Nothing to Lose But My Life Page 5

  Later Tanya told me that it was one of the quickest and most thorough jobs of blacking out she had ever seen.

  I wouldn’t know. I didn’t remember anything except the feel of the footboard against my skull.

  Chapter V

  I AWOKE with my mouth full of rancid cotton. I opened my eyes, squinting against a line of sunlight that fell across them. I tried to turn away and my head hurt and my side hurt. The pain reminded me of what had happened. With an effort that momentarily took everything I had, I sat up.

  I was in a bedroom that I didn’t recognize. The walls were papered a soft pastel green overlaid with delicate figures. The same motif was in the draperies. The bed I was in had a fancy headboard that held a radio, a number of books, and a telephone. All the furniture was very striking, with classic modern lines. I lay back and rested, letting the pains descend to a steady throbbing.

  I was thirsty and I wanted a cigarette. I looked into the headboard. There was a carafe of water, cigarettes, a lighter; and a piece of paper. Someone had written on the paper. It read:

  Lowry, if you wake up first, ring for me. There’s a bell by the phone. Tanya.

  I took a long drink from the carafe, pouring the water directly out of the spout into my mouth and so down my chin and onto my chest. The water felt good. I poured some into my hand and rubbed it over my face. I had to move carefully, using only my left arm to any extent, because when I tried using the right one, the pain in my side nearly sent me under again.

  The water helped. So did the first drag on the cigarette. I reread the note. Lowry and Tanya. We were getting friendly. I decided to try to stand and threw back the covers. Cool air hit me all over. I had been sleeping in nothing at all. We were friendly. I hadn’t put myself to bed.

  There was something familiar about the way the windows and doors were arranged. By the time I washed and brushed my teeth, I realized that I was in one of the duplexes on the Slope. A careful peek through the down-slatted Venetian blinds told me more. From the angle at which I saw the city and the harbor, I knew that I was upstairs above Enid. Again my suspicions of Tanya Mace rose.

  I went into the living room, moving slowly, and mulling over the fact that the toilet kit I had used in the bathroom and the robe I had found at the end of the bed were mine. I had left them in the motel. I wondered if Tanya had moved me out, bag and baggage.

  The living room was classic modern like the bedroom. I went on through it and into the other bedroom. This was somewhat more frilly, more feminine. It was definitely a woman’s room and in it was Tanya Mace. She slept with one arm flung outside the covers, her face turned toward me, her pale silver-gold hair flowing over the pillow. She looked beautiful in sleep. I closed the door quietly on my way out.

  I had to move slowly to keep the pain from hitting me too much but I managed to make it to the kitchen and find tomato Juice, doughnuts and equipment for coffee in a reasonable length of time. The tomato juice helped my stomach and the coffee I brewed would have put life into a statue. I began to feel better.

  I had finished the last doughnut when I looked up and saw Tanya standing in the kitchen doorway. She was wearing tight-fitting green satin pajamas. Her eyes were still heavy with sleep and she had no make-up on. Her hair hung loose in thick waves halfway down her back. She looked wonderful. Just seeing her made me shake.

  “You damned fool,” she said amiably.

  “I was hungry.”

  “Can I have a cup of your coffee?” She got herself a cup and poured the black bomb filler I had made into it. “You have no business up, Lowry. You took a bad bruising. You’re just lucky Perly didn’t cave your ribs in.”

  “I’ll live,” I assured her.

  She brought her cup to the table and sat down. She sipped without comment except to ask for a cigarette. I gave it to her and snapped on the lighter. She leaned toward me and her eyes met mine. I felt their impact like I had Perly’s foot. The lighter flame danced a little, and I drew my hand away as quickly as I could.

  She didn’t seem to notice. I said, “How did I get here?”

  “Fighting all the way,” she said dryly. “I got you on your feet with some cold water and a shot of your whiskey. You kept going rubber-legged on me.”

