“Oui, Monsieur. Bon soir,” the croupier said. “I will definitely tell him.”
That turned out to be a mistake, making Bogen angry. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. But then, I was angry. I wasn’t thinking, and it made things harder for me later on. But I’m getting ahead of myself again. For the rest of that night and most of the next day I felt pretty good for sticking it to Bogen. I was still feeling positive about things when my office phone rang a little before noon.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Manny? Velasco. You still interested in the Limbo?”
“You know I am.”
“Well, there’s an opening on the crew now. There was a little accident this morning. The Limbo’s chief engineer got pretty badly hurt. Most of the important pieces are still sticking together, but he’s no good for manual labor any more. I was thinking your buddy Glottis’d be perfect for the job. ’Course, he’d have to get his own tools.”
Now, that was good news. Not for the engineer, of course, but I couldn’t help that. “So,” I said, “if I get Glottis some tools, we can board?”
“Uh, he can, yes. No offense, Manny, but there’s still no room for you on board the Limbo. She’s fully manned already and most of the crew’s accounted for.”
“Most?” I asked.
“Well, it probably doesn’t mean anything,” Velasco hedged.
“C’mon, Velasco. Spill it or you’ll have a one-man riot on your hands.”
“Oh, well, no one’s seen seaman Naranja lately… but he’ll be here before they sail.”
Not good news, exactly, but promising. “What job did Naranja have?”
“He runs the galley.”
“Ah-ha!” I exclaimed, triumphant. “Restaurant management!”
“Yeah,” Velasco laughed, “it’s similar to what you’re doin’ now, ’cept the fish is fresher on board the Limbo.”
“What if Naranja doesn’t show? I can fill his spot, right?”
“Manny,” Velasco exclaimed, “you’re not even in the maritime union!”
“You know that, and I know that, but we’re two guys who can keep secrets, right?”
“Glottis is exempt,” he pointed out, “but the captain’ll ask to see your card. And if you don’t have one, they’ll feed you to the sharks like chum. And what’s worse, I’ll get fined!”
“You’re all heart, mano.”
“Hey, it’s a tough union, boy, and I don’t mess with ’em.”
“OK, suppose I get a card…”
“Which you’ll never get.”
“And Naranja doesn’t show up…”
“He will.”
“Then will I get on the Limbo?”
“Oh,” Velasco groused, “I guess so! If Naranja’s not on board when they’re ready to sail, I guess they’ll have to take any cold body I can find. If you’ve got a card that’ll pass muster… but you’re on your own there, son. How you get one is your business.”
“OK. So what kind of tools does Glottis need?”
“Authentic Sea Bee equipment only.”
“And where do I get that?”
“Why don’t’cha try askin’ a Sea Bee? ’Fraid of gettin’ stung?” Velasco laughed and hung up.
I put the receiver back and drummed my fingers on my desk. I was a little irritated with Velasco. It wasn’t good enough that Glottis get on that ship. I wasn’t just trying to get him a new job: we both needed to get after Meche. But I wasn’t being fair. Velasco was doing what he could and maybe more than could be expected. So I needed to find Glottis the right tools and track down this Naranja if I could and try to fix it so I could take his place. And then there was the matter of the union card.
High Roller
Deciding to keep the club open, I sent word to Salvador that I was probably leaving town soon and that he should send someone to Rubacava to manage the place while I was away. I didn’t have much luck getting Glottis any CB tools. You just couldn’t buy that sort of thing off the shelf. On top of that, I didn’t know how to go about finding a sailor on liberty.
Bogen never showed up that evening. I took that as a good thing. But Charlie did show. Not good, exactly. Useful, maybe. “Can you make reasonable union cards?” I asked softly when I slid into the booth across from him.
“Manny!” he exclaimed. “Are you going to start moonlighting, or are you just looking to hang out with the sailors?”
“Can you do it or not?” I asked shortly.
“I have a deal for you,” he said slowly. “If you can retrieve my money from Maximino, I can make you president of that crooked union.”
“I don’t need to be president,” I said, “and why does Max have your money?”
“I put a whole suitcase of it up for collateral on a rather large wager last month.” He shook his head angrily. “The race was fixed, Manny. They stole my money like common thieves.” I didn’t make a sound or even twitch. It was a pretty strange story. I mean, where would Charlie, of all people, get a suitcase full of money? And why should Max even bother robbing him? A suitcase of money was just loose change to Max. It didn’t add up. “There should be a safe somewhere in the wine cellar,” Charlie was saying, “and my suitcase should be in it.”
“And you can get me a card tonight?”
“If you make it back, Manny, the card will be on the table.”
It sounded like a wild goose chase, or a frame job, but it needed to be looked into anyway. I went over to the High-Rollers’ Lounge. When I got out of the elevator one of Max’s gang—I think it was that ‘Fingers’ guy—spotted me and waved me over.
“The boss was just calling your joint,” he said. “He wants to talk to you.”
“What about?” I asked, wondering whether Charlie really had set me up.
‘Fingers’, or whoever he was, only shrugged.
“Well,” I said, “Max probably knows. I’ll ask him.”
“Good idea.”
When I got to Max’s office I found him sitting behind his desk chewing on a cigar. There were several butts in the ashtray, all of them torn up on one end and nearly pulverized on the other after having been violently stubbed out. I guessed he was having a bad day. He got right down to business, not even offering me a drink. A bad sign.
“I’ve been hearing about what you did to Bogen last night,” he said in a low growl. He remained seated in his blood-red, leather-upholstered executive chair. Another bad sign, Max not getting up to play host nor asking me to sit myself. “Not smart, Calavera.” He shook his head slowly, sadly. “Not smart.”
“In what way?” I asked as evenly as I could. It was harder trying to keep my ‘expression’ blank than it had been with Charlie. Max, I knew full well, had the power to make me disappear.
“He’s mad. I hear there could be a raid on your joint.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed. There hadn’t been a raid on anything bigger than a drug store slot machine since before I had arrived in Rubacava.
“Do I look jolly in any way to you, Calavera?” There was a dangerous edge to his voice that Max had never aimed in my direction before.
“No,” I said firmly.
A little sigh escaped Max. Some of the tension seemed to leave the room. “In other circumstances, this would just be your problem, Manny, but we’re close associates… maybe even partners once your operation gets big enough. Unfortunately, that’s not a secret.” He waived the hand holding his cigar in a broad, meaningless gesture. “You see my problem?”