“Why don’t you keep your nose out of my family?” Carla said tonelessly. “I’ll handle her.”
“You’re doing great,” Alice said, “Great!”
Carla turned and watched Barbara enter the house. Once the girl was out of sight she turned and hit Alice in the pit of the stomach with a hard brown fist. Alice sat heavily on the sand, gasping and crying. Carla swung a bare foot back. As she started to kick, Cooper pushed her off balance. The kick missed and Carla staggered, nearly fell.
Schanz, behind Cooper, moved quickly. Cooper felt the hard hands on his shoulders. Schanz yanked him back, levered him across one strong hip and dropped him flat on the packed sand. “Let’s all play,” Schanz said gently.
Chapter 3
Thoughts of Terror
There were just the three of them on the moonlit terrace. The silver moonlight, glinting on the waves, fought with the softer, more golden radiance from the two lamps in the main lounge. Cooper sat at a table with Carla. Alice was alone at a table ten feet away, her head down on her arm, snorting from time to time in her sleep.
Cooper took the ice tongs, dropped two cubes into Carla’s glass, added an inch of bourbon and filled the glass from the siphon.
“Thanks,” she said. He felt her eyes on him. “You’ve changed, Allan,” she said, “You can sit and be still. Instead of jumping about, pacing, talking.”
“Old age, maybe.”
It was a time for quiet intimacy. Cooper had steered the two of them into that situation. Billy, Bud, Susler and Barbara were playing dogged bridge in one end of the lounge.
“Why are you cooperating with Rocko?” he asked.
She had been looking out across the sea. She turned her head quickly. “Don’t be a fool! You crossed him up. Look where you are!”
“I came here on my own, didn’t I?”
“Which is something I can’t understand. You can’t get out, you know. Why did you do it?”
“Skip that for a moment, Carla. Who is back of Rocko?”
“I don’t know. That’s the truth. But I can tell you I don’t like it. This sounds pretty silly, coming from me. Scruples, I mean. Nick made it off bootlegging. When that folded, I was already into other deals. Slots, numbers, bolita. Taking it away from the suckers begging to be cleaned. Buying the law, buying my own protection, keeping my boys in hand. I always had the idea that sooner or later I could let it all go. Play lady. And, believe me, I was damn close to that point when — Rocko got in touch and planted Schanz on me. I don’t need any more dirty money, Allan. I’ve made plenty of that kind. And I’m afraid I’m going to make money out of what Rocko is going to do.”
“Just what is he going to do?”
“You tell me, Allan. I’m to pick up the next island down the key. I’ll be reimbursed. Rocko is coming in with a few men in advance of a bigger outfit. I don’t know who they are. But that island is going to be a base of some sort. Not for smuggling. You can do that a lot better down around the Ten Thousand Islands. As near as I can figure it, Rocko is working for somebody. He’ll be in charge of a base. The job of the base will be to fix up foreigners with enough identification and training so that they can stay in this country. I don’t know what for. Spys, sabotage. Who knows?”
“What are you going to do about Barbara?”
“Tell Rocko about her the minute he gets here, and hope he’ll play ball. What else can I do? She won’t go. I can’t force her to go.”
“Why don’t you try to block Rocko if you don’t like the sound of it?”
“With what? Billy? Susler? My three guards and two houseboys? That is a laugh. I’ve been cutting down the organization for the past three years.”
“Maybe the law would help you.”
She snorted. “You’re getting naive, aren’t you? For myself I wouldn’t care too much. I’ve been in a lot of tight places since Nick was killed. But he can use Barbara like a handle. And she, Farat, is the only thing in this world that means anything to me. Anything at all.”
“Then you better get her out of here.”
“What would you suggest?” she asked acidly.
“Go in a room with her and close the door. Put the cards on the table. Tell her what you’ve been and how you’re mixed up in this and can’t wiggle out.”
“I don’t want her to know about me.”
“Do you think she hasn’t half-guessed?”
“But she still isn’t sure.”
“Okay, Carla. Take your choice. You know Rocko and you know how attractive your sister is. Take a chance on Rocko, or else come clean with Barbara. Stop kidding yourself.”
“I might never see her again, Allan.”
“Wouldn’t that be a pretty healthy thing? For her?”
“Stop pushing me!”
“Suit yourself. It’s none of my business anyway. I just hate to see you making a mistake.”
He made her another drink, made himself a light one. They sat in silence for a long time. Carla sighed. “Damn you, Farat. You’re right. I’ve got to do it.”
“Then do it now. Get her out of here tonight if you can.”
Carla went to the doorway and called Barbara. The girl said, “One minute. This hand will finish the rubber.”
Alice snorted again. Carla said, “Take her and put her to bed, Allan.”
“What room?”
“The one on the right just this side of yours.”
He picked Alice up. She was limp and surprisingly heavy. As he walked through the lounge toward the corridor with her she slid warm heavy arms around his neck, looked up at him with bleared blue eyes, then snuggled her taffy hair close under his chin, burrowing into his nack. He glanced at the table and saw Barbara watching him with cool objectivity, as though he were some lesser form of life.
He turned her doorknob with the hand under her knees, edged through the door with her, dropped her roughly on the bed. He turned on the room lights and looked at her. She made a sleepy sound in her throat, shifted her position and began to snore gently. He closed the door, found her purse. As he had hoped, there was a pencil in it, an old letter. He tore a piece out of the back of the envelope.
He wrote quickly, “Miss Hutcheon. Please leave. In Sarasota phone 2-8883. Tell whoever answers that Cooper requests raid as soon as possible. At least twelve men.”
He folded it into a tiny square, gave Alice a quick look, turned out the lights and left the room. Carla was standing near the table waiting for Barbara to finish. Only three cards were left in dummy. Barbara was playing the hand. As she pulled in the last trick, Cooper leaned over and gathered up the cards and said, “Look, I’ll show you a good trick, kids.”
“I’m afraid I’m not interested,” Barbara said, pushing her chair back, “Thank you, gentlemen. That makes it an eight rubber. Somebody owes me eighty cents.”
“It’ll only take a minute,” Cooper pleaded.
“Shove off,” Schanz said delicately.
Cooper fanned the deck and thrust it at Barbara. “Come on. Take a card. It won’t hurt you to take a card.”
She sighed and took one. He put the deck on the table. “Now put the card back in the middle of the deck. That’s right. Line up the edges. Now give me your hand.” He reached out and took her wrist. Her fingers were cold.
He held her hand tightly, pushed the tiny wad of paper into her palm and closed her fingers around it. He looked into her eyes. She was so tall her eyes were only a few inches below his. He saw them widen a bit with surprise.
“Now by just looking into your eyes, Barbara, I can tell you what that card was.” He risked winking at her, and he knew his face had gone pale.
“What was it, then?” she asked, and he knew she would not give him away.