He had bought a new hat. It lay there on the chair, in the shadow, while he stared at the floor between his feet The rumpled bed made a noise when he moved, but he didn’t move much. He sat quite still and every minute was a long wait.
Sometimes he felt as if none of this were real, as if he were no longer himself, standing still and waiting for the next move to come. It had been different with Pat He had waited, but there was always the effort to make time pass, to make it pay in the end. And then there had been Pendleton back in his mind, but the hate had paid off and was gone. And Pat was gone.
How was Alverato managing? She was sick and nobody knew how to help her.
He didn’t like to think about it. He started to pace. With a sudden gesture he picked up his hat. He put it on his head the way he always did and left the room.
But the walk didn’t help. It came to him that he didn’t like to be alone any more, and he didn’t like loose ends. That Alverato deal was a loose end. Pat was a loose end. Given half a chance with that syndicate business, he could really show Alverato that he was worth his salt Given half a chance with Pat, even less than that…
He walked back to his room, listening to the hard click of his shoes on the dark street Once he took his hat off and creased the crown. He didn’t have it on yet the way he wanted when a voice said:
“You. Benny Tapkow. Hey!” The car had rolled up silently, lights dim. “It’s about the Pendleton dame,” said the voice when Benny made a quick move away from the car.
He came closer, cautiously, and saw that it was Birdie, hunched over the side window, beckoning him to come nearer.
“Tapkow. Alverato wants to see you. All hell’s busted wide. We got a call from Pendleton. Laughing his sides out because now that he’s got his kid back, he’s pulling a double-cross. He’s changed the contact or the code or somethin’ and Big Al is out in the cold again. Alverato like to split a gut!
“Then we get a call from the Rosemanor, the hotel downtown? The manager’s a friend of Big Al and he says there’s a Miss Pendleton checked in tonight and she’s raising the roof. She’s out of her head and yelling at the operator that she wants to call a Mr. Alverato, or else a Mr. Benny Tapkow, and she won’t quiet down. Seems like she ran out on her ever loving daddy.”
Benny felt it coming. It was there again, the big chance. It was there again and it was Pat again. “Where is she now?”
“Big Al’s got her. He sent a couple of the boys. She’s a wacky one, that dame, keeps cussing her old man and calling for Saint Anthony, or somebody. Big Al told me to look for you and see if I could get you to-”
“Let’s get going,” Benny said, and jumped into the car. It was starting again and this time he was going to hang on all the way home.
“Feeling better, Benny?” Alverato slapped him on the back. Benny winced. “Christ, I’m sorry, kid. Have another drink?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Here. Well, you ready to see that girl? I’m telling you, the time we had with her, yelling, scratching-”
“Let me sit a minute.”
Alverato stopped trying to make conversation. He sat chewing his cigar. When Benny had finished his drink, he turned in his chair and looked at Alverato.
“How come you got generous all of a sudden, Al?”
“What? How do you mean?”
“Giving me the brush on the plane, now bringing me back here.”
“Like I said, she keeps asking for you. She was real trouble there for a while.”
“Am I back in?”
Alverato frowned, narrowing his eyes. “Do I pay you? Sure, Benny. You keep her steady for me, keep her calm for the time she’s here, and-”
Benny got up. “No deal.”
It took Alverato a second or two and then he got up too. “What do you want, for chrissakes, a pension maybe? Because I got a little problem with Miss Hysteria over there, I gotta take you on and listen to your lip? Look, Tapkow, I don’t put no punks on the payroll just to keep a dame quiet for a while. If you don’t want the favor, I can stand her screaming around here a couple or so days longer.”
Benny was tapping a cigarette on his thumb, watching Alverato perform. Then he lit the cigarette and blew smoke. “Suit yourself. I want on the payroll because I got things to sell. Handling the girl for you is only part of it.”
“You got something to sell? Why, you swell-headed-”
“Why don’t you listen, Al? Take this, for instance: right now you’re not through with Pendleton. He’s a snake in the grass and a problem. I know the bastard. I know how he works. You don’t.”
Alverato threw his cigar in the fireplace and came close. “Tapkow, first of all, I don’t like your manners. You’re getting uppity with me. Second, I don’t worry about Pendleton as long as I got that crazy daughter of his. So blow, before I lose my temper.”
But Benny had it all laid out in his mind. Big Al and his puffy temper didn’t impress him any more and Benny had something to sell.
“Take this, Al: you’re getting your shipment, the first one, and that’s all, right?”
“I-How did you know?”
“Pendleton changed the code, right?”
“So? Now I got his daughter, there’s nothing to keep me from giving him the squeeze, is there?”
“Sure. You just keep squeezing. So you’ll get another shipment. How do you know he won’t cross you again? How long do you think he’s going to feed you info and not raise heaven and hell to get his daughter in the meantime? You got to admit it, Al, you can use a man who knows Pendleton. Sure you can go it alone. You’ve done it before. But this is easier, faster. You can use me.”
Alverato got the point. Benny could tell. Big Al wasn’t so big any more; not so big as he had been twenty years ago, when he got the name.
“About that cable, Al. Do you know what he changed? Did he change the whole code, make it more complicated? I’ll give you my guess, Al. He changed the name, the signature, that’s all. That’s what Pendleton would do, a little thing like that. It hardly shows, but it makes the difference. I know Pendleton, and you don’t.”
“Sounds good, Tapkow, but anybody can guess.”