  I could understand her trouble. She was a lot of woman but I weighed a hundred and ninety pounds. I said, “Why not just leave me there?”

  “I told you, you’re in trouble. Would you rather I had left you so someone could come back and finish the job Perly started?”

  “Thanks,” I said. “But if Nikke had wanted to finish it, he could have outmaneuvered me and the forty-five. He had two of his boys with him.”

  “That kind of a job wasn’t like Nikke,” she said without any particular emphasis.

  I shrugged. I wasn’t being too grateful for her help but I felt I had a good reason to act brusque. In the first place, I didn’t know that I could trust Tanya Mace. In the second, she bothered me more than I could afford to be bothered right now.

  She got up and refilled our cups. “Let’s go in by the fire. It’s cozier.”

  I didn’t want to be cozy. I hoped she remembered that I had sore ribs and a sore head. There was a lot of her to wrestle with—assuming she felt in the mood for wrestling. I followed her and we sat together on the divan. It was longer and wider than Enid’s.

  “All right,” I said. “I’m in trouble. What’s that to you?”

  “I know who you are,” she said. I couldn’t feel any particular surprise. Most of Puerto Bello seemed to know who I was.

  “And why you came,” she added.

  “Hoopy tell you?”

  “No, not directly. I overheard him talking about it with Charles Conklin. You met him—”

  “I know him,” I said. “Little Rollo’s junior clark.”

  “Charles wouldn’t appreciate that,” she said. “Especially since they’re partners and he’s the money maker in the firm.”

  “Okay, I’ll apologize to him,” I said. “Let’s get back. I’m in trouble. You know who I am and why I came. You know that the Colonel is aware of my identity. He won’t have any trouble figuring out why I’m here. And that means he’ll be scared. When he’s scared, Hoop can be vicious.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I still don’t know where your concern lies.”

  “I can’t tell you that. Just accept the fact that I am concerned—and I’m on your side.”

  “Against your own fiancé?”

  “That’s something else I’d rather not discuss.”

  I could see that I wasn’t going to get as far with her as I had with Enid. Thinking of Enid reminded me. I said, “Do you know who lives downstairs?”

  Tanya stubbed out her cigarette and took another from a box on the coffee table. “Yes, I know. I’m one of the three who does know.” Her green eyes were on me again. “Or should I say four?”

  “I’m not going to broadcast it.”

  “I didn’t think you would. You stayed quite a while with her last night. Did you sleep with her, Lowry?”

  “No,” I said.

  She picked a fleck of tobacco from her tongue. “You probably will,” she said. “You’ll probably have to.”

  Her casual attitude jolted me. “For God’s sake, why?”

  “I presume you want information from her. That means you’ll have to play the game Enid’s way. And all the way.”

  I already knew that, but I didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t even want to think about it. Not with Tanya Mace sitting beside me. We were good inches apart but I could feel the heat she generated. She lifted her arms and threw back her shoulders, stretching. It caused quite a sensation.

  I said, looking into the fire, “Is Enid’s information worth having?” I chanced looking back at her. She was settled again.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

  I began to wonder about this woman. I thought I had her pretty well pegged from the dossier as a calculating woman wh
o knew what she had and what price it would bring. But now I wasn’t sure. She wasn’t exactly frank with me but in one sense she was franker than she needed to be. And certainly she had done me a good turn. I tried probing a little more.

  “Anything else you can tell me?”

  She drank some coffee and smoked a little. Then she shook her head. “Nothing except that you be careful. But you know that.”

  “And you waited for me last night to tell me that—only that?”

  She grinned at my persistence. “And to tell you that the Colonel and Charles know about you.”

  “And?”

  “And to let you know I wanted to help—but on my own terms.”

  “And the terms?”

  She said, “Don’t ask me the why of everything I do. Just take me as I am—and trust me.”

  “With my health, yes. And right now I don’t feel so sharp.” I didn’t. The pain had returned and my head felt light.

