The Long Wait (19 page)

Outside, the band swung into a slow waltz, a tired song that drifted in through the walls like a vapor and wrapped around us. She had the light behind her like the sun filtering through a haystack and a tear was ready to roll down each cheek. “You aren't silly,” I said again.

“I was doing fine until you came along. There's a hundred men out there who'd love to make love to me and the only one I want is you.”

I wanted to answer her, but there wasn't any room for words. Her mouth was a fiery cushion against mine, her body a warm curve that melted and flowed into mine, pressing so tightly I could feel every tremor that ran in excited little ripples from her lips to her feet.

My fingers caught in her hair and pulled her head back. “You're a good kid, Wendy,” I grinned at her.

She didn't grin back. The corners of her eyes tilted with an obscure humor, but that was all. “Good? You know how good I am. I was good then I grew up. By the time I got smart it was too late. I was a tramp and I'm not making any bones about it. Take a long look, Johnny, and you'll see it all, every bit of it. You'll see a gal who's been kicked around and did a lot of kicking herself. Now I put on an act that shows a little skin and I'm some sort of a success and until you came along I was pretty contented. I have a house, a car and a couple of good friends and I thought I had enough. See what you did to me?”

“Nuts, you're still a good kid.”

This time she did grin. Just a little. “I can't be. If I was I wouldn't be so stupid and so perfectly frank as to stand here telling you that I was a tramp and almost in love with you to boot.”

I tried to say something, but she wouldn't let me get in a word. “Don't worry about it, Johnny. Let me be stupid, but don't feel sorry for me. If there's any loving to be done, let me do it I'm not that stupid. I won't tie you down no matter how many kisses you want. Is that plain enough?”

For a good ten seconds I did nothing but stand there and look at her. It was the first time her soul was in her face and it wiped out all the hard lines around her eyes. I said, “Yeah... I guess it is.”

“By the way ... I have news about your Vera West.”

I hardly heard her. “Tell me.”

“I asked around like you told me to and one of the entertainers saw her up at the State Capital a few years back. She was playing around with some local character.”

“How'd they know it was Vera?”

“Because she had seen her with Servo when she was booked in some of the clubs in Lyncastle.”

I grunted something and nodded. When I thought about it I said, “Was that before or after she broke up with him?”

She pinched her tongue between her teeth, then, “When she vanished she vanished completely, didn't she?”

“Looks that way.”

“Then it must have been before.”

I thought it over but my mind couldn't fit it in anyplace. So she took a flyer on Lenny and so what. Maybe she was tired of his games. I shoved her away gently, holding her out where I could look at her. “Keep asking. Maybe something good'll turn up. Sure you won't change your mind about tonight?”

“Please ... not tonight.”

I liked that about her, too. I tossed the butt into an ash tray and opened the door. The tail end of the waltz rushed in on a wave of applause, echoing off the walls. When I looked back she was still standing there watching me. “Kid,” I said, “I'm not so interested in virgins that I'd trade a real woman for one.”

He smile was beautiful this time. Then she stuck her tongue out at me and I shut the door.

Louie met me coming out and waved me over to the bar for a drink. Without being told the bartender shoved some thing that bubbled under our noses and we raised the glasses in a silent toast. Louie smacked his lips and crooked his head at me. “Tell me something. You take Wendy away from here?” He caught the question in my glance and added, “I see her watch you alla time. Me, I know. I have the wife. Lots of pretty girls before that too, you betcha!” He let out a series of grunts and patted himself in the belly in pleasure.

“Look, Louie, you don't
want
to lose her, do you?”

“Hell, Wendy goes and my trade goes too.” He grunted again. “Maybe not. Men, they like to see the naked women. Sometimes I don't think they care what she's like as long as she's female.”

“You're quite a philosopher. Wendy's not a naked woman.”

“Sure, that's even better. She's better'n a stripper. Let her show one extra inch and these men think they really see something... Not so good to show it all at once. Wendy, she's a good girl.” He peered at me knowingly.

“That's what I told her, Louie.”

“She's had it rough you know.”

“Sure.”

“But she's a nice girl. You understand?”

“I understand.”

“You treat her rough and you know what happen. You understand that, too?”

If he hadn't been so damn serious he would have sounded funny. Like her father or something. I raised the glass and drained down the last of the bubbly water. “Don't worry, Louie, she won't get treated rough. I kind of like the kid, see?”

“Sure, Johnny. I know. Me, I guess I worry too much. She's here long time now. We two good friends. Old Nick, he's good friend too. In that town back there ...” he waved a thumb over his shoulder, “... is all kinds of no-good things. Here it's pretty good and we like it that way. You know.”

I played with the glass a little bit. The bartender tried to fill it up but I held my hand over the top. “You know much about those bad things, Louie?”

“Some. I don't shop for trouble. I see who goes in and who comes back. Lotsa trade goes through this place.”

“You know a guy named Eddie Packman?”

At first I didn't think he was going to answer me, then he said, “Why?”

“He's a wise guy.”

“He's a tough guy too.”

“Not that tough. Know where I can find him?”

“He's gotta joint ...”

“Nope. He's on the town tonight.”

“Then he's gotta woman. You go to the Ship'n Shore. You find him there. He's a big stuff with a woman. Always he has one two feet bigger than him. You taking Wendy?”

“No.”

“That's good. You find trouble with somebody else.”

“Yeah, Wendy suggested the same thing. Okay, Louie, thanks for the info. I'll see you later. Take care of my girl.”

I slid off the stool and waited for a couple to unblock the aisle. Louie's beefy fingers snagged my arm. “Johnny ... you ever kill anybody?” His voice was almost lost in the hubbub.