“Another thing, Al. Pendleton has a whole setup for getting the H into the country. I know that, you know that. So I bet you another thing,” and now Benny was guessing. “He hasn’t given you that setup, has he, Al?”
“You’re right.”
“I know I’m right.” Benny took a deep breath. “And when he does, you need a man to learn the ropes, to take it over. You need a man who knows that rat well enough to catch him in a double-cross, to figure where he might try to pull it.”
There was a pause.
“Well?” Benny said. He was sure now. His voice was even. “Am I in?”
“You’re in.”
They had another drink. Then Scotty came and showed the way upstairs, to the room where they kept Pat.
There was no sound behind the door while Benny waited till Scotty was down the stairs. He waited another moment. This wasn’t going to be a thing like handling Alverato. This was going to be more like a handful.
When he opened the door he saw her on the couch, deep in the cushions. Pat didn’t look much like a handful. She sat curled up, plucking her left ear lobe with a short, mechanical movement, and her light eyes were traveling back and forth with an irresolute haste. Then she turned fast. “Benny!” She jumped up and ran across the room. “Benny, where have you been?”
“I’m back,” he said.
“Benny, the time I’ve had! It’s all so crazy and I had to see you, Benny. Fix me a drink, will you?”
“Sure, Pat. Sit down. I’m back.”
“Fix me a drink, will you, Benny? Remember that raw stuff we had down South? Remember in the prison you had-”
“In a second. Pat, listen. How have you been?”
“Rotten, just rotten.” She talked in a fast clipped way. “I even had a doctor. My father had a doctor, two doctors. My God, Benny, they didn’t do a thing. Terrible, Benny.”
“What was wrong?”
“My God, nothing, everything. My head, Benny, and everything makes me so nervous. And sometimes pains in my legs, I don’t know why.”
“What did they say, the doctors?”
“Rest, quiet, nerves. Those jackasses! One of them even asked if I take dope. My God! Of course, it’s been so long ago I didn’t-”
“I heard you, Pat.”
“Will you get me a drink or do I scream? You remember that sharp stuff we had? Do you have any of that sharp stuff?”
“Keep still, Pat. I’ll be back.” He got up.
There was only one envelope left. He had it in his watch pocket, and downstairs, at the bar, he used it as before. He got the youngest whisky on the shelf, and, using half of the little white envelope, he fixed her what she needed.
Upstairs again he watched her take it with a greediness that made her look ugly. Afterward she paced the room, plucking at her ear lobe, and he noticed how she walked around the furniture as if she were afraid it was going to bite.
“Now that you’re back, let’s get out of here,” she said. “There ought to be better places than this.” She swung her arm. “There ought to be places where we can go. You and me. What do you say?” She looked at him, seeing how his face never changed. “What’s the matter with you, Tapkow. You starting to play games again? Hard to get or something?”
“Pat, listen for a minute.” He wasn’t sure that this was the right time, but she’d be under pretty soon and then nothing would make sense to her. “You’re staying here for a while. I’ll stay with you.” He waited. “I’ll stay with you, Pat. You hear me?”
She had closed her eyes and was starting to smile. “Ah,” she said with a deep breath.
“Pat-”
“Don’t yell, Benny. I can hear you.” She sat down on the couch and put her hand on his knee. “What is it, Benny?”
That creepy smile with the eyes looking tired had come over her. It had come too fast; she was going off. And he hadn’t explained.
“Don’t feel bad about it, Benny. You’re trying your best.” She smiled at him.
“What are you talking about?”
“The whisky, Benny. That sharp, bitter whisky. I remember now, the way it was in jail. You did the same there, didn’t you, Benny? You spiked it.”
What made the shock worse was the bland smile she kept on her face.
“I understand, Benny. You tried to help, didn’t you, darling?” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, darling.”
She was making things worse. She was saying what he’d been telling himself, and the whole rotten lie of it twisted through him like pain.
“Isn’t that true, darling?”
If only it hadn’t been Pat. If only it wouldn’t be Pat, the hub of his plans, both plans, the clean and the rotten.
Her voice, calm and reasonable, gave him another jolt. The longer they stay users, the clearer they stay in the head. For a while. She sounded clear and sane: “-and solve both our problems, Benny. I’ll stay, I won’t cause any trouble. You finish up with Daddy.” She grinned. “And I want you to have all the luck in the world.” She stopped, as if she were thinking about it; then her face became serious again. “And in return, darling, you help with mine. Keep me happy, Benny. O.K.?” She watched his face but didn’t see what went through him when he caught her meaning. “You get the H, just a little bit now and then, and I won’t cause any trouble. O.K.?”
When he found his voice, the struggle left him with nothing but nonsense. “Stop grinning!” he shouted. “Stop that goddamn grinning!”
“Or I’ll make trouble.” She wasn’t grinning or smiling or any of those things. Her face was flat and her voice was like metal. “There are telephones all over the house, and dumb little men with their tongues hanging out to do what I ask them to. There are a thousand little ways-”
He was tired of fighting on a dozen fronts. He’d always got things done by doing one at a time, one after the other. “It’s a deal. And when this is over-”
“Sure, Benny, sure.” She got up and walked to the window. “Sure, sure, sure.” She started to twirl, watching her skirt billow up.
“Pat!” But he was talking to nobody. She was off at the other end of the room banging on the piano. Just the way Tober had done it. The last thing Tober had said, Benny remembered, was “Wish me luck!”