she now?”
“Big Al’s got her. He sent a couple of the boys. She’s a wacky one, that dame, keeps cussing her old man and calling for Saint Anthony, or somebody. Big Al told me to look for you and see if I could get you to-”
“Let’s get going,” Benny said, and jumped into the car. It was starting again and this time he was going to hang on all the way home.
“Feeling better, Benny?” Alverato slapped him on the back. Benny winced. “Christ, I’m sorry, kid. Have another drink?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Here. Well, you ready to see that girl? I’m telling you, the time we had with her, yelling, scratching-”
“Let me sit a minute.”
Alverato stopped trying to make conversation. He sat chewing his cigar. When Benny had finished his drink, he turned in his chair and looked at Alverato.
“How come you got generous all of a sudden, Al?”
“What? How do you mean?”
“Giving me the brush on the plane, now bringing me back here.”
“Like I said, she keeps asking for you. She was real trouble there for a while.”
“Am I back in?”
Alverato frowned, narrowing his eyes. “Do I pay you? Sure, Benny. You keep her steady for me, keep her calm for the time she’s here, and-”
Benny got up. “No deal.”
It took Alverato a second or two and then he got up too. “What do you want, for chrissakes, a pension maybe? Because I got a little problem with Miss Hysteria over there, I gotta take you on and listen to your lip? Look, Tapkow, I don’t put no punks on the payroll just to keep a dame quiet for a while. If you don’t want the favor, I can stand her screaming around here a couple or so days longer.”
Benny was tapping a cigarette on his thumb, watching Alverato perform. Then he lit the cigarette and blew smoke. “Suit yourself. I want on the payroll because I got things to sell. Handling the girl for you is only part of it.”
“You got something to sell? Why, you swell-headed-”
“Why don’t you listen, Al? Take this, for instance: right now you’re not through with Pendleton. He’s a snake in the grass and a problem. I know the bastard. I know how he works. You don’t.”
Alverato threw his cigar in the fireplace and came close. “Tapkow, first of all, I don’t like your manners. You’re getting uppity with me. Second, I don’t worry about Pendleton as long as I got that crazy daughter of his. So blow, before I lose my temper.”
But Benny had it all laid out in his mind. Big Al and his puffy temper didn’t impress him any more and Benny had something to sell.
“Take this, Al: you’re getting your shipment, the first one, and that’s all, right?”
“I-How did you know?”
“Pendleton changed the code, right?”
“So? Now I got his daughter, there’s nothing to keep me from giving him the squeeze, is there?”
“Sure. You just keep squeezing. So you’ll get another shipment. How do you know he won’t cross you again? How long do you think he’s going to feed you info and not raise heaven and hell to get his daughter in the meantime? You got to admit it, Al, you can use a man who knows Pendleton. Sure you can go it alone. You’ve done it before. But this is easier, faster. You can use me.”
Alverato got the point. Benny could tell. Big Al wasn’t so big any more; not so big as he had been twenty years ago, when he got the name.
“About that cable, Al. Do you know what he changed? Did he change the whole code, make it more complicated? I’ll give you my guess, Al. He changed the name, the signature, that’s all. That’s what Pendleton would do, a little thing like that. It hardly shows, but it makes the difference. I know Pendleton, and you don’t.”
“Sounds good, Tapkow, but anybody can guess.”
“Another thing, Al. Pendleton has a whole setup for getting the H into the country. I know that, you know that. So I bet you another thing,” and now Benny was guessing. “He hasn’t given you that setup, has he, Al?”
“You’re right.”
“I know I’m right.” Benny took a deep breath. “And when he does, you need a man to learn the ropes, to take it over. You need a man who knows that rat well enough to catch him in a double-cross, to figure where he might try to pull it.”
There was a pause.
“Well?” Benny said. He was sure now. His voice was even. “Am I in?”
“You’re in.”
They had another drink. Then Scotty came and showed the way upstairs, to the room where they kept Pat.
There was no sound behind the door while Benny waited till Scotty was down the stairs. He waited another moment. This wasn’t going to be a thing like handling Alverato. This was going to be more like a handful.
When he opened the door he saw her on the couch, deep in the cushions. Pat didn’t look much like a handful. She sat curled up, plucking her left ear lobe with a short, mechanical movement, and her light eyes were traveling back and forth with an irresolute haste. Then she turned fast. “Benny!” She jumped up and ran across the room. “Benny, where have you been?”
“I’m back,” he said.
“Benny, the time I’ve had! It’s all so crazy and I had to see you, Benny. Fix me a drink, will you?”
“Sure, Pat. Sit down. I’m back.”
“Fix me a drink, will you, Benny? Remember that raw stuff we had down South? Remember in the prison you had-”
“In a second. Pat, listen. How have you been?”
“Rotten, just rotten.” She talked in a fast clipped way. “I even had a doctor. My father had a doctor, two doctors. My God, Benny, they didn’t do a thing. Terrible, Benny.”
“What was wrong?”
“My God, nothing, everything. My head, Benny, and everything makes me so nervous. And sometimes pains in my legs, I don’t know why.”
“What did they say, the doctors?”
“Rest, quiet, nerves. Those jackasses! One of them even asked if I take dope. My God! Of course, it’s been so long ago I didn’t-”
“I heard you, Pat.”
“Will you get me a drink or do I scream? You remember that sharp stuff we had? Do you have any of that sharp stuff?”
“Keep still, Pat. I’ll be back.” He got up.
There was only one envelope left. He had it in his watch pocket, and downstairs, at the bar, he used it as before. He got the youngest whisky on the shelf, and, using half of the little white envelope, he fixed her what she needed.
Upstairs again he watched her take it with a greediness that made her look ugly. Afterward she paced the room, plucking at her ear lobe, and he noticed how she walked around the furniture as if she were afraid it was going to bite.
“Now that you’re back, let’s get out of here,” she said. “There ought to be better places than this.” She swung her arm. “There ought to be places where we can go. You and me. What do you say?” She looked at him, seeing how his face never changed. “What’s the matter with you, Tapkow. You starting to play games again? Hard to get or something?”
“Pat, listen for a minute.” He wasn’t sure that this was the right time, but she’d be under pretty soon and then nothing would make sense to her. “You’re staying here for a while. I’ll stay with you.” He waited. “I’ll stay with you, Pat. You hear me?”
She had closed her eyes and was starting to smile. “Ah,” she said with a deep breath.
