She followed him into the hall. Her face was hard and her eyes glittered angrily. “What the hell do you think you're doin'?” she snapped. “This is your room here. The rest of this joint is privatedo you get it?”
Raven again felt like smashing his fist in her face, but he held himself in. “Okay, okay,” he said, walking past her into the bedroom.
She shut the other two doors and then followed him in. Once more her lips broke into her professional smile, but her eyes were dark and suspicious. She said, “Come on, darlin'. Let's get it over.”
Raven took off his hat and ran his fingers through his short, wiry black hair. He sank on to the bed, which gave under his weight.
The room was shabby and not over?clean. The strip of carpet that lay on the floor was threadbare, and from where he was sitting he could see a small stack of soiled underclothes behind an easy?chair.
While he sat there she took off her dress by just pulling a zipper and stepping out of it. Underneath she wore a pair of pink step?ins and a brassiere. She swayed a little before him, turning this way and that, so he could see her. Then she said, “My present?” Her hard face lighted up with a glittering smile.
Raven put his hand in his pocket and offered her a twenty?dollar bill. It was all the money he had in the world. The amount took her breath away. She clutched at the bill and stood staring at it. “Migod, you're cute!” she said. “Gee! I'll give you a good time for this.”
The bill disappeared into the top of her stocking, and she hurriedly stripped down to her suspender ?belt.
She said, coming round the bed, “Come on, darlin', come on.”
He said, “Don't be in such a hurry. Put on a wrap or somethin'. I want to talk to you.”
He saw her go a little limp. “Aw, come on, darlin'. We can talk afterwards.”
“No.”
She hesitated, then, shrugging, crossed the room and took a dark red silk wrap off the door?peg.
Raven, sitting in the chair, looked at her indifferently. He noticed she had a little roll of fat above her hip bones, and he thought her buttocks looked ridiculous framed in the soiled suspender?girdle. A dame had got to be good just wearing a girdle, stockings and shoes. This whore wasn't so hot.
She put the wrap on and wandered over to the bed. “You've got to be quick, darlin',” she said. “I can't keep you here all night.”
Raven shook his head. “I shan't stay all night,” he said. “Who's underneath?”pointing to the floor.
“No one. All offices,” she said. “I keep telling you no one'll disturb you.” Then a thought crossed her mind.
“Say, the bulls aren't looking for you, are they?”
A thin smile came to Raven's lips. “Not yet, they ain't,” he returned.
There was a long silence. His cold, wolfish face, his hooded eyes, made her very uneasy. She'd kicked around with plenty of toughs and hoods in her time, but this guy was different. She felt suddenly scared of him, and horribly alone. He just sat there, gripping the arms of the chair, watching her indifferently.
She felt a little sick. “Hell!” she thought. “What a dumb thing to have told him I'm alone!”
He said, “You belong to Mendetta's bunch, don't you?”
Her eyes opened very wide. She didn't expect anything like that. “Mendetta? I've never heard of him,” she said hastily.
“No?” Raven crossed his leg. “You surprise me. Mendetta runs all this territory, including the whores.”
“Don't call me that,” she snapped. “If you're goin' to be funny, you better beat it.”
“Mendetta's a big shot around here. He runs everything. He makes plenty of dough, but he ain't goin' to last. Do you hear, baby? He ain't goin' to last.”
She looked over at the door. “Can't you lay off this crap? I don't know what you're talkin' about. I'm tired. I gotta get some sleep. Let's get this over, an' then you beat it.”
Raven nodded. “Don't work yourself into a lather, sister. Get on the bed. We're goin' to get some sleep right now.”
She dug up a false smile. “That's fine, darlin'. I don't know anythin' about this Mendetta guy.” She went over to the door. Her heart was beating wildly, and she kept her eyes averted so that he shouldn't see her panic.
He said in a chilly voice: “I said get on the bed.”
She put her hand on the door?knob. “I'll be right back,” she said hurriedly. “I'll be right back.”
Before she could open the door, he had left the chair, shoved her away from the door, slammed and locked it. He took the key out of the lock and dropped it into his pocket.
The look on his face terrified her, but she tried to bluff. “Get out of the way an' unlock the door,” she said weakly.
He thrust out his hand and sent her sprawling over the bed. He leant against the door. “When I tell you to do a thingyou do it.”
She struggled to a sitting position. “Unlock that door, you big bastard,” she said. “Get out of here. Go on, take your dough and beat it.” She flipped the twenty?dollar bill from the top of her stocking and threw it at him.
Raven bent slowly and picked it up. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. She saw the look in his face. She saw he was going to kill her. The blank, set look in his eyes paralysed her. She could only thrust out her arms. “No... don't!” she cried. “You're not todo you hear?... No!... Keep away....”
He leant slowly towards her. As he came nearer, she crouched away until she lay flat on the bed, his face hovering just above her. She couldn't scream. Her tongue curled to the roof of her mouth and stayed there. She couldn't do anything. Even when his hands slid up to her throat she only clutched feebly at his wrists, shaking her head imploringly at him.
He said softly, “It won't hurt, if you don't struggle.”
She shut her eyes, and as the blood began to drum in her ears she suddenly realized that this was death, and she began to fight him frantically. She had left it too late. His knee, driving into the little hollow between her breasts, pinned her like a poor moth to the bed. The vice?like grip of his fingers cut the air from her lungs.
He said, “Mendetta will hear about this. He'll hate it. He'll know then someone is after him. Do you hear, you silly little fool? You couldn't earn enough to live decently. Look at this room. Look at the poverty of it.
When I run this territory my broads won't live like this. Do you hear?”
She beat his face with her hands, but she had no strength. Her legs thrashed up and down, at first violently, then jerkily, and then not at all.
As her tongue filled her wide?open mouth, and her eyes tried to burst from their sockets, he turned his head slightly so he couldn't see her. He said in a whisper, “You ugly little bitch.” Then blood ran on to his hands from her nose, and she went limp. He climbed off her and stood looking down at her.
He knew that he could go home and sleep now. For a time his hatred had gone out of him.
6
THE SUN came through the windows of Mendetta's apartment and made patterns on the white carpet.
Remains of breakfast on a silver tray stood on a little table by the settee. An ash?tray gave out a thin grey smoke of a dying cigarette.
Jean, still in a bed?wrap, lay on the settee, her eyes closed and her thoughts far away. She was trying to imagine her life without Mendetta. It was difficult to imagine. It would be difficult also to replace this luxury.
But she knew that she couldn't live with Mendetta much longer.
The telephone rang shrilly. It startled her. She reached out and took the receiver off. “Who is it?” she said.
Her voice was deep, almost man?like.
Grantham said, “Where's Mendetta?” He sounded very excited.
Jean looked up at the ceiling. She hadn't much use for Grantham. “He's out,” she said briefly. “What's wrong?”
“Where is he? I've gotta get in touch with him.”
“He's gone round to fix Poison. You can't get him there. What is it? I'll tell him.”
