“I’d better not, thanks just the same.”
Maureen’s good-night was a smile and a bob of the head and a hasty return to the color screen where a vivid-faced girl was leaning over a wire fence amid a throng, cheering a racehorse toward the finish line. The only sound was the insectile buzzing that escaped from Maureen’s padded earphones.
As I walked to the car in the drive I heard the clack behind me as Biddy relocked the heavy front door.
11
—–SUNDAY DINNER was finished
by the tune I got to the motel dining room, but they could provide steak sandwiches. There was one whispering couple on the far side of the room and one lonely fat man slumped at the bar. Both the couple and the fat man were gone when I went to the bar for a nightcap. I sat on the far stool by the wall, where Penny had been sitting when I had first seen her.
Jake, the bartender, wore an odd expression as he approached me. “Evening, sir. Look, if I got you in any kind of jam–”
“I told Stanger he could check it out with you, that I met her right here Friday night.”
He looked relieved. “What happened, he mouse-trapped me. He came up with this thing about we let them come in and hustle, we could lose the license. And one thing and another, he worked it around to you and that girl, and I thought he had been tipped and I couldn’t exactly deny it, so I said sure, they left together, but how could I know they weren’t friends or something already. Honest to God, sir, I didn’t know it was the same one in the paper this morning until he said so. Then I’m left hanging, wondering if you were some kind of crazy that took her home and… there are some very ordinary looking guys who are very weird about hustlers. But I couldn’t imagine you doing… Anyway, when I saw you come in, I felt better, I don’t know why.”
“I think maybe some Black Jack on one rock.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. McGee.” When he served it with a proper flourish, he said, “Jesus, I’ve felt half sick ever since. And… I guess you’ve got a right to feel a lot sicker than me.” The implied question was very clear.
“Jake, we walked out of here and shook hands and sang one small hymn and said good-night.”
He flushed. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I was just thinking she didn’t have the right moves, you know? So what she is doing is trying to get even with a boyfriend who’s cheating on her by doing some swinging herself, so she takes you home and the next day she tells him how she got even, and he can’t stand it. She’s laughing at him. He grabs the first thing and–”
“Stares in horror at what he’s done and, sobbing his heart out, dials the cops.”
“It’s just that you try to figure out what happened.”
“I know, Jake. I’m sorry. Everybody plays that particular game. That’s because we always want to know why. Not so much how and who and when. But why.”
“Can I ask you something? Did you stop in your room before you came in to eat?”
“No. I parked in front. The question implies I’ve been away from the place. So somebody has been trying to get me.”
He looked uneasy. “Well, it’s Mr. Holton. He comes in off and on and he’s never any trouble. He’s a lawyer. He was here about five o’clock looking for you. He had two quick ones and he came back about quarter to six. He’d have some and then go looking for you and come back. I let him have more than I would somebody else, on account of he’s local and a good customer and he’s always treated me good. Well, he finally got mean and loud and I finally had to cut him off. From the way he walked out… maybe a half hour before you came in to eat… he could have passed out in his car by now. Or maybe he’s still on his feet and waiting for you by your room. He began telling me, toward the end, that he was going to whip your ass. Looking at you, I think maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to do, unless he sucker-punched you, which he acted mad enough to do. I thought you might want to keep your eyes open on your way back to the room.”