a devil inside you that makes you exciting and tough, yet enough of an angel to make you tender when you have to be.'
My hands wanted to squeeze right through her waist until they met and I had to let her go or she would have felt the way they were shaking. I turned around and reached for the bottle and glass on the table and while I was pouring one there was a click and the light dimmed to a pale glow.
Behind me I heard her say softly, 'Mike... you never told me whether I was... just pretty or beautiful.'
I turned around and was going to tell her that she was the most lovely thing I had ever seen, but her hands did something to her belt and the fold of the dress that came up over one shoulder dropped away leaving her standing there with one hand on the lamp like a half-nude vision and the words got stuck in my throat.
Then the light disappeared altogether and I could only drink the drink quickly, because although the vision was gone it was walking toward me across the night and somewhere on the path there was another whisper of fabric and she was there in my hands without anything to keep her from being a woman now, an invisible, naked dream throwing a mantle of desire around us both that had too great a strength to break and must be burned through by a fire that leaped and danced and towered in a blazing crescendo that could only be dampened and never extinguished.
And when the mantle was thrown back I left the dream there in the dark, warm and soft, breathing quickly to tell me that it was a dream that would come back on other nights too, disturbing and at the same time satisfying.
She was beautiful. She was pretty, too.
She was in my mind all the way home.
Chapter Six
At a quarter past ten I got up, dressed and made myself some breakfast. Right in the middle of it the phone rang and when I answered it the operator told me to hold on for a call from Miami. Velda's husky voice was a pleasure to hear again. She said, 'Mike?'
And I said, 'Hello, sweetheart. How's everything?'
'Fine. At least it's partly fine. Our boy got out on a plane, but he left all the stuff behind. The insurance investigator is here making an inventory of the stuff now.'
'Great, great. Try to promote yourself a bonus if you can.'
'That wouldn't be hard,' she laughed. 'He's already made a pass. Mike, miss me?'
I felt like a heel, but I wasn't lying when I said, 'Hell yes, I miss you.'
'I don't mean as a business partner.'
'Neither do I, kitten.'
'You won't have to miss me long. I'm taking the afternoon train out.'
My fingers started batting out dots and dashes on the table. I wanted her back but not too soon. I didn't want anybody else climbing all over me. 'You stay there,' I told her. 'Stay on that guy's tail. You're still on salary from the company and if you can get a line on him now they'll cut us in for more business later. They're as interested in him as they are in recovering the stuff.'
'But, Mike, the Miami police are doing all they can.'
'Where'd he hop to?'
'Some place in Cuba. That's where they lost him.'
'Okay, get over to Cuba then. Take a week and if it's no dice forget it and come on home.'
She didn't say anything for a few seconds. 'Mike... is something wrong up there?'
'Don't be silly.'
'You sound like it. If you're sending me off...'
'Look, kid,' I cut her off, 'you'd know about it if anything was wrong. I just got up and I'm kind of sleepy yet. Be a good girl and stay on that case, will you?'
'All right. Love me?'
'You'll never know,' I said.
She laughed again and hung up. She knew. Women always know.
I went back and finished my breakfast, had a smoke then turned on the faucet in the bathroom sink to bring the hot water up. While I shaved I turned on the radio and picked up the commentator who was just dropping affairs in Washington to get back to New York and as far as he was concerned the only major problem of the day was the District Attorney's newest successes in the gambling probe. At some time last night a series of raids had been carried out successfully and the police dragnet had brought in some twenty-five persons charged with bookmaking. He gave no details, but hinted that the police were expecting to nail the kingpins in the near future.
When I finished shaving I opened my door and took the tabloid out of the knob to see what the press had to say about it. The front page carried the pictures of those gathered in the roundup with appropriate captions while the inside double spread had a layout showing where the bookies had been operating.
The editorial was the only column that mentioned Ed Teen at all. It brought out the fact that Teen's personal staff of lawyers were going to bat for the bookies. At the same time the police were finding that a lot of witnesses were reluctant to speak up when it came to identifying the boys who took their money or paid off on wins, places and shows. At the end of the column the writer came right out with the charge that Lou Grindle had an organization specially adept at keeping witnesses from talking and demanded that the police throw some light on the subject.
I went through the paper again to make sure I didn't miss anything, then folded it up and stuck it in the bottom of my chair until I got around to reading it. Then I went downstairs and knocked on the door of the other apartment and stood there with my hat in my hands until the door opened and the nurse said, 'Good morning, Mr. Hammer. Come on in.'
