Part 56 (1/2)
”n.o.body ever complained either.”
”I want to make love to you again. I want it tonight. I don't want to wait a minute longer.”
”It's getting too touchy,” I told her. ”Even t.i.tan knows all-”
”I don't care about Stoney. He's my G.o.dfather; he should want what's best for me and if he doesn't, the h.e.l.l with him. We're talking about you and me and tonight. That's all I care about. I want you. I want to make up for twenty years.”
”In one night?”
She laughed again. ”Well, it's a start.”
Bolts of lightning were dueling around us and the full fury of the storm lashed rain under the awning.
”Let's get inside,” I said.
”Not till you promise.”
”Promise what?”
”When you leave here you'll come out to Windsong.”
”I have to make a stop on the way,” I said, thinking about DeeDee Lukatis. I wondered whether Doe knew that her ex-lover was dead. If she did, she was handling it very well. I decided that if she didn't know, somebody else could tell her.
”How long?” she demanded.
”An hour.”
”Don't be late,” she said, wheeled away, and dodged back inside.
I waited for a minute or two before going back in. It was a futile gesture. Babs was watching intently from across the room, like the linesman at a tennis match. I nodded and smiled my way back to her.
”It's not what you think,” I said.
”Please,” she said, rolling her eyes, ”you don't have to tell me a thing. I have two perfectly good eyes in my head.”
”Don't make it sound like some d.a.m.n intrigue,” I said.
”Darling, I just love intrigue. It's what makes life worth all the trouble.”
61.
MIRROR TRICKS.
Before I left the hotel, I stopped by my room and called Sam Donleavy. He was pushed for time, he explained, since Dutch would be calling shortly, but he a.s.sured me that he would locate the book and bring it to lunch the next day. I said that was just fine. Then I dug the company car out of the hotel garage.
A familiar black Pontiac was crouched under the trees in front of DeeDee's house when I got there. The Stick answered my ring.
”Just the two of you here?” I asked.
”Yeah, I brought over some dinner. Lark needed a little relief. She's stretched out there taking a nap.”
”That bench is worse than the rack,” I said.
”She was too tired to notice.”
”How's DeeDee?”
”Still out. The doctor must've given her enough Sec to knock an elephant on its a.s.s.”
”Good, the more sleep she gets, the better. I'm afraid she's going to be in for it from the homicide cops, once they finish the autopsy. ”
”She doesn't know s.h.i.+t.”
”You know it and I know it,” I said. ”But the turkeys from the murder division also don't know s.h.i.+t.”
”I'll handle them,” he snapped.
”Stop acting like Humphrey Bogart. They'd be dumber than I think they are if they didn't talk to her.”
”What do we do about the pictures that came in on the telex? They'll be out here flas.h.i.+ng them around.”
”Burn them. She can't ever see him, Stick, not the way he looks now. She'd have nightmares for the rest of her life.”
”You're beginning to sound like a concerned friend.”
”I'm trying. This is one tombstone I'm sorry I kicked over. Besides, Tony's death isn't going to be handled by the local cops. It's out of their jurisdiction.”
”Where'd he wash up?”
”Saint Solomons Island.”
”That's Saint Simons Island.”
”Well, they've got him down there, and it's their problem.”
”Five gets you ten they dump it up here anyway.”
”If it relates.”
”If?” Stick said.
”Let's wait and see on that one,” I said.
”There's something else bothering me,” the Stick said.
”What's that?”