  Without a word, Tanya rose and left me. I could hear her in my bedroom and bath. She was running water. After a while she came back and helped me to the bathroom. The steam from the tub had a medicinal smell.

  “Soak in that for a while,” she ordered.

  I soaked until I began to get drowsy. Hoisting myself awkwardly out of the tub, I wrapped myself in a big towel and hobbled into the bedroom. Tanya was there, busily laying out a collection of bottles and pots.

  “Here, lie down on the bed.”

  I did what she ordered this time too. I had the feeling that she knew what she was about, and besides I was in no shape to argue. Once she had me face down on the bed, she patted me dry, pulled the towel down to my waist and went to work, rubbing various kinds of goo into my skin. She gave special attention to my sore side and ended by wrapping it tightly with an elastic bandage.

  I said, “Thanks.” My eyes were so heavy I could barely see her. It was just as well; having her that near me was disturbing, puny as I felt at the moment. She took her bottles and pots and went away.

  I felt myself going off to sleep. Something tugged at my memory, something I had to do. But it was too much effort to remember right then. I went to sleep instead.

  I awoke abruptly with the remembrance of what I had to do clear in my mind. It was a jolt to awaken that way and for a moment I was shaken.

  I got up, put on my robe, and went into the living room. Tanya had drawn the blinds and it was dark except for the dim glow from the electric fire turned on low. I snapped on a light and yawned at it. Tanya’s bedroom door stood open. The bed was made. The house had a deserted feeling about it.

  It took me only a moment to make sure that she was not there. It took another moment for me to find the note she had left. It was propped conveniently against the coffee pot:

  Lowry, I had to go out. Don’t do anything foolish. Rest that side until I get hack. She left it unsigned.

  I was just as glad that she had gone. I had the idea that Tanya Mace was not the kind one could argue with, especially if the argument advanced lacked logic. And mine certainly would—to her at least.

  The kitchen clock said that it was four-thirty. I was relieved that it was no later. I had a good many things to do and at the speed I was forced to move, I needed all the time I could get. My head felt almost well and my ribs were surprisingly free from pain. Whatever Tanya had done with her lotions and salve had helped a great deal. There was nothing now but a dull throbbing and a certain soreness when I moved too quickly.

  Going to the telephone, I called the motel and ordered a car to be rented for me. I also explained in answer to the clerk’s inquiry that my business took me in and out and that whether or not I spent the night in my bungalow, I wanted it kept for me. That done, I got the telephone book and started hunting.

  There were two numbers listed for Hoop. I decided that at this hour he was probably home and chose the one with the Hill exchange. I was lucky. I got the fruity voice of the Colonel himself on the third ring.

  “Hoop speaking.”

  I tried roughening my voice. “I’m calling to find out how Perly is.”

  “Who is this?”

  “A guy that doesn’t like his friends beat up.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hoop said.

  He could easily hang up on me but I had the idea he wouldn’t—not unless all this meant nothing to him. I made my voice ominous. “Look, friend, Perly’s hurt. I want to know if he’s being taken care of right. And I want to know what you’re going to do about that guy what messed him up.”

  “I told you—”

  I tried a little more butchered English. “You want I should come and ask you personal?”

  There was a short silence. Then, “There’s nothing for you to alarm yourself about. Everything is being taken care of.”

  “That’s better.”

  “Now, who is this?” He sounded almost petulent.

  I couldn’t resist it. I wanted him to know anyway since, according to Tanya, he was aware of my identity. I said, “This is Perly’s little oyster.” I hung up.

  I felt a good deal of satisfaction. I could now operate on the assumption that Hoop had a hand in sending Perly to me. Even if I accepted Nikke’s story, I could still assume that. And if Nikke was telling the truth, then Hoop had a connection with the Syndicate—enough, at least, to override Nikke’s plans. If Nikke was lying, then obviously he and Hoop were working together. This all bore out what my dossiers had hinted at—Hoop’s possible tie-in with the Syndicate.

