something he was going to wipe me out. You know, Dog, I’m a big broad and I’ve been against these types before, but this guy is homicidal. If you hadn’t set everything up, I would have been over the terrace and a lump on the concrete.”
“You’re here now.”
“I should say ‘no thanks to you’ ... but it happened.”
“Enjoy it?”
“The slob couldn’t even get a normal erection.”
“Help him?”
“All I could for the photos.”
“Good.”
“By the way ... not like I never had pictures taken of me before, but what do you do with the negatives?”
“You can have them.”
“I couldn’t care less. Lee knows me.”
“Then let’s not leave any residue behind.”
“I told him, Dog.”
“What did he say?”
She smiled and opened her hands in a gesture of bewilderment. “They shot down the Red Baron too, that’s what he said.”
“He’s been reading too many Peanuts cartoons,” I told her.
“Is it over now?”
I nodded. “For you, yes. All over.”
“Elliot has the films ready. I hope they help.” She picked up her cup and sipped the last of her coffee. “I understand you’re big D now.”
“Big D?”
“Dead.”
“How true,” I told her.
“Somebody’s being suckered in,” Rose said. “Aren’t they?”
“All the way, baby,” I told her.
Sharon gave me a punch in the gut, hurt her hand and I kissed her knuckles for her. If she had hit me an inch higher it would have been a laugh, but she contacted the buckle of the gun belt and wiped the skin off her fingers in a fruitless gesture that made me smile at the femaleness inside her. “You’re a dirty bastard,” she said.
“Why does everybody call me that unless it’s true?”
“I wish I had a gun!”
I gave her mine.
She didn’t know how to hold it so she gave it back.
“All you can do is watch, baby,” I said.
“You big fucking pig you!”
“Shut your mouth and kiss me.”
She came at me like a tiger with a mouth so hot and wet, so damn demanding I had to grab her while we ate each other alive until it got so fierce we had to stand off and look at each other with that wild surprise in our eyes and I said, “Not like that, puss, not like that.”
“Like that,” she smiled.
The rain came down and slashed us apart again, but for a little bit we didn’t even realize it.
Finally she licked the raindrops from her lips and crinkled her nose at me. “Things happen in strange ways, don’t they, Dog?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why did you make me wait so long before you told me about yourself?”
“I had things to do.”
“There were times when I was pretty angry. I even told myself that maybe I’d be better off not having known you at all.”
“Maybe you would at that.”
“But then who would teach me all the things I have to learn yet?”
“There can’t be that much left, puss.”
She gave me a make-believe glare and almost threw another punch at me until she remembered her sore hand. “There’s one thing.”
“Loss of virginity is a natural function,” I told her. “Nature provides the joy to soothe the pain and love to replace the regret of having lost the irretrievable.”
“You don’t have to be so philosophic about it. You forgot the fun part.”
“Just keep it in mind.”
A sudden burst of lightning turned the dusky day a dull blue and we waited for the clap of thunder. It came, echoed off into the distance and she reached for my hand. “What can I do to help?”
“Can you get to the personnel records of the movie company?”
Sharon nodded. “Of course.”
“Good. I want you to run a check on everybody who hired on. Forget anyone under ... say, seventy. Make a personal check of their social security cards and if any of them has a new-looking one, or one that looks like it might have been deliberately aged, note it down and check back with me. If they ask any questions, tell them it’s because of your company insurance policy.”
“Any special name?”
“This one won’t be using his own.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“No.”
“Will this put you in any ... danger?”
I shook my head. “It’ll be worse if I don’t locate him.”
“All right. I’ll try, Dog.”
“You’re a doll.”
“I’m a virgin.”
“Every broad is at one time or another. Don’t sweat it.”
She smiled a pixie smile and flicked some rain at me, then walked away toward the main buildings. Under the large tent somebody blew a whistle and the break was over, the crew streaming back to their stations, heads lowered against the slant of the rain. I chose my time, mixed with three of them, circled the spectator barrier and walked to my car. I had to wait a couple of minutes before I could edge out into traffic, but that was good too. Anybody tailing me would be caught in a real logjam and I knew where to cut out. When I reached the street I was looking for I cut to the right, wheeled it down the deserted strip and kept my eye on the rearview mirror. I made two more turns before I was sure, then I relaxed. Nobody was tailing me this time.
Elliot Embler handed me the envelope with the series of photos, took his money and thanked me for the cash bonus that topped it off. He had dismantled the equipment, put everything back in order and asked me about the negatives. I told him to hold on to them for ten days and, if I hadn’t picked them up by then, burn them.
Fifteen minutes later I was at the Lodge and caught Leyland Hunter just before he was ready to leave for the city and gave him the extra set. When he finished looking them over carefully I said, “Your play now, Counselor. I believe the old man’s will has been satisfied.” He looked up at me with calculating eyes, but before he could speak I waved him off. “There were no stipulations concerning entrapment, buddy. Cousin Dennie walked square into this one on his own and if he wants, I can prod him a little to clear up a few other little unsolved mysteries people around here prefer to bury in the garbage pail of time.”
“I doubt if that will be necessary, but I think it was all a sheer waste of energy. What have you gained?”
“My ten grand, for one thing.”
“In stock certificates. I needn’t tell you what their future values will be.”
