Frank doubles it. The thirty becomes sixty. The one-twenty becomes two hundred forty thousand per month, every month, just for using Escobar and cutting out Prima. Are we talking about the same thing, now, Milt?'
LeRoy Bennett chugged up to the patio, winded and barely able to keep his feet. He saw the gun in Pike's hand and clawed under his shirt, trying for his own piece. Pike punched him once in the side of the face. Bennett dropped. Pike bent over and disarmed him. Pike said, 'Some muscle.'
Rossier stared at LeRoy thoughtfully and said, 'I am surrounded by dunces.'
I made a little shrug.
Rossier shook his head and settled back into the lawn furniture. 'Well, I guess you're the new Jimmie Ray Rebenack, aren't you? He thought he tripped over Easy Street, too. Look where he is.'
'Milt, Jimmie Ray and I aren't even from the same planet. Don't forget that and we'll be okay.'
Rene lumbered up and stopped at LeRoy, and then he looked at Joe Pike, and the big body gave a shudder. His eyes focused, and he stepped across LeRoy and Pike brought up the Python. 'I'll kill him.'
Milt Rossier screamed, 'Rene! Goddamn it, you stop right there, Rene!' The old man's face was mottled, and he looked close to apoplexy.
Rene looked confused. LeRoy moaned, then rolled over and saw Rene staring down at him. 'Don't just stand there, you dumb fuck, help me up.'
Rene picked up LeRoy as if he were made of air. LeRoy hobbled to one of the lawn chairs, holding his side. 'Got a goddamned stitch from d' run.'
Pike said, 'Exercise.'
Bennett scowled. 'You fuck. We'll see 'bout it, sometime, heh?'
Pike said, 'Unh-hunh.'
Rossier said, 'Forget all that right now. We're talkin' business.' He looked back at me. 'What do you get out of this?'
'We get what Escobar pays you for the first delivery. Call it sixty thousand.' Big lies are always easier.
'Bullshit.'
'What's the bullshit, Milt? I'm brokering the deal. You would've kept going with Prima because you don't know any better, with him laughing behind your back. I've figured it out for you, and I've set it up. Your money doubles right away, and for this service, Joe and myself get exactly one week's take. After that it's all yours. You recoup in two weeks over what you were making from Prima.' I gestured to Joe Pike. 'Seems fair to me, Joe. How about you?'
Pike nodded. 'Fair.'
You could see Milt Rossier working it through, thinking about all that free money just for giving the spics a place to dock their boats. Convincing himself. That's the way the best cons work, they convince themselves. He said, 'Frank Escobar, huh?'
I said, 'Let me give you a couple of pointers, Milt. Two a head is top end, so don't start thinking you can get Prima to pay more. Frank is looking for what we call exclusivity here, and he will want to make sure that Donaldo is permanently out of the picture. Do we understand each other?'
'Unh-hunh.'
'Frank wants you to let Prima bring in another load, only this time we'll all be out there at the pumping station together. Prima won't know about Frank and Frank's people, of course, because if he did, he wouldn't show. When he shows, Frank wants to pay him back personally, you see?'
Milt Rossier was shaking his head. 'He don't need me there for that.'
'Yeah, Milt, he does. Frank figures that if you'll sell out Prima, you'll sell out him, too, so you guys are going to have to make a marriage out there. No marriage, no two grand per. Two hundred forty thou every month, Milt. Prima won't be going home, but everybody else lives happily ever after.'
Milt Rossier was thinking about it.
I gave him the phone number that Ramon del Reyo had given me. 'I'm giving you a number to call. Call it if you want, or not. Up to you. It's not Escobar, but it's his people. If you're interested, check out if the deal is real. If not, blow it off. Your choice.'
He took the little slip and looked at it. 'What's to keep me from cutting you out?'
'Milt, you don't live in a fortress. You cut us out, you're over.'
Pike twitched the.357.
LeRoy Bennett said, 'Oh. Yeah.'
Milt Rossier stared at Pike for a time, then glanced over at LeRoy. LeRoy was feeling a little better, but his eye was swelling where Pike had hit him. It probably didn't inspire confidence. Rossier said, 'I've gotta think on it. How can I let you know?'
I told him where we were staying in Baton Rouge, and then Pike and I started back around the house. Milt Rossier called after us. 'Hey.'
We turned back.
Rossier said, 'Podnuh, if either of you ever pull a gun on me again, you'd best use it.'
I smiled at him. 'Milt, if we pull a gun on you again, we will.'
CHAPTER 34
W hen we got back to Baton Rouge I called Jodi Taylor's room from the lobby and got no answer. The desk clerk told me that she had checked out sometime in the early afternoon and that she had left neither note nor message. He said that she seemed distraught. Hearing that she had gone created an empty feeling in my chest, as if I had somehow left a job unfinished and, because of it, had performed beneath myself. I said, 'Well, damn.'
Pike said, 'It's a good night. Clear. I'm going for a run.' The lobby was empty except for Pike and myself and the clerk. Desultory voices leaked from the bar. 'Come with me.'
'Give me a chance to make some calls.'
He nodded. 'Meet you out front.'
We rode up to our rooms, and I changed into shorts and running shoes and then called Lucy. I told her what had happened with Escobar and Rossier and that there was nothing left to do except wait and see if Rossier would go for it. I asked her if she'd heard from Jodi Taylor. Lucy said, 'Yes. And from Sid Markowitz. Sid is saying that they'll sue. I'm not so sure that Jodi wants that, but she sounds upset and confused.'
'Did she say anything about Edith Boudreaux?'
'No.'
Neither of us spoke for a time, and then Lucy said, 'Studly?'
'Yes, ma'am?'
'Ben's going to bed at ten. You could come over and we could neck in the car.'
'Pike and I are going for a run. It's been a helluva day.'
She sighed. 'Just so you know.'
'I knew there was a reason I called you.'
We hung up and I phoned Jo-el Boudreaux next. I told him exactly what I had told Lucy, and when I was done he said, 'Did they go for it?'
'We'll see. Rossier will dig around to see if we're legit, and when he finds out we have something working with Escobar, he'll decide.'
'Okay. Then what?'
'He'll call me here. When he calls, I call Escobar. We won't have much time, so you have to be ready.'
'I can get my guys in five minutes. Bet your ass on that one, podnuh.'
'Whatever.'
Pike was waiting out on the cement drive at the hotel's entry, stretching his hamstrings. I joined him, bending deep from the hips until my face was buried between my knees, then sitting with my legs in a great wide V and bending forward until my chest was on the cement. After a day spent mostly driving, and with the tension of dealing with criminal subhumans, it felt good to work my muscles. Maybe I wasn't down about Jodi Taylor after all.
