“Hope you enjoyed your dinner, Joe,” Nolan said.
Why did Nolan look so tall, Joey wondered, when he couldn’t have been more than six foot or so? He supposed it was the long, hard lines in his face, the prominent cheekbones, the narrow, almost chink-looking eyes.
“How you doing?” Joey asked, motioning for Nolan to sit down.
Nolan sat.
“What are they calling you here?” Joey asked, in a whisper. “Felix told me but I forgot.”
“Logan,” Nolan said.
“Listen,” Joey said, “where is Felix, anyway?”
“Felix got called back to the city,” Nolan said. “He said I should put you up for the night. He’ll be back early tomorrow morning.”
“Aw, shit,” Joey said, unable to keep the infuriated feeling down inside him. “Aw, shit, goddamn shit. I come all the way down here, I cancel my goddamn evening, and aw, shit.”
“It’s not my fault, Joe,” Nolan said. “I’ll make you as comfortable as possible.”
“I know it’s not your fault, No... Logan. And listen, I want you to know something. Just because I was Charlie’s cousin, well, it doesn’t mean, you know.”
“Sure,” Nolan said. “No reason for hard feelings between us. You weren’t your cousin’s keeper.”
“Ha, that’s a good one. Uh, Logan, nobody was Charlie’s keeper, all right. He had a mind of his own, all right.”
“Too bad how he died.”
Joey swallowed. “Uh, yeah, real tragic is what it was.”
What was Nolan fishing for? Joey could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Surely Nolan knew Charlie’s “death” was a Family cover-up. Surely Nolan knew Charlie was spared the usual blow-him-apart-and-stuff-him-in-the-trunk-of-a-car gangland execution, because Charlie was too high up for that. Charlie was a goddamn underboss.
Nolan said, “He was disfigured in the accident, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah,” Joey said. “Burnt up. Both burnt up. He and his son. They were in the car together.”
“Was quite a drop-off, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah it sure was.”
“Not much left of the bodies.”
“No. Burnt to a crisp, like I said. No doubt it was Charlie, though.”
Did he know? Did Nolan know?
“I never doubted it was Charlie,” Nolan said.
“They could check it out through Charlie’s bridgework, through his dentist, you know. And rings and other identifying things like that.”
“Well, Joe, it’s not really a pleasant after-dinner topic, is it? Let’s let it pass. Let me just assure you I hold you no grudge, just for being blood kin of an old enemy... and let me say, too, that I hold no grudge for that old enemy, either. I’m not one to speak bad of the dead. Rest in peace, I always say.”
“R... right. Some wine, Logan?”
“No thanks.” Nolan bent close, like a conspirator. “Listen. I saw you flirting with Janey.”
“Janey?”
“The waitress.”
“Well, hey, I mean Christ, uh, I didn’t mean anything by...”
“Cool it,” Nolan said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, then, uh, why...”
“Why mention it? Now listen, Joe, just between the two of us, I mean, we’re two of a kind, right? You run a hotel; I run a motel. The only difference is you’re in the city and I’m in the country, right?”
“Uh, right.”
“Now tell me, you have some pretty foxy chicks working in that Riviera of yours, don’t you?”
“Well, sure, sure I do.”
“And sometimes you, you know, dip into the old private stock, know what I mean?” Nolan grinned, the grin of lechery.
“I know what you mean,” Joey said, returning the grin.
“So if you like Janey, I think maybe I can work something out for you.”
“Terrific, I mean, Christ, would you do that for me, Nolan? Er, Logan? I never expected...”
“Forget it. You just return the favor for me sometime, okay? Next time I’m in the city for an overnight, just fix me up with one of those foxy ladies in a Roman toga.”
“Hey, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, right?”
“Right, Joe.”
“Listen, I’m not checked in or anything.”
“I already took care of that,” Nolan said. “I sent your driver, Brown, back to the city to get a change of clothes for you.”
“Oh... well, Brown is...”
“Yeah, he’s sort of a bodyguard, too, I know, but don’t worry. You’re on vacation here. Nobody’s going to hurt you.” Nolan grinned again and whispered. “Unless some foxy chick bites you on the ass, you know what I mean?”
“I know what you mean.”
Nolan got up. “Enjoy yourself, Joe.”
Half an hour later, Joey was in bed under the covers in his room. He was naked. He was waiting.
Too good to be true, he thought. He’d really misjudged Nolan. Back in the old days Nolan had been a tough customer, but the years must’ve softened him up. All those stories about Nolan being such a hardass, why, shit. He was friendly, would you believe it, and not just a little naive. If Nolan really thought Charlie could die accidentally, in a car crash, well...
A knock at the door.
“It’s open,” he said.
She came in.
“Lock it, will you, sugar?” he said.
She did.
“It’s dark,” she said.
“I’m over here.”
“Don’t you want to see me?” she said.
“I... I don’t know if you’ll want to see me. I... I could stand to lose some weight, sugar.”
“I don’t care about that,” she said.
“Turn on the light then.”
She was in a flowing red silk robe, tied at the waist, brushing the floor. She undid the belt. The robe fell in a red silk puddle at her feet.
“My God,” Joey said. “You’re beautiful.”
She was beautiful. She had brown skin, coffee-skin, ivory white where some wisp of a bikini had done its enviable job. Her nipples were large and copper-colored and as yet soft, but he would see to that; they would soon be as erect as he was. Her legs were long, muscular, tapering. She smiled at his appreciation. She turned in a circle, like a model, saying, “You like?”
Her ass was perfection. Oh, that dimpled ass! Oh my God.
She stood at the foot of the bed, hands on her hips, legs spread, that tangle of hair between them open and inviting and she said, “Anything I can do for you?” and she pulled the covers off him.
Joey patted the bed beside him. She crawled onto the bed like a cat, and wiggled into his arms, and he turned her on her side and he eased himself up against her, gently ever gently, saying, you sweetheart, oh honey, oh sugar, and the guy with the camera came in and the flashbulbs started popping.
“Jesus fuck!” Joey said. Spots in front of his eyes.
She was gone. Blinking. Where was she?
She had the robe on again, how could she have the robe on again so fast? She was standing back beside the door, which was closed, and Nolan was there.
Nolan was there.
Oh God. Nolan was there and some guy with a camera. Oh God, some guy with a camera and...
And so what? Joey wasn’t married. Joey never had time for that. So, so what? What did he care? Scandal? A damn laugh. Nolan was an asshole.
“You’re an asshole, Nolan,” Joey said, “if you think those pictures are worth a goddamn.”
Nolan said, “How many shots did you get?”
The guy with the camera said, “Six. Six good ones. I got more than butts, too. I got faces plain as day.”