"It's important we clear this up first," Alan said. "The guy didn't happen to be there. Somebody told him where to find me."
Leo was sitting forward on the deep cushion, ready. "I didn't tell him anything. I didn't even tell him your name, for Christ sake, anything."
Alan kept his eyes on Bobby Shy. "Leo says he didn't tell him."
"Man, I heard him ten times now. I believe him just so he quits saying it."
"All right," Alan said. "If Leo didn't tell him that leaves only one person."
"Hey, me? I talked to the back of the man's head a couple times, that's all."
"I'm not talking about you," Alan said.
"Well, they only three of us."
Alan shook his head. "Doreen. If it's not Leo told him then it's Doreen. She was in the bar right before he came up to me."
Bobby thought about it. "Unh-unh. She wouldn't tell him."
"How do you know?"
"Because we friends," Bobby said. "She know I found out I'd throw her off the roof."
"Let's talk to her."
"No need to."
"I want to be sure," Alan said.
"Hey, look. I'll talk to her after a while," Bobby Shy said. "You understand what I'm saying? I'll ask her about it and I'll let you know."
"Long as you do it," Alan said. Get the last word in and let it go. Black sleepy-eyed son of a bitch had to be handled with gloves. Don't disturb whatever was going on inside that fuzzy coked-up head. Leo was just as bad in his own way. Hold his hand or he'd fuck up. Jesus, what he had were a couple of beauties. A fat-ass juice head who was liable to melt with a little heat and a bad-ass spade gunslinger who blew fifty bucks a day on his highs. Jesus, the way the guy was turning out, these two were no help at all. The guy was coming on strong all of a sudden, different than the kind of straight-A stiff he had looked like at first.
"So, as I mentioned," Alan said, "the guy tells me he wants to talk about his financial situation. That's all he says. Except I got to come alone. Why?"
"That's the question," Bobby Shy said. "Now what's the answer?"
"Right away, I think he's pulling some kind of shit. Like the cops are there, waiting in the bushes. I walk in, he makes a payoff and they hit me. But then I think, why just me? If the cops are on it they'd want all of us. Right?"
"Or," Bobby said, "they take you, figure you'll tell them about the rest."
"Come on," Alan said. "It's easier to hit all three. It's done. We're standing there holding the fucking money."
"Doesn't answer the question, does it?" Bobby Shy said. "Why he wants you to come alone."
"I think we only got one way to find out," Alan said. "I go see the guy."
Bobby Shy's gaze stayed on him. "You and him don't happen to have something going, do you?"
"You want to go instead of me?" Alan stared back at him. "I don't care, man. You go, find out what he wants. Then it's your ass if he's pulling shit, man, not mine." Alan waited. That ought to be enough. He didn't want to overdo it.
Bobby Shy grinned out of the deep flowery cushion of the couch. It was a lovely high he could feel all over him with everything clear and cool and not to be wasted hassling this skinny puff-mouth little dude with the hair. He said, "Hey, be nice. You go see the man, tell me what he says. I believe you. Why shouldn't I believe you? We all in this."
Leo Frank said, "Ask him who told you. Ask him if it was me. You'll find out."
Alan gave them each a little more time. No hurry. No need to talk anymore. Okay, wrap it up. "All right," he said. "Meet at my place tomorrow. Same time." He started for the door, then turned and looked at Bobby again.
"That tour bus stick-up. I finally figured who the cat was."
Bobby Shy's eyes were half-closed. "Is that right?"
"Paper said you got over four thousand."
"Shit."
"You're a regular fucking cowboy, aren't you?"
"I thought you'd like it."
"I don't know," Alan said. "Kind of dumb, but stylish."
"You trying to tell me something?"
Alan winked at him. "I'm saying I know you did it, man, that's all."
Bobby Shy sat on the edge of the double bed looking down at Doreen: soft brown face a little puffy with sleep, the long black eyelashes she stuck on one at a time closed over her eyes. Sweet girl breathing quietly, her face raised, her naked body forming a half-twist beneath the sheet, giving him the firm curve of her hip against the thigh.
He said quietly, "Doreen?"
He said her name again and this time gently squeezed her bare shoulder. "Hey, baby, come on. Time to get up, cook me something." His hand moved from her shoulder to the pillow next to her, pulled it across her body and laid it on his lap. The movement opened her eyes. They stared at him calmly, moved to look at the square of daylight on the window shade and came back to his face again.
"What time is it?"
"About three."
"Seven o'clock this morning, man wants to start all over. I say hey, get your ass out, baby, go to work. He say, real surprised, 'I'll pay you.' "
"What man was that?"
"Seven in the morning. I tell him, baby, I don't even do it for fun seven in the morning."
"His name Mitchell? Was a friend of Cini's?"
Doreen didn't move; she kept her eyes on Bobby Shy's face and after a moment, said, "No, it wasn't him. Somebody else."
"Was he here yesterday?"
"Who?"
"Man name Mitchell."
"Yesterday. Yeah-about four. I told him I was expecting somebody."
"What else you tell him?"
"I told him to come back sometime."
"What else?"
"What do I know I can tell him? I don't know anything."
Bobby Shy raised the pillow. He saw her eyes briefly before he dropped the pillow over her face and pressed down on it with his hands spread open, his arms rigid. He turned his head to the side as she clawed at him and kicked and her body thrashed beneath the sheet.
When he lifted the pillow he saw her eyes again, like they'd been open all the time. She gasped and said almost immediately, "I don't know anything to tell him!"
"You know me," Bobby Shy said. "You know people I know."
She was rigid, afraid to move; afraid to say the wrong thing.
"He ask you any questions?"
"He was only here five minutes. I ask him he want a drink, he say yes, I give him one."
"He come to buy or talk?"
"I told him I was busy, he finish the drink and left."
"You don't answer none of my questions," Bobby Shy said. He raised the pillow again and had to force it down over her face, fight through her hands trying to push it away. He saw her eyes again and could put himself in her place and know what she was seeing. Then he was looking down at the pillow, feeling her body twisting against him, her legs coming up and straightening and coming up again. He saw, close to him, her underarm and a trace of powder and fine little black dots in the deep hollow. She was thin and wiry, tough little hundred-pound chick would fight as long as she could stay alive and probably keep moving after she was past it. Her legs straightened again and stiffened. Her arm, raised, close to his face, seemed to go limp and come down slowly, outstretched.
Bobby Shy lifted the pillow to see her eyes still open. They looked dreamy. She breathed in air and let it out and began to take short little quick breaths like she'd been running. Her eyes stared at him with the dull dreamy look, something gone out of them. Sweet girl going to sleep, too tired to speak.
Bobby Shy said, "One more time. You tell him where I or anybody I know works or lives?"
Doreen's head moved on the pillow, just a little, from side to side. "I didn't. Please-"
"Hey, you feel all right?"
"Believe me? Please, I didn't tell him nothing."
"I believe you," Bobby Shy said. "I believe everybody."
"I told him I was busy. That's all I said to him."
Bobby Shy leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Baby, why don't you sleep some more? You going to sleep, hey, keep telling yourself, I ain't ever going to talk to that man again. I ain't ever going to look at him. He come here, shit, I slam the door in his face. Hey, Doreen?" Bobby Shy said. "Do that, everything will be lovely."