Lana measured him with her eyes. Then she said: “Can do. We won’t haggle right now.”
She barked orders; a silent group of children collected their broken bottles from the mantel over the wood-burning fireplace and slipped out.
Lana said definitely: “The Gee-Gees won’t get to your friend. As for Morristown—well, if the Gee-Gees can make a
delivery there I guess I can. Frankly, I don’t like it. Morris-town’s tough. But we have an arrangeraenfwith the Itty-JJitties there. They’re rats; they use guns; but——”
She shrugged helplessly. You gotta go along, her shrug said.
Mundin found himself escorted to the door. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I want to hole up somewhere for the night. 111 meet you here in the morning, but what about right now?”
Bligh volunteered, “How about my place, Mr. Mundin? It isn’t much, but we’ve got bars.”
Lana nodded. “That’ll do. In the morning—what now?”
One of the Wabbits slipped in the door and reported to her. “Gee-Gee scouts,” he said. “We got one of them but there’s a couple more around. Might be a raid.”
“Well fix them,” Lana said grimly. “Guess they want their boy back. Come on, you two; I’ll have to convoy you out of here.”
She led the way. The street was black and silent; before they had taken three steps Lana was invisible. Mundin followed Bligh’s confident stride with some qualms.
Lana melted back out of the darkness and said, “Hold it! There’s one of the Gee-Gees under that fence. 111 get her——”
Her bottle glimmered. Bligh choked and tackled her from behind as she was about to slice into a pudgy ten-year-old face. Lana floundered on the ground swearing while Bligh addressed his stepdaughter, “Sandy, get the hell out of here. These are friends of mine. Ill see you at home!”
Alexandra, wriggling as he clutched her arm, said philosophically, “Sorry, NorvelL That’s the way the little ball bounces.” She threw back her head in a barking, strangling yell: “Sieg— heil! Sieg——”
Norvell held off Lana with one hand and with the other measured the distance to Alexandra’s jaw. He knocked her out, heaved her over his shoulder and panted, “Let’s go, Mundin. You tag along, Lana.”
In ten minutes Mundin had to relieve the little man of Alexandra’s weight. By the time Mundin’s knees were buckling, the girl was coming to.
Bligh addressed her quietly and seriously, rubbing his knuckles the while. After that she trailed sulkily along with them.
Mrs. Bligh tried to raise hell when the four of them came
in. “And,” she screamed at Norvie, “where have you been? Out of here without a word—gone for hours—we could have——”
Norvell said it was none of her business. He said it in such a way that Alexandra gasped with indignation, Lana with admiration. Mundin blushed at the language, but reflected that Belly Rave was doing things for little Mr. Bligh. And the things were not necessarily bad.
“And,” Norvell concluded, “if I see any more monkey-business between that hairy ape Shep and you, there is going to be trouble. I’m warning you!”
“Hah!” sneered Virgina Bligh. “I suppose you’ll beat him up.”
“Don’t be silly,” Bligh said. “He could break me in two. I’d wait until he went away, and then I’d beat you up.”
Lana said sweetly, “I’m going now. What about this little stinker?” She jerked a thumb at the sullen Alexandra.
“I’ll take care of her,” Bligh promised. “She didn’t know any better, that’s all.”
Lana gauged him. “Okay,” she said. “Be back in the morning.” She was gone, as Virginia Bligh, regaining her breath, started in for the second round.
Mundin said, “Please. I’ve got a hard day tomorrow—can I get some sleep?” »
Chapter Fifteen
they spent the morning in Old Monmouth, Mundin and Lana and Norvie Bligh, who tagged along in a sort of vague secretarial capacity.
First they stopped by Mundin’s bank, where he plugged in his key, punched “Close Out Account,” and scooped up the bills that rolled out.
He counted morosely. Two hundred thirty-four dollars, plus eighty-five cents in change. Lana looked hungry, and Mundin recalled that he still owed her twenty-five dollars balance from the night before. He gave it to her reluctantly.