“Yeah?”
“What did they do to us?”
“The hyenas got us,” 1 said. “The bastards never let up.”
When I got back to the car, the light was still on in the upper bedroom. Then I remembered that that
was Teddy?s old room. I wondered if the light was left on permanently, like the eternal torch at
Arlington.
I drove as fast I could back to reality.
35
WESTERN UNION
A gray Olds blundered on to me a couple of blocks before I got back to the hotel and followed at a
respectable distance. The driver was pretty good. I did a couple of figure.-eights, trying to throw him
off, but he didn?t panic and he didn?t close the gap. He stayed a block or so behind roe all the way to
the hotel.
I parked in front and let the doorman take the car. The Olds pulled in half a block away and sat with
the lights out. I checked the desk. Then I walked across the lobby and ducked behind a small forest of
ferns and ficus trees near the elevators.
A medium-sized man got out of the Olds and drifted across Palm Drive, acting like he wasn?t in a
bony. I got a better look at him in the light of the lobby. He was neither tall nor short, fat nor thin, old
nor young. He was decked out in a nondescript gray business suit, no hat, and his chiseled features
might have been handsome except for the deep acne scars that pitted his cheeks. Once he got inside,
he picked up his pace, his deep-set eyes darting back and forth, perusing the lobby. He headed straight
for the elevators and speared the up button with a forefinger.
I stepped in behind him, grabbed a handful of jacket and collar, slammed him face-forward against the
wall, bent his left arm behind him, reached under his arm, and relieved him of a Smith & Wesson .38.
“What?ya think yer doin??” he whined.
I leaned close to his ear and put a rasp in my voice.
„You just took the words right out of my mouth,” I whispered.
“You?ve been following me for the last ten minutes. I don?t think you?re attracted to my beautiful
eyes.”
“Lemme go,” he continued to whine
I shoved his gun between his shoulder blades.
“You got a name?” I asked.
He paused and I shoved harder. He turned his face sideways, glared at me though yellow-flecked
