'Now Chris is gonna feed Suki,' she said. She had dropped her voice an octave and given it a slight purr. She took the grape in her mouth and sucked on it a little and rolled it around in her mouth. I think she was being seductive.
She chewed the grape and swallowed it. 'What else you gonna feed me, Chris?' She had her wineglass in her left hand. I raised it, hand and all, to her lips and tilted it. She drank.
'She was working in Boston,' I said, 'when she came down with Warren?'
'Uh huh. She's a nice kid. Got to know her a little in training, you know? All us girls go through training together, one month a year, off to school. Mr. Lehrnan makes sure of everything.'
'Really,' I said.
'Can Suki have another grape, Chris?'
I slipped one in her mouth. She ate it sensuously. The old suck-the-grape come-on.
'That's how I know her,' I said. 'I'm from Boston, but I'm trying to place Warren-tall, slim black guy, light skin?'
Suki laughed. 'God, no,' she said. 'Warren's white, about sixty, he's like a banker or something.' She dropped her voice. 'Very important.' She laughed again. 'Ginger said he was kind of kinky but I used to wonder if he could get it up.'
'Oh, that guy, yeah, I think I've seen him around the club in Boston, what the hell is his name. Beatty? No, Burger?'
Suki said, 'I never knew his last name.'
'Wonder why they broke up,' I said.
'I think they had a fight when they were down here. One day I noticed Warren went home without her.'
'And she stayed?'
'No, she was gone too. I heard she took off with one of the musicians. Why? She know some tricks you think I don't know?'
'Naw, just asking. She was a good kid, and then I hadn't seen her in a while. I thought she'd moved down here.'
'This isn't a move, Chris. Down here is a promotion.'
'Upward and onward,' I said.
25
Suki and I danced a little on the broad veranda. It had verged into evening and the moon was out. On cue the band played 'Blue Moon,' 'Moonglow,' 'Moonlight Becomes You,' and were halfway into 'Old Devil Moon' when Suki excused herself.
'Suki has to find the little girls' sandbox, Chris,' she said.
'Hurry back,' I said, cocking my head the way I was pretty sure Cary Grant did.
She disappeared into the Princedom. I had a thought. I walked over to the band and stood near them as they finished up 'Old Devil Moon' with a big keyboard flourish.
'Before you guys break into 'Moonlight Sonata,' I said, 'do you know Robert Rambeaux?'
'No, but hum a few bars and we'll fake it,' the keyboard man said. He was a skinny black guy with a thin mustache. He liked his joke enough for a cool inward chuckle. The drummer did a soft rim shot.
'Everywhere I go,' I said, 'Henny Youngman. Didn't Rambeaux used to play down here?'
'Sure, man. Worked a lot of places on the island. Reed man.'
'How come he left?'
'Woman trouble,' the keyboard player said.
'Someone got pregnant?'
'Man, nobody gives a shit about that anymore,' he said. 'Got tied up with one of the hostesses, went off with her. Left the client with his dick in his hand, you know.'
'That's old Robert,' I said. 'Always playing the wrong instrument. Was it Ginger?'
'That he run off with?' The keyboard player shrugged. 'Got me, man, we gotta blow. Ain't time yet for a break.'
I nodded. 'What's next? `How High the Moon'?'
The keyboard player grinned, nodded at the bassist, and launched into 'Moon over Miami.' I looked around. Suki was still busy in the little girls' sandbox. Seemed like a good time to boogie on out of the Crown Prince Club. So I did.
Driving back toward Frenchman's Reef I thought about Suki's feelings of rejection. Late in the evening without a client for the night. Probably too late to find another one, no tip tonight. She probably wouldn't have respected me in the morning anyway.
The roads on St. Thomas are narrow and they wind. The terrain is hilly and driving at night is slow. I got back to the hotel near midnight and went into the room. Susan was sitting up in bed reading Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas.
I made a V sign at her with the first two fingers of my right hand.