My face tightened up all by itself and my stomach felt hollow. It was something I didn't like to answer, but the answer must have been right there because he added, “You get tough with this Packman... somebody die all right. Somebody get killed quick.”

I nodded and he let go of my arm. “It won't be me,” I said.

“No, it won't be you, Johnny.”

The band started another noisy piece that cleared the bar of dancers long enough for me to squeeze through. I stopped by the door and lit another smoke, trying hard to unscramble the ends and put them together long enough to lead me some-wheres.

Somebody wanted me out of the way. Somebody put a thousand bucks in the pocket of a guy who tried to do it. That somebody could be Packman, and if it was Packman he could supply a lot of answers. Like where was Vera West, for instance.

My mind started turning over fast and I dug some change out of my pants. There was an empty row of phone booths off to one side and I grabbed the one on the end. The operator took my nickel for the unlisted number in the red light section, then rang it twice until that voice sounding like a tall, cool drink said hello.

I said, “I'm the guy who pulled the tassel, remember?”

Her laugh was the drink spilling over. “Yes, I certainly remember. You seemed startled.”

“I never pulled a tassel before.”

“What a pity.”

“Look, you said you'd ask around...”

“That's right, I did. Do you ...” she hesitated a moment, “think we can discuss the matter in say, a half hour?” In the background I heard the low murmur of voices and the chink of ice in a glass. I caught it fast.

“A half hour's fine. Do we talk there or some other place?”

“Yes ... please ...”

“Okay, I'll be parked down the street from your place in a half hour. I'll have the dimmers on. You'll see me.”

She was saying good-by when I hung up.

It didn't take me long to get there. Both sides of the street were lined with heaps from battered pickups to flashy convertibles, out-of-state license plates predominating. A black Buick was pulling away from the curb and I slid into the slot it left.

I still had fifteen minutes to go, so I dragged out the butts and lit up. The second one was down to my fingers when a shaft of light hit the sidewalk as the door to the house opened. Venus in a tailored suit was framed there for a brief second before the door closed and the darkness swallowed her again.

Her heels made little tapping sounds on the pavement as if they were keeping time with some inaudible music. I switched the dimmers on and off twice then left them on and watched her walk into their soft glow. When she was opposite the car I pushed the door open and waited.

Then Venus with her heavenly aroma slid in next to me and plucked the butt out of my fingers for a last drag before flipping it out the window. “I feel like a schoolgirl,” she smiled.

“Sneak out?”

“More or less.”

“Sorry if I interrupted something.”

“Oh,” her eyes slanted a little and grinned at me, “it wasn't that important. As a matter of fact, I was looking for an excuse to get away when you called.” She leaned over and turned the switch on the radio, then fiddled with the dial until the throbbing beat of a symphony filled the car. “The Philadelphia ... mind?”

“Not at all.”

Venus was quite a woman. Quite. Red light de luxe but loved her symphonies. She sat with her head back on the seat, her eyes half closed, breathing in every note.

I let her listen to the last of it. Fifteen minutes of sitting there not saying a word until only the echo was left then I shut it off. She dreamed on for a minute longer before her head came up and another smile leaned in my direction. “You're a pleasure to be with, man.”

I said thanks kind of dryly, waited, then: “You didn't come out to listen to that, did you?”

This time she laughed deep in her throat and without any kind of coyness slid her hand under mine. “You don't know much about women, do you?”

“Enough, I guess.”

“I said women.”

“Is there a difference?”

“You'd be surprised.”

“Then I guess I don't know much.” She didn't know how much truth was in that statement. You don't learn much in just a few years. Not even a lifetime.

“You're about to learn, man,” Venus grinned. Her hand squeezed mine just enough so I'd know exactly what she meant. Not that it was necessary. The devil had been there in her voice and her eyes warming me with the thought. She reached for the cigarettes in my pocket without taking her eyes from mine. “Not now of course,” she added. “Later. In style.”

“Of course,” I tried to say knowingly.

It sounded like a croak.

She pulled the dash lighter out, held it to the tip of her cigarette a moment and stuck it back. Through the smoke she said, “You wanted to know about Vera West.”

The warm feeling I had went away. Fast. “That's right.”

“Everybody wants Vera, don't they?”

“Jack tell you?”

She nodded. “I didn't learn much until he did. The girls were a little afraid to talk about it, but I gathered that they had been approached by several men and quizzed.”

“Who?”

“The men weren't identified. Frankly, I believed the girls when they said they didn't know them, but from what was said, the men weren't exactly strangers in town.”

I mulled it over a minute and she anticipated my next question. “No description. The girls were tanked at the time and weren't paying any attention to the men. They ... see a lot of men, you know.”

“Yeah, but hell, why pick on them? How would they know about Vera?”

“One,” she told me softly, “happened to be a girlhood friend of Vera's. The other happened to be a pet flame of Eddie Packman's when Vera and Servo were making a big thing of it. At the time they were quite friendly.”

“You question them?”

“Without any results. When Vera went she went completely. Nobody seems to know what happened to her.”

“Any chance of her being ... dead?”

“You know ...” her lip went under her teeth momentarily, “I thought of that and would've considered it a possibility if it hadn't been for one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Servo didn't break with Vera like he did with the others. It was the other way around. In fact, Lenny Servo was pretty upset about it from what I heard. He had it pretty hard for that girl. Later, of course, he acted like it was all his doing. The guy's neck-high in pride especially where women are concerned. No, I don't think Vera's dead at all. I think she disappeared of her own will.”

“Why?” I asked.

“That's something I haven't figured out yet. If she had something on Lenny and proposed to use it she certainly wouldn't have gone off like that. That is, if she was smart enough to protect what she had so Lenny couldn't touch her. No, I don't think that was it at all. She had another reason for leaving.”