“Oh?”
“Call the cab company and tell them not to come.”
“To hell with the cab company. Let’s get going.” She followed him out of the door and to the car. “When did Daddy get this one?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Benny started the motor.
“You know something, Tapkow? Those manners of yours aren’t going to interfere with your job much longer. I’ll see to it that this is your last official act with us.”
He didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on the traffic and worked his way to the less crowded side streets.
“Don’t you hear me? I’m talking to you, Tapkow!”
Her voice was nasty.
“Seeing how it is, kid, you can stop calling me Tapkow. It’s either Benny, if you want, or Mr. Tapkow. Take your pick.”
“Why, you insolent bastard! Do you think firing you is all my father can do to you? I’ll make it my personal business-”
“Why don’t you shut up?”
She gasped. Then her face turned a dark red. It made her gray eyes look flat and pale, like a fish’s eyes. “Stop this car, you insolent sonofabitch. Stop this instant or I’ll yell for help!”
He kept driving. The knuckles of his hands stood out white where he clutched the steering wheel.
“I said stop!”
He stopped. He yanked at the emergency brake and left the motor running. Then he took off his chauffeur’s cap, tossed it in the street, and turned to face her. “Now you listen to me.”
Her livid face came close and she screamed, “Get out of this car! Get out or I’ll-”
Benny clapped his hand over her mouth, making her head jolt against the back of the seat. She tried to jump up but he grabbed her bare arm and yanked her over to his side. “Another yelp out of you and you’ll regret it. Listen close now, Pat, because I’ve taken all I’m going to take. You yell, sister, and I break your teeth. The pretty ones in front. And nothing’s going to happen to me afterward, so you might as well sit still, keep your mouth shut, and stay out of my hair. That clear?” He gave her arm a sharp yank that made her gasp.
She didn’t move then. He started driving again and hit the highway south.
After a while he turned to look at her, wondering what next. She wasn’t the kind to huddle back and stay under. Any moment now she was coming up to make like her old man.
“Tell me, Tapkow-I beg your pardon, I mean Mr. Tapkow-do you have a wife?”
He didn’t know what to make of it. Her voice had been normal enough, just a trace of that metallic edge in it.
“No,” he said.
“I see.”
She waited, hoping he’d ask her why she had asked. But he just drove south, toward the Pendleton place, to keep her from suspecting and to give himself time to think. And he needed time for that call to New York. Perhaps they knew how to reach Alverato.
“I asked because in that case I would have been sure you’re a wife beater.”
He ignored her.
“Tell me, Mr. Tapkow, do you always beat your women?” She moved closer, looking at him with a show of interest. “Do you enjoy beating women?”
“No,” he said.”
“Then why do you?”
He turned his head and said, “I didn’t beat you. I told you to shut up. Then you did shut up and that was that.”
“I see. And that was that Aren’t you going to tell me again?” She was needling him now.
“No. Next time I do what I warned you about.”
For a moment she didn’t say a thing. Then she said, “You know, Tapkow-uh, Benny-you turned out to be quite something else than a boot-licker… Well, aren’t you pleased?”
He hadn’t been following her.
“You dislike me a great deal, don’t you?”
This time he turned and looked at her. It hadn’t occurred to him. As a part of his deal she was everything. As a person she had no importance to him.
“You’re talking through your hat,” he said and turned to the road again.
“I have a talent for making people take note of me, Benny. Or wouldn’t you think so?”
“Jump in a lake.”
She had her arm on the back of the seat now and he could feel his sleeve brushing her blouse now and then.
“Insolent bastards like you don’t hold up very long, Benny Because it’s an act. What would you do if I jumped out of the car?”
He tensed, thinking for a moment that she might “I’d stop you,” he said.
“Aren’t you sweet. So you are taking note.”
“Just don’t jump,” he said, and moved to be clear of her.
“What if I told you I’m starving, that I’m starving to death? What would you do then?”
“I’d get you something to eat, for chrissakes. Now shut up, will you?”
She rolled away from him, lying slouched in the seat. There was a smile on her face, one side of her mouth up and crooked.
“Where are you going, Benny? To the place?”
“Yeah, to the place.”
“Did you say Daddy’s there, waiting?”
“I said he wasn’t there yet. He’s still in New York.”
She didn’t talk for a while and Benny forgot her. He was thinking he could miss the cutoff, fake motor trouble.
“Benny, I’m hungry. I’m serious now. Stop at the next place you pass.”
Here was his chance.
“There’s nothing on this road. There’s a place I know, but it’s east. We’ll have to turn off.”
“Go ahead and turn off.”
He turned off on a state road and drove east. Perhaps he’d gain time this way. He didn’t trust her as far as he could spit against the wind, but so far there was nothing she could do.
After a while they came to a roadhouse, a low, sprawling affair with palm trees in the front and a long row of cabins leading back into an artificial grove.
They got out and went to the screened patio with the tables. Benny had the car keys in his pocket.
“Order something while I’m gone. I’ve got to phone again.”
“Phone whom? My father?” She sounded sharp.
“No,” he said. “Not your father.”
She didn’t stop him again and he went inside and asked for a phone.
“Right behind you on the wall, bud.”
Benny pulled out a bill and flicked his finger against it. “I mean someplace private.”
The bartender came out from behind the bar and took the bill. “Follow me, sir.” They walked to the back. There was an office there and the phone was on the desk.
After the door closed behind him Benny picked up the phone. First the St. Petersburg number. He waited a long time, listening to the phone ring. Then he hung up. Next he placed a long-distance call to New York. While the operator made the connections he walked to the door and opened it. Pat was not at the table. He started to dish out when he saw her come back. The door that said “Ladies” was slowly swinging shut.
When he picked up the phone again the operator was already talking. “Ready with your call to New York, sir. Go ahead, please.”
“All right. Hello?”
“Hello, who is it?”
“Tapkow. That you, Wally?”
“Yeah. What’s up, Benny?”
“Wally, listen close. Something went wrong. We made the rendezvous and they picked up the wrong dame. She’s on the boat now. Can you get hold of them?… Waddaya mean no?… Three days? You mean I gotta hold onto this spitfire for three more days?… Yeah, of course I got Pendleton’s daughter. Now listen. I’ll call you again tomorrow and give you a contact where I can be reached. Meanwhile, try like hell to get to Alverato. He may get in touch sooner, because he ought to know by now he’s got the wrong dame… O.K. So long.”
He walked back to the table where Pat was waiting. This time he was going to find out. “Your father,” he said, and watched her face.
“My father?” Her voice sounded less friendly. “What did he-what did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I called the Florida place is all. They said he won’t be down for three days.”
He watched her exhale the smoke from a deep drag and it sounded as if she had been holding her breath. He sat back.
“That gave you a jolt, huh?”