I looked down at the photos in my hand.
‘What do we do now?’ Jerry asked.
‘I don’t think we’re gonna find any photos of Abby here,’ I said, ‘but let’s keep looking, just in case.’
‘Fine by me.’
We spent a good hour searching the whole house. We found more nudes in a bedroom closet, in a cardboard box, but they were more than nude. They were porn, showing men and women engaged in many different types and positions of sexual activity.
‘Man, that’s gotta hurt,’ Jerry said, of one photo in particular.
‘These are not just photos,’ I said. ‘They look like stills.’
‘From blue movies, you mean?’
I nodded.
‘But this isn’t what we’re interested in. Let’s put ’em back and go back downstairs.’
On the way down I said, ‘I’m thinking we missed something in his studio.’
‘Maybe he just kept the pictures of Miss Dalton all someplace else,’ Jerry said. ‘Maybe he’s really gonna give ’em all to you tonight.’
‘You believe that?’
‘No. Blackmailers are the worst. They’re never satisfied.’
‘We’ve got to satisfy this one, Jerry.’
‘I’m ready, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘I love squeezin’ blackmailers.’
‘Well, let me talk to him tonight, and then we’ll see about squeezin’ him.’
‘With me outside and the dick inside, we gotcha covered.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘I appreciate it.’
‘We gotta clean up here.’ We were in the basement again, the nude photos still spread out on a table. ‘Or he’ll know we was here.’
‘No,’ I said.
‘What?’
‘I want to take all these with us.’
‘All of ’em?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ I said. ‘If he’s plannin’ to blackmail anybody else, I want to throw a monkey wrench into the works.’
Jerry went back to the file drawer and looked inside.
‘We got negatives here, Mr G.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘We’ll take all the copies, and the negatives.’
‘Then he’ll really know we was here.’
‘He’ll know somebody was here,’ I said. ‘He won’t be able to prove it was us.’
‘OK,’ Jerry said. ‘You’re the boss.’
We found some brown envelopes, stuffed them full of photos and negatives, then went out the back door to the Caddy.
Jerry looked around as he got behind the wheel.
‘I don’t think anyone saw us, or the car,’ I commented.
‘Unless somebody came out of the clubs to get a blowjob behind the building.’
I looked over at the parking lots of both clubs as we pulled out. Only a few cars, probably belonging to employees.
‘I think we’re in the clear,’ I said, with more confidence than I felt.
‘Don’t worry, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘Even if somebody saw the car we can just say we were lookin’ for Irwin.’
‘For over an hour?’
Jerry shrugged. ‘So we decided to wait a while to see if he came home.’
‘That sounds plausible.’
‘It’s all plausible,’ Jerry said, ‘just as long as when you lie, you stick to it.’
FIFTEEN
I walked into Clipper’s just before six. I wondered why Irwin had picked this place. One of the strip clubs near his house might have been better for him.
I saw him first, didn’t spot Danny right away, but then saw him sitting at the very end of the bar. Beyond him I could see the foyer with pay phones, and restrooms. I don’t even know how I missed him. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, with vivid yellows, oranges and reds. But I figured he must know what he was doing, because I did miss him, at first.
Clipper’s was a typical neighborhood joint, the same as in Brooklyn, LA, or Vegas. A worn bar, chafed wooden floors, the smell of booze, smoke and sweat. The locals would all turn whenever the door opened, greet regulars or stare at strangers for a few moments before turning back to their drinks.
Danny saw me, played it so relaxed he almost looked sleepy.
Irwin spotted me and jerked his head. He got up from the bar with a beer and walked to a booth. I got a beer from the bartender, and joined him. His clothes were still glaring. I mean, who ever wears white shoes? Except Pat Boone.
‘I put this on your tab,’ I told him, sitting.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ he said, sourly. He was wearing a short-sleeved, button-down shirt, and I could smell that he didn’t use deodorant. It was hot, but it was more sweat from nerves than from heat.
‘You got something for me?’ I asked.
He looked around the place, then raised his hand. The bartender came out from behind the bar carrying a brown envelope that looked like it had been used as a coaster.
Irwin put the envelope on the table and slid it across to me.
‘This is what you want,’ he said.
I pushed my beer aside and opened the envelope. We were out of sight in the booth so I pulled the contents out. Photos and negatives. I put the negatives back into the envelope. The photos were all eight by tens of a young Abby Dalton. They were cheesecake, mostly bathing-suit shots, all one piece, but revealing. I stuffed them back into the envelope, pushed it aside and grabbed my beer.
‘Not what I wanted, Barney,’ I said.
‘Whataya mean?’ he asked. ‘Those are the pictures I got of the kid.’
‘None of these are nudes.’
‘I don’t do-’
‘You forget what you were doing when we walked in on you yesterday?’ I asked.
‘That was — I didn’t used to do that back then,’ he said. ‘Things is tough, so I’m doin’ it now.’
‘I don’t buy it,’ I said. ‘You expect me to believe you had a dish like Abby Dalton in front of your lens and you didn‘t try to get her naked?’
‘I didn’t say I didn’t try,’ he said. ‘I tried like hell, but she wouldn’t go for it. She had too much class.’
Abby had all but admitted to me that there were nude photos. A teenager anxious for fame can be forgiven for a lapse in judgment, no matter how classy she actually was.
‘Barney-’
‘I’m tellin’ ya,’ he said, spreading his hands, ‘I got no nudes of her. If I did I’d sell ’em to ya, and not cheap.’
If he had them, they were well hidden, but for Abby’s benefit I couldn’t take his word for it. I was probably going to have to let Jerry squeeze him.
‘All right,’ I put my hand on the envelope, ‘I’ll give you a thousand dollars for these.’
‘You gotta be kiddin’ me,’ he said, scoffing. ‘These shots are worth more than a thousand bucks if I wanna shop ’em around.’
‘Then why haven’t you shopped them?’
‘I was waitin’.’
‘For what?’
‘I figured maybe the kid would become a movie star,’ he said. ‘They’d be worth more then.’
‘Fifteen hundred,’ I said.
Irwin smiled then.
‘She wants ’em, huh?’ he asked. ‘She told you to buy ’em, even if they weren’t nudies.’
I didn’t answer.
‘Ten grand,’ he said. ‘Take it or leave it.’
I thought I could get him down to the five she gave me, and was still convinced he had nudes. If I was going to give Jerry his chance to squeeze Irwin, this was it.
‘OK,’ I said.
‘You got it with you?’ His eyes glittered.
‘No, she didn’t give me that much.’
‘How much did she give you?’
‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘You want ten grand, I’ll get you ten grand.’
‘When?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Meet me here.’
‘I don’t like it here,’ I said, looking around.
‘Why not?’ he asked. ‘What’s wrong with this place?’
‘The beer sucks.’ He looked at my mug, which I hadn’t even lifted yet. ‘I’ll call you at your studio tomorrow and tell you where.’
‘Oh, no,’ he said, ‘I pick the place.’
‘If you want ten grand,’ I said, ‘then I pick it.’
He thought about that a moment, then reached out, put his hand on the envelope and slid it back to his side of the table.
‘Yeah, OK, call me. But when we meet, you better have the dough with you.’
‘I’ll have it.’
‘Ten thousand.’