Johnny carried fifty dollars to Chink.
Chink covered twenty-nine and passed the rest back. Johnny spun the card. The seven of diamonds flashed in the spill of light and fell on its face.
'Dead men falls on their face,' Bad Eye Lewis said.
Blood rushed to Chink's face, and his jowls began to swell.
'That's you, ain't it?' Johnny said.
'How the hell you know it's me, lest you reading these cards,' Chink said thickly.
'It's got to be you,' Johnny said. 'It's the only clean card left.'
The blood left Chink's face again, and it turned ashy. Johnny reached over and turned up the card that lay in front of Chink. The seven of spades looked up.
Johnny raked in the stack of money.
'You shot me, didn't you,' Chink accused. 'You shot me. You saw the seven-spot on the turn when you pulled it halfway out the box.'
'You ain't got but one more time to say that, gambler,' Johnny said. 'Then you goin' to have to prove it.'
Chink didn't speak.
'If you bet fast you can't last,' Doc said.
Chink got up without speaking and left the club.
Johnny began losing. He lost all his winnings and seven hundred dollars from the bank. Finally he stood up and said to Kid Nickels, 'You take over, Kid.'
He went back into his office, took a. 38 Army Colt revolver from the safe and stuck it inside of his belt to the left of the buckle, put his green suit jacket over his rose crepe shirt. Before leaving the club he said to Nubby, 'If I don't come back, tell Kid to take the money home with him.'
Pony Boy came back to the kitchen to see if Johnny needed him, but Johnny was gone.
'That Chink Charlie,' he said. 'Death ain't two feet off him.'
16
Alamena answered the door bell.
Chink said, 'I want to talk to her.'
She said, 'You're stark raving crazy.'
The black cocker spaniel bitch stood guard behind Alamena's legs and barked furiously.
'What are you barking at, Spookie?' Dulcy called in a thick voice from the kitchen.
Spookie kept on barking.
'Don't try to stop me, Alamena, I warn you,' Chink said, trying to push past her. 'I've got to talk to her.'
Alamena planted herself firmly in the entrance and wouldn't let him by.
'Johnny's here, you fool!' she said.
'Naw, he ain't,' Chink said. 'I just left him at the club.'
Alamena's eyes widened. 'You went to Johnny's club?' she asked incredulously.
'Why not,' he said unconcernedly. 'I ain't scared of Johnny.'
'Who the hell is that you're talkin' to, Meeny?' Dulcy called thickly.
'Nobody,' Alamena said.
'It's me, Chink,' he called.
'Oh, it's you,' Dulcy called. 'Well, come on in then, honey, or else go 'way. You're making Spookie nervous.'
'Hell with Spookie,' Chink said, pushing past Alamena and entering the kitchen.
Alamena closed the entrance door and followed him. 'If Johnny comes back and finds you here, he'll kill you sure as hell,' she warned.
'Hell with Johnny,' Chink fumed. 'I got enough on Johnny to send him to the electric chair.'
'If you live that long,' Alamena said.
Dulcy giggled. 'Meeny's scared of Johnny,' she said thickly.
Both Alamena and Chink stared at her.
She was sitting on one of the rubber-cushioned kitchen chairs with her bare feet propped on the table top. She was clad only in her slip, with nothing underneath.
'Cops,' she said, coyly, catching Chink's look. 'You're peeping.'
'If you weren't drunk I'd give you something to giggle about,' Alamena said grimly.
Dulcy took her feet down and tried to sit straight.
'You're just mad 'cause I got Johnny,' she said slyly.
Alamena's face went blank and she looked away.
'Why don't you get out and let me talk to her,' Chink said. 'It's important.'
Alamena sighed. 'I'll go up front and watch out the window for Johnny's car.'
Chink pulled up a chair and stood in front of Dulcy with his foot on the seat. He waited until he heard Alamena enter the front room, then suddenly went and closed the kitchen door, came back and took his stance.
'Listen to me, baby, and listen well,' he said, bending over and trying to hold Dulcy's gaze. 'You're either going to get me those ten G's you promised to Val or I'm going to lower the boom.'
'Boom!' Dulcy said drunkenly. Chink gave a violent start. She giggled. 'Thought you wasn't scared?' she said.
Chink's face became mottled with red. 'Listen, I ain't playing, girl,' he said dangerously.
She reached up as though she'd forgotten his presence and began to scratch her hair. Suddenly she looked up and caught him glaring at her. 'It's just one of Spookie's fleas,' she said. He began swelling about the jowls, but she didn't notice. 'Spookie,' she called. 'Come here, darling, and sit on Mama's lap.' The dog came over and began to lick her bare legs, and she picked it up and held it in her lap. 'It's just one of your little black fleas, ain't it, baby?' she said, bending over to let the dog lick her face.
Chink slapped the dog from her lap with such savage violence it crashed against the table leg and began running about the floor yelping and trying to get out.
'I want you to listen to me,' Chink said, panting with rage.
Dulcy's face darkened with lightning-quick fury and she tried to stand up, but Chink put his hands on her shoulders and pinned her in the chair.
'Don't you hit my dog, you mother-raper!' she shouted. 'I don't allow nobody to hit my dog but me. I'll kill you quicker for hitting my dog-'
Chink cut her off. 'God damn it, I want you to listen.' Alamena entered the kitchen hurriedly, and when she saw Chink holding Dulcy pinned to her seat she said, 'Let her alone, nigger. Can't you see she's drunk?'
He took away his hands but said furiously, 'I want her to listen.'
'Well, that's your problem,' Alamena said. 'You're a bar jockey. Get her sober.'
'You want to get your throat cut again?' he said viciously.
She didn't let it touch her. 'No damned nigger like you will ever do it. And I'm not going to watch out for more than fifteen minutes, so you'd better get your talking done in a hurry.'
'You don't need to watch out for me at all,' Chink said.
'I ain't doing it for you, nigger, you needn't worry 'bout that,' Alamena said as she left the kitchen and went back to her post. 'Come on, Spookie.' The dog followed her.
Chink sat down and wiped the sweat from his face.
'Listen, baby, you're not that drunk,' he said.
Dulcy giggled, but this time it sounded strained. 'You're the one that's drunk if you think Johnny's going to give you ten grand,' she said.
'He ain't the one who's going to give it to me,' he said. 'You're the one who's going to give it to me. You're
