smoke.
'What do you mean?' Ronnie said.
'A contract.'
'On who?'
'On you.'
'Who would let a contract on me?'
'Friends of the young guinea you dumped last week. Somebody fingered you.' Red picked a piece of tobacco from his lower lip and flicked it away. 'Somebody must have been watching when you met in the motel room. Everybody has a backup man. It's probably for sure he didn't show up alone carrying ten grand. Somebody must have seen your face and put you together someway… The word is that there was a lookout near the motel who saw you walk in the room.' His words ran together.
'Who told you all this?' Ronnie leaned closer to the older man.
'I got a call from a friend who's connected real good with the big boys. I've known the guy for years. He called to ask me if I wanted twenty cases of bourbon off a truck job. We're just shooting the shit, see, and he asks me if I know a guy named Ronnie Boyce. Not knowing what is on his mind, I tell him no.
He tells me a contract is out on a Ronnie Boyce for icing a San Fernando Valley boy in a rip-off. Seems the guinea you iced was somebody's mule. He was handling paper between here and Las Vegas for the big boys.'
Ronnie rubbed his chin. 'What do you think I should do?'
'Only one thing to do. Beat the fuckers to the goddamn punch. If they want to fight, I say there's no better time than the present. We move first. We show 'em our shit.' Red made a gun gesture with his thumb and index finger.
'What if everybody's got a baby brother?'
'I've already checked it out. The guy that put out the contract is a loner. No family ties. He's just a juice man; a ten-percent-a-week Shylock. He had the Italian kid buying hot paper for him. That's all. No family connections. Nothing like that. He wants to make himself look good by offing you if we put him out of the way, that would be the end of it. Nobody would take his place. No baby brothers. No revenge bullshit. The problem would be solved.' Red sucked in smoke.
Gabe came over with drinks on a tray and said, 'Coupla usuals.' He put the drinks on the table and slithered back behind the bar.
'How are we gonna do it?' Ronnie said with a puzzled expression.
'The juice man does his business out of the California Plaza Hotel. He rents a suite two days a week and people come to him to do business. This friend of mine can get me an introduction. You will be my bagman. We go to the hotel like we were going to get a loan, and do the fucker right in his room. The sawed-off piece doesn't have any numbers. Drop it in the room, and we walk out nice as can be.' Red made the washing-hands gesture.
'He'll probably have a backup, right?' Ronnie said.
'Probably. If so, you'll have to dump him, too. There's no other way.'
'Right,' Ronnie said. His expression was placid.
'How's it sound to you?' Red said. 'I mean, do you feel confident? Do you feel good about it?' He resisted the urge to pat the young man's arm.
'What's the guy's name? The loan shark,' Ronnie said.
Red's voice was lowered. 'Tony Dio. Ever heard of him?'
Ronnie shook his head. 'No.'
'Very good…uh…I mean, why should you? He's nothin'-a piece of shit.' Red gulped down half of his straight soda and spat ice back into the glass.
'Red, how do you know your friend gave you the straight scoop about this thing?'
'Because I've known him for years.' Red finished off the rest of the drink and wiped his mouth on the cocktail napkin. 'He's solid. I trust him just like I trust you. See what I mean?'
'I see.' Ronnie turned his glass on the table.
'We've got to handle this just right. I want you to go back to your motel room and wait there. Tomorrow I'll pick you up about 6:00 P.M. We pick up your piece. We drive over to the hotel and get it over with. If we're lucky, he may even have some dough in the room. If so, it'll be that much better for us. Two birds with one stone.' Red smiled as hard as he could.
Carr walked up the stairs and opened the door to his apartment. Magazines on the coffee table included a three-month-old journal of criminology and a couple of Sally's Cosmopolitans.
He showered and shaved and put on a loose-fitting shirt and slacks. He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. Green bologna. He pushed it into the garbage-disposal.
The doorbell rang. When he opened the door, Sally looked slightly embarrassed.
'I can't believe you are home for once,' she said with a half-smile.
He lowered his head to kiss, but she walked by him and went to the sofa.
She wore athletic shorts and top and tennis shoes.
'Why aren't you at work?' he said.
'Because it's Saturday. The day when normal people don't work. They ride their bikes along the beach.'
'I worked all night,' Carr said. 'I guess I forgot what day it was.'
'That's nothing new for you. A new day is a new pinch, right?' Sally slumped down on the couch.
Carr closed the door. He walked back to the refrigerator and began rummaging.
'I came over here to talk.'
'Okay.' He tossed out a moldy orange.
Sally folded her arms across her chest. 'I've been doing a lot of thinking lately,' she said. 'The whole relationship is wrong. It's not based on anything permanent. We're just using one another. It's not a mature relationship. It never has been. I think it's self-destructive. You're a very cold person and I am not. I like stage plays and art galleries and you don't. I'm thwarting my own potential.' She spoke as if she had written it out ahead of time.
'I see,' Carr said. He closed the refrigerator door.
'You're going out with a waitress in Chinatown,' she said. 'You've been seen with her. Do you want to talk about it?' Her tone was schoolmarmish.
'There's nothing to talk about.'
'Do you sleep with her?'
'Yes.'
She chewed her lip a moment, watching him. Then she changed the subject. 'You've always had the ability to judge right and wrong by your own strange set of standards. When we first met, I was fascinated by that mysterious trait. Perhaps infatuated is the word I mean.' She stood up and walked to the window. She stared at the beach. 'Lately I feel out of place with you,' she said. 'As if I might have been sent from an escort service. The barrier you built around yourself gets stronger and stronger.' She turned and faced him. 'It's not as if we are married. I'm not some stupid, naggy housewife. I'm not chattel.' Her voice cracked. 'Why couldn't you have told me about her?'
Carr walked closer to her. He spoke quietly. 'I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt your feelings.'
'The same thing happened to your friend Howard. He built a barrier around himself and stopped understanding people's weaknesses. His view became distorted.' She looked at her palms. 'What I'm talking about is honesty between two people.' She looked up. 'Being able to have a meaningful dialogue.'
'That's a lot of shit,' Carr said without emotion.
Sally's jaw dropped.
'Those ideas come from the classes you're taking,' he said. 'Your teachers are phonies and faith healers whose heads are packed full of mush. They peddle bullshit to people like you, who buy it so you can have something to talk about during coffee breaks. How's that for honesty?'
'What is wrong with the truth?' Sally said.
'The truth? You tell me. You work in a courtroom all day. That's supposed to be Truth City. The only truth in there is that the judge is appointed for life.'
