Part 2 (1/2)
He gave a start and caught himself with a sigh. ”d.a.m.n, but that's-”
”I know-unnerving. Sorry.”
”Quite all right. Let's go inside, I'm in need of something liquid and soothing.”
”Like a bath?”
”Yes, that, too.”
He cursed sedately as he struggled with the rusty lock on the back door. It finally gave way and we walked into his large high-ceilinged kitchen. His house was a big, roomy place; a three-storied pre-fire relic that in its better days (or worse) had been a bordello. As his time, money, and health allowed, he was gradually cleaning, painting, and restoring it into a livable home. But the kitchen was not high on his priority list and still retained an air of cobwebby disuse in the corners. Except for replacing the old icebox with a streamlined new refrigerator that crouched and hummed between sagging cabinets, he'd pretty much ignored the room.
In silent and common consent we peeled off our coats and dropped them on the battered oak table that had come with the house. An invisible cloud of booze and dead lilies filled the room and grabbed my throat.Escott suppressed a cough. ”Horrible stuff, that. Should I ever a.s.sume that persona again, I shall subst.i.tute something less lethal.”
”Why use anything at all?”
”Attention to detail is the key to a good disguise.”
”I think you poured on too much detail this time. You must have gotten perfume mixed up with cologne.”
His brows went up. ”There's a difference?”
”A lot, I think.”
”What is it, then?”
”Now I was stuck. ”Uh... maybe you'd better ask Bobbi. She knows more about that kind of thing. All I know is there's a difference; one's stronger and you need less, or something like that.”
”Hem,” he said neutrally. ”I know better than to offer you liquid refreshment. Do you mind if I indulge?”
”Go ahead. Just hold a gla.s.s under my s.h.i.+n and I'll squeeze some out for you.”
He declined with a polite but decisive head shake and smile, and went into the dining room. There was no dining table yet, just a stack of cardboard boxes that hadn't been unpacked and a large gla.s.s-fronted cabinet on one wall holding a modest collection of bottles.
”Think I'll go and change. It's getting late,” I said.
”You're welcome to use the bathtub if you like. The water heater is almost reliable now.”
”Thanks.” I left him pouring out a gin and tonic and trotted upstairs. I'd scrub my face and hands off, but total immersion in a tub of possibly cold water was an experience I could do without.
My clothes were in a narrow bedroom next to the bath. The bed was long gone, leaving some holes in the floor where it had been bolted down and some rub marks from the headboard on the once florid wallpaper. There was no closet; my stuff was draped over a spindly wooden chair and more unpacked boxes.
Now that I was alone and changing back into familiar things, I felt a delayed reaction from the shooting tonight. I could avoid death in that manner, he couldn't.
It didn't seem to disturb him, but I'd been thoroughly frightened, and I was far less vulnerable. If Escott hadn't been wearing that vest... Maybe he could treat the whole business casually, but not me. He hadn't seen the gun swinging up in his face and the muzzle flash searing his eyes. I touched the spot where the lead slug had pa.s.sed through; all trace of pain was gone, the flesh and bone were smooth and unmarked.My hand was trembling as it came away: half in wonder of what I'd survived and half in fear of what I'd become. A small mirror still clung to one wall, reflecting only the empty room, and nothing more. I s.h.i.+vered the length of my spine, turned away from it, and finished dressing.
Respectable again, I joined Escott in his downstairs parlor, where he'd stretched out on the sofa. He looked tired.
”This should cheer you up.” I put the money on a low table next to his gla.s.s.
”What?” He turned his head just enough to see. ”Oh, I'd forgotten.”
I dropped into a leather armchair. ”How can you forget twenty-five hundred bucks?”
”Twelve hundred fifty. Half of it's yours.”
”Come on, Charles, I didn't do anything except get in the way.”
A faint smile twitched in one corner of his mouth. ”As you insist. But whatever tonight's outcome would or would not have been, you are still ent.i.tled to something for your services to the Escott Agency. I'd give you all of it, but thought you wouldn't accept it.”
”Don't be so certain.”
”I'll fill out some kind of receipt later.”
”For tax purposes?”
”Of course. I have always been impressed by the manner in which the government finally managed to take care of Ca-pone.”
”What's that have to do with me?”
”With both of us, my dear fellow. Undeclared income and income without employment are things that are certain to be noticed sooner or later. A person with your particular condition need not call attention to himself.”
”Okay, I see what you mean. What about that bundle we picked up from the Paco gang in August?”
”I said then we should consider it the spoils of war, but I plan to declare my half. I wonder if there is some sort of penalty in padding one's records in favor of the government?”
”In a bureaucracy do you think they'd notice? And it's gotten a lot bigger and more complicated since Roosevelt got in.”
”I see, yes, what a ridiculous question. Still, I suppose the best thing is to store the lot in a mattress and declare it a little at a time over the years. Ah, well, here's to crime.” He drained off his gla.s.s and grimaced.
”You all right?”
”Probably. I shall be stiff for a few days. Bad coincidence getting hit in the same spot.”
”Let's have a look.”
He'd already taken off his suit vest. Now he shucked the s.h.i.+rt and I helped him ease out of the bulletproof vest underneath. On his left side just below the line of his ribs was a thin red scar about four inches long where a thug's knife had cut him up not so long ago. He probed the area gently with his long fingers and winced a little.
”There, it caught me a bit lower than I thought. Nothing more than a bad bruise and some shock. Quite lucky, considering how close the gun was.”
”Charles, about all you had going for you tonight was luck. If her aim had been a little better or worse she could have taken your head off.”
”So you mentioned earlier.”
”I'm gonna mention it again. You scared the s.h.i.+t out of me tonight.”
”I truly appreciate your concern, but after all, nothing really happened, and I do intend to be more careful in the future.”