Flood

toward the river-waiting. Her partner, a skinny black girl wearing a turquoise knit dress and apparently nothing else, was standing by, hands on hips. The black hooker was anxious to get working, jawing with every car that stopped, but the big woman sat like she was part of the concrete.

I pulled up and rolled down the window, giving the big pros a look at my face. She asked, “Want to buy some pussy?” in a half-asleep voice like she didn’t give a damn one way or the other while the black girl ran her tongue around her lips.

“How much?”

“Twenty-five for the pussy, ten for the room.”

“Hey, I want to rent it, not buy it,” I told her, and the black girl giggled.

“I just want to talk to you,” I told the white woman.

She looked at me. “No sale, pal. I’m self-employed.”

“Do I look like a pimp to you?”

“You don’t look like nothing to me,” earning another giggle from her pal.

“You want to talk about it?”

“For twenty-five bucks in your car, thirty-five in the room,” she said in the same monotone.

“Deal,” I said, opening the door for her. She slowly pulled herself off the concrete cushion and walked over to the Plymouth. She was about six feet tall, had to weigh 170 pounds.

As soon as she stood up I knew who she was.

I drove down by one of the abandoned piers, killed the engine, and turned to look at her. She said, “The twenty-five, man,” and I reached in my pocket while she fumbled in her purse, and I had my gun out before she came up with hers.

“Take your hand out of your pocketbook, okay? Nice and slow. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

A resigned light flashed in her eyes for a split-second, but she didn’t move. I cocked the pistol-the sound was harsh in the closed car. She took her hand out of her pocketbook, threw one massive thigh over the other, and put her folded hands on her knees where I could see them.

“You’re not a cop, right?”

“Right.”

“So you want this one on the house… or is this payback?”

“It’s neither one, JoJo. Just be cool. Give me the purse.”

“There’s no money in it.”

“I know what’s in it.”

She tossed the purse at me, right at my face. I didn’t move-my gun didn’t move. The purse slapped against my face and fell into my lap. I snapped it open and found the tiny.25-caliber automatic-I put her piece in my pocket and tossed her purse into the backseat.

“Not much of a gun, JoJo.”

“I don’t need much.”

“You want to know what this is all about?”

“I figure I already know. Some sucker sent you, right? You don’t figure to blast me right here, and you don’t look tough enough to whip my ass, so I figure it’s got to be about money.”

“It’s about money all right, but money for you, not from you. I want you to do some work for me.”

“Twenty-five for the pussy, ten for the room.”

“Cut the shit, JoJo. I know you run a one-woman badger game, okay? I’m not going to any room with you. I want to buy something and I’m willing to pay.”

“You know about me?”

“Yeah.”

“From where?”

“From around.”

“Then you’re around the wrong people.”

“And you live in the suburbs, right?”

“I’m listening,” she said.

“I’m looking for a guy, okay? I’ve got his picture, got his description. You turn him up, I pay you a grand in cash. That’s it.”

“How much up front?”

“What do I look like, a fucking commuter? I’m not asking you to go out of your way-just do your work. You happen to see him, you make a call, you get your money.”

“I can get the same deal from the federales.”

“Bullshit. Don’t be so cool-there’s no way you’re talking to the Man. I’ll front you a quarter for the phone call, that’s it.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You can haul your gigantic ass out of here and back under the highway.”

JoJo sat there like she was thinking it over-like she had all the time in the world. She said, “Got a smoke?” and I nodded towards my shirt pocket. She reached one hand toward the pocket, bringing her face close to mine. There was nobody home behind her eyes. I brought the gun closer to her face.

JoJo plucked a cigarette from the loose pack and stuck it in her mouth. She patted herself like she was looking for matches, then let her left hand trail down my chest to my crotch and groped around, squeezed-the gun stayed on her face. JoJo took her hand away, leaned back against the seat cushion, fired the wooden match against the sole of her boot. “At least you don’t get a hard-on behind sticking a gun in my face.”

“I’m here on business, okay?”

JoJo took a deep drag of the cigarette. Her sweater looked like it was going to burst a few threads and I could see the outline of the wire-support bra-she must have been the only whore in the city who wore one.

“Show me the picture,” she said. I watched her face for a clue to her mind and gave it up. I took the Xerox of the mug shot out and handed it to her.

JoJo studied the picture intently. Her eyes narrowed. “That motherfucker, it’s him! I find this cocksucker and he’s dead. On the house. I don’t need your fucking quarter. It’s him…”

“Hey,” I said, to snap her out of it.

JoJo swiveled in her seat to look at me. Her face was dead-white under the makeup, red blotches mottled her cheeks-her eyes were crazy. I spoke softly, gently. “Listen, it’s okay. It’s okay, JoJo. I want him too, all right? I know he’s a bad guy. It’s okay-there’s lot of people wanting him now. Relax… just relax.”

I patted her rock-hard shoulder, stroked it-but I never moved the gun from her face. JoJo finally took a deep breath, handing me back the picture. “I don’t need this-I’d know that cocksucker anywhere. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. If you want him, you got him dead.”

“Look, I just want you to-”

But she went on like I hadn’t spoken. “And if you’re one of his freak friends, if this is a test, tell him I’ll always remember, okay? He’s dead. You don’t like it you can just fucking blast away right now.”

“JoJo… JoJo, listen, babe. I’m not his friend-I don’t even know him, okay? And I do want him. Just call me when you-”

“No calls. I see him, he’s dead.”

“You want the grand?”

“Not if I have to let him live.”

“I’ll pay you a grand for his head, okay, JoJo? When you finish with him, just take off his head, okay? And call me. When I see his head, I’ll pay you the money.”

And JoJo smiled like a little girl with a new doll. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Okay, we got a deal?”

“We got a deal, pal,” said JoJo, and slid over to open her door, leaving the Cobra’s picture and her purse in the car. As she was walking around the back to my side, I grabbed the.25 and popped the clip, jacked the shell out of the chamber, then worked the clip until I was holding a handful of bullets. When she came up to the window I gave her back the purse with everything inside. JoJo leaned in the window, shaking her rump for new customers like she was saying good-bye to an old one. She gave me a wink with one droopy eyelid, and I had the Plymouth in gear and