  I grinned and went in to shave and dress. I had started making Hoop sweat. He would do a lot more of it before I was through with him, I promised myself.

  It was just past five when I left the house. I had called a cab and it was waiting for me below, at the foot of Enid’s front steps. I went out through Tanya’s garage and down the edge of a scrub-covered vacant lot that separated her place from the one to the south. I moved in an arc so that when I appeared on the street, I was on the far side of the cab. If Enid should be looking out her windows, she could only think I had stepped out of the cab.

  I said to the driver, “Wait a couple minutes.” I tossed my hat and topcoat in the back seat to show my good faith and then walked slowly up the steps and rang Enid’s front bell. Chimes echoed faintly back to me.

  There was a step, another. “Yes?”

  “It’s Lowry. Let me in.”

  The door opened and I ducked in. Enid was in a robe, her hair up as if she were getting ready for a bath. I could hear water running in the tub.

  She looked at me from her opaque eyes. I saw no expression in them but there was mingled gladness and doubt on her features. I waited to see how I was going to have to play this.

  “Lowry?” She stepped up to me and put a hand on my arm. Her fingers were trembling. “Lowry?”

  This might prove more embarrassing than having her mad at me. I said, “I’m all right now.”

  “I didn’t, Lowry. Honest I didn’t.”

  I said, “I was wrong. I apologize.”

  She pulled back. “You don’t have to be so damned stiff about it.”

  I looked at her and I couldn’t help thinking that she was the kind of woman who needed make-up. Tanya wasn’t. I said, “I really am sorry, kid.” And to show her I meant it, I foolishly leaned forward and gave her a peck on the lips.

  It was like lighting a fuse. Before I could get away, back where I wouldn’t feel quite so sorry for her, she had her arms around my neck and was-plastered against me. I couldn’t help thinking of Tanya’s remark—that I would have to do it Enid’s way if I wanted information from her.

  But this was hardly the time with a cab waiting. My first reaction was to pry myself loose. It was mostly caution. Just because I had been wrong about Perly didn’t mean that I trusted her too much. Then I remembered how much I needed a pipeline and how valuable a one she could be. I did what I did next coldly, deliberately.

  My arms went up and locked behind her. If she wanted
to kiss, then we might as well make a good job of it. The kiss went on for quite a while. It might have gone on longer except that she shifted her grip to get closer to me and put pressure on my ribs.

  They weren’t quite as tough as I’d thought. I went, “Oof!” and let loose, my knees buckling from the sharp, intense shock. It lasted only a second but that was enough.

  “Lowry!”

  I said, “Perly put his little foot in my ribs. They’re still remembering it.”

  “Oh, Lowry, I’m sorry. Let me see.”

  “It’s all right now,” I assured her quickly. I wanted none of this unbuttoning of shirts business.

  She took my hand and started tugging at me. “At least sit down. Come and have a drink while I bathe. I want to talk to you. I called your place a dozen times today.”

  I got annoyed at the motel clerk. Why hadn’t he told me that? Or was the Portview the kind of place where you had to buy such information? Then I forgot my annoyance. She wanted to talk and that was encouraging.

  I said, “Wait a minute. I have a cab outside.” I went out and down the steps. Walking was a little painful but it got less and by the time I reached the bottom, I decided that Enid’s rib treatment had only crimped me temporarily.

  The driver opened the door for me. I said, “Got your meter on?”

  “Not yet.”

  I gave him five dollars. “That should cover waiting. Turn the meter on now and take a rest. I’ll be a little while.”

  He snapped on the dome light of the cab, fished out a book with not just one but two nearly nude women displayed on the cover, and began to read. He left the meter off.

  “I got lots of time,” he said, tucking the five into his shirt pocket.

  I limped back up the stairs. My watch reminded me that spending a while with Enid might cut me short for time later. On the other hand, I might learn something that would save me time. It all depended on what we talked about.