little bit more of her anatomy. Ridley didn’t want to bring that man into their motel-decorated home. But one thing I was certain of—Ridley would have dropped Penny in a minute if there was a dollar to be made.
“What about that place?” he asked her.
“What place?”
“That place I told you not to go to no mo’.”
“I thought you didn’t even wanna talk about that,” she said, sneering at her man, moving her head from side to side in a disdainful rhythm. “I thought you said that you was gonna tear my head off if I ever even said somethin’ about it.”
“And now I’m sayin’ t’tell the man here!” Ridley was asserting himself.
Penny turned to me. “There’s a club up in the Hollywood Hills,” she said. “The Chantilly. It’s a white club but the man who run it got a place around back for black—the Black Chantilly. It’s a big house and a private club like. They got a room for dancin’ an’ one for gamblin’. They got private rooms too—”
“An’ what the hell was you doin’ up there?”
Ridley was up on his feet. He swung at her with an open hand and missed, on purpose it seemed to me, over the top of her head. Penny screamed and went down on the floor, ducking under the low coffee table.
“You said you wanted me t’tell’im where Roman was!” Penny shouted. “I didn’t say nuthin’!”
“You the one said he was gone!” Ridley swung at the air again. “Maybe you know where he went to!”
“Noooo!”
“Hey! Hey, Ridley,” I said, using his name for the first time since he’d given it. “Hey, man. You wanna talk about them steaks?”
Ridley took a deep breath. Penny looked up at him and he jerked his hand like he meant to swing again, but he just wanted to see her flinch one more time.
“Hey, man,” he said to me. “Sorry, but you know this here bitch just don’t ack right. She gonna lay up on her ass wit’ me payin’ the rent, an’ then got the nerve t’be winkin’ at some fancy-assed mothahfuckah upstairs. She lucky I don’t kill both they ass!”
Penny crouched down further.
“Get the hell outta here, bitch!” Ridley screamed at her. “Why the fuck you come out here near naked in front’a some strange man?”
Penny moved quickly, staying close to the floor as she went. She made it to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Ridley was staring at the closed door.
“Women like to drive a man crazy,” he said.
“Don’t you know it,” I agreed, hoping to calm him down. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, brother.”
“What?”
“I’ll leave these nine steaks here wit’ you tonight and then I’ll come back tomorrow with fifty more. You gimme the four dollars and fifty cent an’ then I’ll come back for the balance in two more days.”
I handed the box over to him and he took it. He let his gaze ride high for a moment to catch a glimpse of my eyes.
“What you doin’ here, man?” he asked.
“Sellin’ steaks an’ lookin’ for a man wear snakeskin shoes.”
“You gonna hurt him?”
“If I can,” I said. “If I can.”
CHAPTER 16
IT WAS A LITTLE AFTER NINE when I got home. I was soaking from the rain that had started while I asked questions. It was that blanket type of L.A. rain and I’d left the umbrella a block away in my car.
Feather was asleep on the couch with the damn dog nestled in her arms. Jesus was watching a western on channel thirteen. He was nodding. Jesus spent two or three hours every day practicing for track and field. He ate large meals and went to bed early but he always tried to stay up until I got home. In the earlier years it was because he felt bad for me after my wife, Regina, had left. But now it was just habit. I was used to my kiss good night and he was used to giving it to me.
“You better go to bed, Juice.”
He nodded and then reached over to shake Feather but I said, “Leave her. I’ll get her to bed.”
He came over to hug me and I kissed him on the top of his head. Then he stumbled down to the hallway toward his bed.
I went to the bathroom and then to the kitchen. There was ice water in an old-fashioned milk bottle in the refrigerator.
I took the phone on its long tangled cord into the living room and sat down on the couch next to my girl. When Pharaoh growled I battled his nose with my finger. He moved away from me, down to the other end of the sofa, and considered dog curses to lay upon my soul.
I placed the phone in my lap and was about to dial a number when the thing rang. I picked it up quickly. Feather moved her head up and opened her eyes, but when she saw me she closed them again.
