said.

'We know. Go and get him.'

Marques was behind the wheel, Christina next to him.

'Thanks for showing.'

'You didn't give me much motherfucking choice.'

'Be cool, Marques. Be yourself - show your class. Walk over to the water with me.'

'I don't like this.'

I leaned in the window. 'I wanted you off the count, you'd be in the morgue. You know it, I know it. This is legit. Come on.'

He exchanged a look with Christina. Got out of the Rolls. We walked to the water. I couldn't see McGowan or his partner.

'I'm taking over a massage parlor,' I said.

'You?'

'Me. And I need some girls. For a couple of weeks.'

'You crazy, man.'

'I got the van, Marques. I got it pinned to the wall. Start counting that bounty money; it'll be mine soon.'

'What's that got to do with . . .'

'The van didn't move by itself. You wanted it off the street, you think I was gonna give it a flat tire?'

'Look, man . . .'

'I need the girls. Fill the joint up, make it look righteous. They can keep everything they score. The guy who did Sabrina? The painfreak? He's the one - the lead to the van. I got to pull him in.

'My girls don't . . .'

'I know they don't. But you know some who do, right? I just need one. She takes the pain-tricks, your girls take the rest. You keep the cash. This one guy comes in, the show's over.'

'My girls don't . . . Hey!'

McGowan stepped in behind me; I saw Morales roll up behind Marques.

'You know who this is?' I asked Marques.

'Yeah, man,' he sneered. 'Every player knows Delective McGowan.'

'You don't want to know him better, you'll shut up and listen. He's here to tell you something.'

McGowan leaned over my shoulder. 'Nobody's going to bother Sadie's Sexsational for a couple of weeks, Mister Dupree. Nobody. Not the wise guys, not the heat. Got it?'

'I got it.'

Morales pressed in against Marques. 'Get this. You go along, you get along. You don't, I got a little girl. Says you tried to pull her. Says you had mucho coke in your ride. More than enough for a warrant. I toss your car, I find a couple of fucking kilos. Any fucking time I want.'

Marques nodded. 'I'm in. You got it.'

McGowan spoke to him. 'You got two days. Friday night, nine o'clock, you be there. With your girls.'

'It's in the bank, man.'

Morales pressed closer. 'Or you're in the joint.'

Marques walked back to his car alone. He didn't look back.

'I see your hand got better,' McGowan said.

'I got more cards in it,' I told him.

144

I waited until McGowan and his partner pulled off before I went back to the Pontiac.

'What's going on?' Belle asked.

'It's coming together, little girl.'

I drove a few feet to the pay phone, left the engine running, dialed Mama.

'It's me. Michelle call?'

'Yes. Come here tonight. Eleven.'

145

Back in the office, I let Pansy out, told Belle to stay where she was. I went down to the basement, came back with a big metal box. Belle watched as I laid the stuff out. I lit a smoke, left it smoldering on the edge of the desk while I worked. My hands were moving on the equipment, but I was watching a different picture in my mind. Seeing it happen. I picked up the cigarette, took a last drag. 'Belle, honey, would you take off your top?' She pulled it over her head.

'The bra too, okay?'

She unsnapped it, waited. Her breasts made a joke of gravity, the blue necklace falling just to the cleft. It wouldn't work like that. 'Wait here,' I told her.

I came back with a white T-shirt of mine. 'Try this.' She slipped into it. Her breasts fought the thin material, the cleavage gone. No good.

'You have any real thin tops? Gauzy, maybe? The kind you can see through?'

'Like a nightgown?'

'That might work . . . if you have a real short one.'

'I have a couple. Some teddies too.'

'No. I need something that kind of opens down the middle. So your breasts stay separated.'

'Why, baby? I can go buy anything you want.'

I held up a pistol. From the side, it looked exactly like a Colt Python .357 magnum, even down to the