“He’s good to me. Look at this place. Look around you. And now he’s promised to let me have my career— starting at the Chez, then, eventually, opening for acts in Vegas. Joey owns part of a recording label, you know. And…I can’t do that, any of that, without my…without help, you know—medicinal help.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m just not strong enough without it. Maybe…maybe someday I can shake it. But not now.”
“Why?”
“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”
She covered her face with her hands and she wept. I let her do that for a while.
Then I asked her, “Where are they?”
Her voice seemed tiny; so did she. “Gone. They’ve let all but a skeleton staff go. Rocco put me in charge of the apartment here. He didn’t want to take me with him.”
“Why?”
The brown eyes, red from tears, flashed at me. “Are you going to start that again? He said he and his brother Charley—I think Joey is in Florida, at his house there—but Rocky and Charley are sort of…on the run. Incommunicado, until this thing, this Kefauver thing, blows over.”
“And Rocky left you here? Knowing if you changed your mind—if I talked sense to you and you changed your mind—you could be a witness against them?”
She shook her head, shrugged. “What could I testify about?”
“You could tell them, for example, just how many times Tubbo Gilbert came calling in recent months.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“You couldn’t? Two men died tonight, Jackie—I saw it. But I couldn’t stop it.”
She frowned and looked at the piano keys. “Oh, Nate…don’t. I don’t want to hear this….”
“Bill Drury, a cop—maybe you read about him in the papers. He saved my life once. He was an honest cop—in Chicago, can you buy that? He and an attorney named Bas…they both have wives who probably love them, and families to support…were trying to get the goods on Charley and Tubbo. And they were murdered, just about an hour ago—Bill in his own garage, that attorney on a public street. Executed. Cattle at the stockyards die with more dignity.”
She swallowed, looked up, stared right at me. “Nate, I couldn’t testify against Rocky, and I don’t know anything about Charley.”
“You couldn’t testify against Rocky? Listen, if they subpoena you, and you’re under oath—”
“Nate! You don’t understand. Listen to me: I can’t testify against Rocky. A wife can’t testify against her own husband.”
I just looked at her. Finally I said, almost spitting at her, “What?”
“We were married this afternoon, at City Hall. Rocky pulled some strings, to get past the waiting period. He has connections.”
“No kidding.”
She was looking at the keys again. “I saw him off at O’Hare. Our honeymoon will have to wait.”
“Where are you and Rocky and your hypodermic planning to go?”
The brown eyes fixed themselves on me—they were soft, even loving; she touched my hand—the one that didn’t have a gun in it.
“Nate…I’ll always love you, you’ll always occupy a special place inside of me. Our few days together—the things you did for me, and tried to do for me—I’ll never forget them. I’ll cherish that memory—like a flower pressed into a book.”
“Swell. I get the honeymoon, but Rocky gets the bride.”
“Please, Nate…”
I sat there, wondering if I should search the penthouse.
I couldn’t think of a reason to; and the brothers were long gone. Probably I needed to get out of there—the cops would be coming to talk to the Fischettis, as soon as the Drury and Bas murders went past the crime scene stage. Of course, Tubbo Gilbert would probably be in charge of the investigation.
“Wait here,” I said, standing.
“What are you…?”
“You’re going to hear some noise. Don’t worry about it. Just stay put. Okay?”
“Why?”
I grinned at her. “You don’t get to ask that question, baby. Just sit tight and shut up.”
Five minutes later, breathing hard, I came back in the living room—my arms ached. Jackie had a startled-deer look—she had to have heard the racket I made; but she had stayed put.
“What on earth—Nate, what did you do?”
“I threw each and every one of them against the wall,” I said. “I broke every goddamn precious fucking train.”
Then I went over and grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her on the mouth.
