“Did you say Daddy’s there, waiting?”
“I said he wasn’t there yet. He’s still in New York.”
She didn’t talk for a while and Benny forgot her. He was thinking he could miss the cutoff, fake motor trouble.
“Benny, I’m hungry. I’m serious now. Stop at the next place you pass.”
Here was his chance.
“There’s nothing on this road. There’s a place I know, but it’s east. We’ll have to turn off.”
“Go ahead and turn off.”
He turned off on a state road and drove east. Perhaps he’d gain time this way. He didn’t trust her as far as he could spit against the wind, but so far there was nothing she could do.
After a while they came to a roadhouse, a low, sprawling affair with palm trees in the front and a long row of cabins leading back into an artificial grove.
They got out and went to the screened patio with the tables. Benny had the car keys in his pocket.
“Order something while I’m gone. I’ve got to phone again.”
“Phone whom? My father?” She sounded sharp.
“No,” he said. “Not your father.”
She didn’t stop him again and he went inside and asked for a phone.
“Right behind you on the wall, bud.”
Benny pulled out a bill and flicked his finger against it. “I mean someplace private.”
The bartender came out from behind the bar and took the bill. “Follow me, sir.” They walked to the back. There was an office there and the phone was on the desk.
After the door closed behind him Benny picked up the phone. First the St. Petersburg number. He waited a long time, listening to the phone ring. Then he hung up. Next he placed a long-distance call to New York. While the operator made the connections he walked to the door and opened it. Pat was not at the table. He started to dish out when he saw her come back. The door that said “Ladies” was slowly swinging shut.
When he picked up the phone again the operator was already talking. “Ready with your call to New York, sir. Go ahead, please.”
“All right. Hello?”
“Hello, who is it?”
“Tapkow. That you, Wally?”
“Yeah. What’s up, Benny?”
“Wally, listen close. Something went wrong. We made the rendezvous and they picked up the wrong dame. She’s on the boat now. Can you get hold of them?… Waddaya mean no?… Three days? You mean I gotta hold onto this spitfire for three more days?… Yeah, of course I got Pendleton’s daughter. Now listen. I’ll call you again tomorrow and give you a contact where I can be reached. Meanwhile, try like hell to get to Alverato. He may get in touch sooner, because he ought to know by now he’s got the wrong dame… O.K. So long.”
He walked back to the table where Pat was waiting. This time he was going to find out. “Your father,” he said, and watched her face.
“My father?” Her voice sounded less friendly. “What did he-what did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I called the Florida place is all. They said he won’t be down for three days.”
He watched her exhale the smoke from a deep drag and it sounded as if she had been holding her breath. He sat back.
“That gave you a jolt, huh?”
For a second the sharp line showed between her eyes, then she leaned forward on her elbows. The very difference on her face made her look hard. “I get my jolts elsewhere,” she said. “Almost anywhere else.”
She moved closer. He had one hand on the table and she leaned forward on her elbows. One small breast rested on his hand.
He didn’t move it.
“Even with the help?” he said.
Her light eyes never wavered and she stayed where she was.
“Even with the help,” she said.
He hadn’t known just how brassy she could be and it made him angry. He moved the fingers of his hand on the table slightly. She must have felt it but didn’t stir.
“Later,” she said, and they looked at each other like enemies.
It wasn’t going to do to cross her. There were a number of things he would have liked to do to her, but the stakes were too big. So it wasn’t too hard to hold back and forget about her. And besides, she was a stranger to him. He had known women that sold it and others that didn’t. Pat was like neither. Pat was doing the buying.
Sometimes he had felt that there was another kind of woman, a woman to whom buying and selling had nothing to do with it, but he wasn’t thinking of that now. All he knew was that Pat meant business and nothing was going to mess that up. She wasn’t going to pull him aside, get herself frantic, and maybe keep leeching around when everything ought to be over.
“While you’re just sitting there, Tapkow, go get us a cabin.” She leaned back and looked at Benny with her cold eyes. “And don’t tell me this is news to you. You’ve known for the past hour we’d end up in bed.”
She was playing it his way, and he didn’t like it.
“Go on, Benny. Or I’ll do it with the waiter if you won’t.” She didn’t even blink.
He got up and left.
The cabin was way in the back. He stood by the bed, smoking, trying to get his temper under control. If he didn’t need the time, the time for the big chance… The door opened and she walked in. “You could have come back to pick me up,” she said.
“You got here.”
There was silence for a moment and he could hear her breathe. “How do you want it, Benny? With clothes or without?”
He turned as if stung and saw the smirk on her face. “I bet you feel like cast iron,” he said.
“You haven’t even touched me yet.” There was that clear, metallic tone in her voice. “But let’s not ruin my clothes. My luggage is in the other car, you remember.” She unbuttoned her blouse.
“If there’s any chasing to be done around here, it’ll be me who’s doing it.” His breath hissed and for once he felt cornered.
She just laughed. The blouse fell to the floor, and then the skirt. Then she kicked her shoes off. Benny saw the muscles move in her long thigh.
“You take off the rest,” she said. “You do it.”
He sat on the bed and lit a cigarette. “This is your show, kid. You do it.” He blew smoke at her thigh.
She was all over him like a snake. One hand tore at his hair and he felt with surprise how one sharp first smacked into his mouth. Then she caught his nose. He jumped up and she flew against the opposite wall. Then the surprise stayed with him when he saw her come back. The flat of his hand caught her cheek, but her eyes, like a fighter’s, never left his. And then he felt her balled fists stinging his ribs, then his neck and stomach. He reached for her and they fell on the bed, struggling. He could feel the muscles in her twisting back. When her bra ripped she suddenly stopped. Benny saw her small breasts, like hard lemons, and she twisted to meet him. But she stiffened when she saw his eyes. He grabbed her and with a swift pull she was suddenly on her feet. Her arms were pinned back, then her feet thrashed free again, and when she came down she was cramped in the dark as the closet door swung shut and the lock clicked into place.
His cigarette had rolled under the bed. He bent to pick it up, sat in the chair by the window, and smoked. He watched the closet door tremble with her pounding. He sat and smoked another cigarette. After a while there was no more noise. It had got dark outside and the gloom of the cabin just showed the rumpled bed and her clothes on the floor. He pulled the sheets straight, then went to the closet.
She stood flat against the wall. Benny could see her breathe and he saw that her light eyes weren’t cold any more.
“Come out,” he said.
She didn’t move, only her breath came faster.
Benny took her bare arm and led her to the bed. She was different now. Her nakedness was smooth and soft
