?Hell, I like you like that.?
?Then do something about it.?
I tried to look through the folder, but my eyes wouldn?t stand still. ?For Pete?s sake, put something on, will you!?
She put her hands on her hips and leaned toward me, her tongue sticking out. Then she turned slowly, with all the sultry motion she could command, and walked to the clothes closet. She pulled out her fur coat and slipped into it, holding it closed around her middle. ?I?ll teach you,? she said. Then she sat in a low boudoir chair with her legs crossed, making it plain that I could look and be tempted, but that was all, brother, that was all.
When I went back to pawing through the folder she let the coat slip open and I had to turn my back and sit down. Connie laughed, but I found the clipping.
Her name had been Julia Travesky. By order of the court she was now legally Jean Trotter. Her address was given at a small hotel for women in an uptown section. I stuffed the clipping in my wallet and put the folder in the dresser drawer. ?At least it?s something,? I said. ?We can find out the rest from the court records.?
?What are you looking for, Mike??
?Anything that will tell me why she was important enough to kill.?
?I was thinking . . .?
?Yeah??
?There are files down at the office. Whenever a girl applies for work at the agency she has to leave her history and a lot of sample photos and press clippings. Maybe Jean?s are still there.?
I whistled through my teeth and nodded. ?You?ve got something, Connie. I called Juno before I came up, but she wasn?t home. How about Anton Lipsek??
Connie snorted and pulled the coat back to bare her legs a little more. ?That drip is probably still sleeping off the drunk he worked up last night. He and Marion Lester got crocked to the ears and they took off for Anton?s place with some people from the Inn about three o?clock in the morning. Neither of them showed up for work today. Juno didn?t say much, but she was plenty burned up.
?Nuts. Who else might have keys to the place then??
?Oh, I can get in. I had to once before when I left my pocketbook in the office. I kissed the janitor?s bald head and he handed over his passkey.?
The hands of my watch were going around too fast. My insides were beginning to turn into a hard fuzzy ball again. ?Do me a favor, Connie. Go up and see if you can get that file on her. Get it and come right back here. I have something to do in the meanwhile and you?ll be helping out a lot if you can manage it.?
?No,? she pouted.
?Cripes, Connie, use your head! I told you . . .?
?Go with me.?
?I can?t.?
The pout turned into a grin and she peeked at me under her eyelashes. She stood up, put a cigarette between her lips, and in a pose as completely normal as if she had on an evening gown, she pushed back the coat and rested her hands on her hips and swayed over until she was looking up into my face.
I had never seen anything so unnaturally inviting in all my life.
?Go with me,? she said, ?then we?ll come back together.?
I said, ?Come here, you,? and grabbed her as naked as she was and squeezed her against my chest until her mouth opened. Then I kissed her good. So good she stopped breathing for long seconds and her eyes were glazed.
?Now do what I told you to do or you?ll get the hell slapped out of your hide,? I said.
She lowered her eyes and covered herself up with the coat. The grin she tried so hard to hide slipped out anyway. ?You?re the boss, Mike. Any time you want to be my boss, don?t tell me. I?ll know it all by myself.?
I put my thumb under her chin and lifted her face up. ?There ought to be more people in this world like you, kid.?
?You?re an ugly so-and-so, Mike. You?re big and rough just like my brothers and I love you ten times as much.?
I was going to kiss her again and she saw it coming. She shed that coat and flew into my arms and let her body scorch mine. I had to shove her away when it was the one thing I didn?t want to do, because it reminded me that soon something like this might be happening to Velda and I couldn?t let it happen.
The thought scared the hell out of me. It scared me right down to my shoes and I was damning the ground Clyde walked on. I practically ran out of the apartment and stumbled down the stairs in my haste. I ran to the comer and into a candy store where the owner was just turning out the lights. I was in the phone booth before he could tell me the place was closed and my fingers could hardly hold the nickel to drop it in the slot.
Maybe there was still time, I thought. God, there had to be time. Minutes and seconds, what made them so important? Little fractions of eternity that could make life worth living. I dialed Velda?s number and heard it ring. It rang a long time and no one answered, so I let it go on ringing and ringing and ringing. It rang for a year before she answered it. I said it was me and she wanted to hang up. I shouted, and she held it, and cautiously asked me where I was.
I said, ?I?m nowhere near your place, Velda, so don?t worry about me pulling anything funny. Look, hold everything. Don?t go up there tonight . . . there?s no need to now. I think we have the thing by the tail.?
Velda?s voice was soft, but so firm, so goddamn firm I could have screamed. She said, ?No, Mike. Don?t try to stop me. I know you?ll think of every excuse you can, but please don?t try to stop me. You?ve never really let me do anything before and I know how important this is. Please, Mike . . .?
?Velda, listen to me.? I tried to keep my voice calm. ?It isn?t a stall. One of the agency girls was murdered tonight. Things are tying up. Her name was Jean Trotter . . . before that she was Julia Travesky. The killer got her and . . .?
?Who??
?Jean . . . Julia Travesky.?
?Mike . . .. that was the girl Chester Wheeler told his wife he had met in New York. The one who was his daughter?s old school chum.?
?What!?
?You remember. I spoke of it after I came back from Columbus.?
My throat got dry all of a sudden. It was an effort to speak. ?Velda, for God?s sake, don?t go up there tonight. Wait . . . wait just a little while,? I croaked.
?No.?
?Velda . . .?
?I said no, Mike. I?m going. The police were here earlier. They were looking for you. They want you for murder.?
I think I groaned. I couldn?t get the words out.
?If they find you we won?t have a chance, Mike. You?ll go behind bars and I couldn?t stand that.?
?I know all about that, Velda. I was with Pat tonight. He told me. What do I have to do, get on my knees . . .?
?Mike . . .?
I couldn?t fight the purpose in her voice. Good Lord, she thought she was helping me and I couldn?t tell her differently! I was trying to protect her and she was going ahead at all costs! Oh, Lord think of a way to stop her, I couldn?t! She said, ?Please don?t bother to come up, Mike. I?ll be gone, and besides, there are policemen watching this building. Don?t make it any harder for me, please.?
She hung up on me. Just like that. Damn it, she hung up and left me cooped up in that two-by-four booth staring at an inanimate piece of equipment. I slammed the receiver back on the hook and ran past the guy who held the pull cord of the light in his hand, ready to turn it out. Lights out. Lights out for me too.
I ran back to the car and started it up. Time. Damn it, how
