lay a finger on him, so big he can dictate to the dictators.
?That isn?t the end of it, either. Somebody wants me out of the way so badly they made a try on the street and again in my apartment. In between they tried to lay Rainey?s killing at my feet so I?d get picked up for it. All that . . . because one guy named Chester Wheeler was found dead in a hotel room. Pretty, isn?t it??
It was too much for her to understand at once. She bit her thumbnail and a frown crept across her face. ?Mike . . .?
?I know it?s complicated,? I said. ?Murder generally
?That?s awful, Mike! I never realized . . .?
?It isn?t over yet. I have a couple of ideas sticking pins in my brain right now. Some of the pieces are trying to fit together, trying hard. I?ve been up too long and been through too much to think straight. I thought that I might relax if I came up here to see you.? I grinned at her. ?You weren?t any help at all. You?ll probably even spoil my dreams.?
?I hope I do,? she said impishly.
?I?m going someplace and sleep it off,? I said. ?I?m going to let the clock go all the way around, then maybe once more before
I stir out of my sack. Then I?m going to put all the pieces together and find me a killer. The bastard is strong . . . strong enough to twist a gun around in Wheeler?s hand and make him blow his brains out. He?s strong enough to take me in my own joint and nearly finish it for me. The next time will be different. I?ll be ready and I?ll choke the son-of-a-bitch to death.?
?Will you come back when it?s over, Mike??
I put on my hat and looked down at her. She looked so damn desirable and agreeable I wanted to stay. I said, ?I?ll be back, Juno. You can dance for me again . . . all by yourself. I?ll sit down and watch you dance and you can show me how you have fun on Olympus. I?m getting a little tired of being a mortal.?
?I?ll dance for you, Mike. I?ll show you things you never saw before. You?ll like Olympus. It?s different up there and there?s nothing like it on this earth. We?ll have a mountaintop all to ourselves and I?ll make you want to stay there forever.?
?It?d take a good woman to make me stay anywhere very long.?
Her tongue flicked out and left her lips glistening wetly, reflecting the desire in her eyes. Her body seemed to move, squirm, so the sheen of the housecoat threw back the lithe contours of her body, vivid in detail. ?I could,? she said.
She was asking me now. Demanding that I come to her for even a moment and rip that damn robe right off her back and see what it was that went to make up the flesh of a goddess. For one second my face must have changed and she thought I was going to do it, because her eyes went wide and I saw her shoulders twitch and this time there was woman-fear behind the desire and she was a mortal for an instant, a female crouching away from the male. But that wasn?t what made me stop. My face went the way it did because there was something else again I couldn?t understand and it snaked up my back and my hands started to jerk unconsciously with it.
I picked up my butts and winked good night. The look she sent me made my spine crawl again. I walked out and found my car half buried in a drift and drove back to the street of lights where I parked and checked into a hotel for a long winter?s nap.
Chapter Ten
I slept the sleep of the dead, but the dead weren?t disturbed by dreams of the living. I slept and I talked, hearing my own voice in the stillness. The voice asked questions, demanded answers that couldn?t be given and turned into a spasm of rage. Faces came to me, drifting by in a ghostly procession, laughing with all the fury the dead could command, bringing with their laughter that weird, crazy music that beat and beat and beat, trying to drive my senses to the furthermost part of my brain from which they could never return. My voice shouted for it to stop and was drowned in the sea of laughter. Always those faces. Always that one face with the golden hair, hair so intensely brilliant it was almost white. The voice I tried to scream with was only a hoarse, muted whisper saying, ?Charlotte, Charlotte . . . I?ll kill you again if I have to! I?ll kill you again, Charlotte!? And the music increased in tempo and volume, pounding and beating and vibrating with such insistence that I began to fall before it. The face with the gold hair laughed anew and urged the music on. Then there was another face, one with hair a raven-black, darker than the darkness of the pit. A face with clean beauty and a strength to face even the dead. It challenged the golden hair and the music, commanding it to stop, to disappear forever. And it did. I heard my voice again saying over and over, ?Velda, thank God! Velda, Velda, Velda.?
I awoke and the room was still. My watch had stopped and no light filtered in under the shade. When I looked out the sky was black, pinpointed with the lights of the stars that reflected themselves from the snow-covered street below.
I picked up the phone and the desk answered. I said, ?This is Hammer in 541. What time is it??
The clerk paused, then answered, ?Five minutes to nine, sir.?
I said thanks and hung up. The clock had come mighty close to going around twice at that. It didn?t take me more than ten minutes to get dressed and checked out. In the restaurant that adjoined the hotel I ate like I was famished, took time for a slow smoke and called Velda. My hand trembled while I waited for her to answer.
I said, ?Hello, honey, it?s Mike.?
?Oh . . . Mike, where have you been? I?ve been frantic.?
?You can relax, girl. I?ve been asleep. I checked into a hotel and told them not to disturb me until I woke up. What happened with you and Clyde? Did you learn anything??
She choked back a sob and my hand tightened around the receiver. Clyde was dying right then. ?Mike . . .?
?Go on, Velda.? I didn?t want to hear it but I had to.
?He almost . . . did.?
I let the phone go and breathed easier. Clyde had a few minutes left to live. ?Tell me,? I said.
?He wants me in the worst way, Mike. I--I played a game with him and I was almost sorry for it. If I hadn?t gotten him too drunk . . . he would have . . . but I made him wait. He got drunk and he told me . . . bragged to me about his position in life. He said he could run the city and he meant it. He said things that were meant to impress me and I acted impressed. Mike . . . he?s blackmailing some of the biggest men in town. It?s all got to do with the Bowery Inn.?
?Do you know what it is??
?Not yet, Mike. He thinks . . . I?m a perfect partner for him. He said he?d tell me all about it if . . . if I . . . oh, Mike, what shall I do? What shall I do? I hate that man . . and I don?t know what to do!?
?The lousy bastard!?
?Mike . . . he gave me a key to his apartment. I?m going up there tonight. He?s going to tell me about it then . . . and make arrangements to take me in with him. He wants me, Mike.?
A rat might have been gnawing at my intestines. ?Shut up! Damn it, you aren?t going to do anything!?
I heard her sob again and I wanted to rip the phone right off the wall. I could barely hear her with the pounding of the blood in my head. ?I have to go, Mike. We?ll know for sure then.?
?No!?
?Mike . . . please don?t try to stop me. It isn?t nearly as . . . serious as what you?ve done. I?m not getting shot at . . . I?m not giving my life. I?m trying to give what I can, just like you . . . because it?s important. I?m going to his apartment at midnight and then we?ll know, Mike. It won?t take long after that.?
She didn?t hear me shout into the phone because she had hung up. There was no stopping her. She knew I might try to, and would be gone before I could reach her.
Midnight. Three hours. That?s all the time I had.
It wasn?t so funny any more.
I felt in my pocket for another nickel and dialed Pat?s number. He wasn?t home so I tried the office and got him. I told him it was me without giving my name and he cut me off with a curt hello and said he?d be in the usual bar in ten minutes if I wanted to see him. The receiver clicked in my ear as he hung up. I stood there and looked at the phone stupidly.
