“Don’t hit me again, Danny. Lay off, please, lay...”
I drew back my fist and his eyes went blank with fright.
“No!” he screamed. “No, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, Danny.”
“Fast.”
“The broad,” he gasped.
“What broad?”
“Connie. Connie.” He was gasping for breath, and I still held the front of his shirt, and my fist was still cocked.
“Connie? What do you mean, Connie? You know what you’re saying, you bastard?”
“Connie Blaine. I swear, Danny.”
“You’re a liar, Tigo. You’re a lying bastard.”
I pulled back my fist, ready to really let him have it this time, and he started screaming like an animal.
“I’m telling the truth, Danny. He’s with Connie Blaine. Danny, this is the goods. Danny, I swear. Danny, I wouldn’t snow you, not you, Danny. Danny...”
“Shut up!”
“Danny...”
“Shut up, Tigo.”
He stopped blubbering, and I held his shirt in my fist and thought for a few minutes, and then I asked, “How long has this been going on?”
“A year or so. Danny, I watched him good, like my own son, I swear. But Connie...”
“Connie Blaine? My kid, with Connie Blaine?”
“He ain’t such a kid, Danny. He must be twenty-one now. He...”
“Where does Nick fit in?”
“Nick?”
“Don’t play dummy, Tigo. Where does Nick fit the picture? Don’t tell me he’s going to sit with his thumb in his nose while a kid like Johnny plays house with his broad. Where does he fit?”
“I guess they busted maybe. Nick and Connie, I guess they did.”
“Don’t make me laugh.” I paused and said, “Where’s her pad?”
“You ain’t going there, are you, Danny? Jesus, if they find out I told you...”
“Where’s her pad?”
“Danny...”
“Tigo, if you want your teeth, tell me where she shacks. Tell me damned fast, Tigo, or you’ll be chewing with your gums.”
He considered this for two seconds, and then he told me. I left him slouched against the wall, and I went looking for Connie Blaine.
She was the same Connie, better if anything. She opened the door, and she was wearing silk lounging pajamas, and the pajamas didn’t try to hide one line of her body, and neither did Connie. With some broads, a man acts like a tonic, any man. It was that way with Connie. When she opened the door and saw it was a man, she sucked her stomach in flat and threw out her chest, and the naked nipples under the pajama top punched harsh holes in the silk. Her hand went unconsciously to her hair, patted it, and she said, “Danny, I’ve been expecting you.”
“I’ll bet. Where is he?”
“Where’s who?”
I started in, and she moved to one side, leaving me just enough room to get by. I got by, brushing against her, and I smelled the heavy sensuous perfume on her. Her hair was black and tousled, and her brows were the same black, the black of pitch. Her eyes were half-closed, and she always looked as if she’d come straight from a haystack, She closed the door and walked to a low end table, leaning over to spear a cigarette from the container there. Her pajamas tightened across her back. I went through the apartment fast, and found nothing. When I came back, she had the cigarette going.
“Where’s the kid?” I asked.
“Your son, you mean?”
“My son, I mean.”
She blew out a cloud of smoke, looked at me through it, and said, “How should I know?”
“I’ve been hearing things, Connie.”
“Like what?”
“Like you and Nick are on the rocks. Like my son’s climbed into the saddle. I don’t like it.”
“Why not?”
“You know why not, baby. Don’t give me the big blue-eyed stare. You know why not.”
“Johnny’s a big boy now, mister. He chooses his own playmates.”
“And I don’t like the playmates he chooses.”
“He does. He likes it fine.”
“I can imagine. It must be real professional.”
“Look, Danny, if you came here to be insulting...”
“I came here to find Johnny. He’s just a kid, and I don’t want him messing with you or with the company you keep.”
“He’s twenty-one. That’s old enough to vote, buster, and it ain’t such a kid. It ain’t a kid at all.”
“A little hair under the armpits don’t make a man. Where is he?”
“How the hell should I know? You’re such a big-shot, you find him.”
I glared at her, and we were both silent for a moment, and then she smiled, an arch smile that, curved her full lips.
“How was it?” she asked.
“Fine,” I said. “Just like a vacation.”
“I’ll bet.”
“It was. A vacation with pay. Five years, just like Nick said. Not bad at all.” I paused. “I took the rap, Connie. I didn’t mind. Fifty grand is a lot of loot for a small stretch.”
“And now you’re back.”
“Now I’m back. I had the vacation, and now I want the pay.”
“So talk to Nick. He’s the man with the bankroll.”
“I’ll get to him. In the meantime, keep clear of Johnny.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like the idea of coming straight from rock-breaking and finding him Christ knows where. I don’t like it at all. I busted my back to keep him away from all this junk, and he’s not going to get poisoned by it now.”
“You’re the one to talk, all right.”
“You bet I’m the one to talk. I’m the one to talk because I’m in it up to my nostrils, and it stinks. But it’s not going to touch him. I’ve got fifty grand coming from Nick. I’m going to send the kid away with that and...”
“Stop calling him a kid, goddamnit!”
“... and if you try to swing your hips into this, you’re liable to wake up with something broken.”
“You’re scaring me, Danny.”
I smiled. “Nick’s a big man, huh? Is that what you’re thinking? Baby, Nick can’t watch you all the time. All I need is a few minutes. So steer clear of Johnny.”
“I steer where I want to. No two-bit punk is going to direct my kicks.”
“Where is he now?”
“Where’s who now?”
“Johnny. You know damn well who...”
“If you think he’s here, have another look.” She laughed, a short malicious laugh. I glared at her and then went through the place with a fine comb. When I was finished, she said, “You satisfied?”
It was an obscene suggestion, the way she said it.
I turned my back on her and walked out.
Nick Trenton seemed glad to see me. He extended a beefy paw and took my hand in his, pumping it hard. He was a big boy, Nick, with a round face and heavy shoulders and chest. There was a time when a shoulder holster spoiled the cut of his three-hundred dollar suits. No more now. Now Nick hired his guns. He also hired his fall guys, and I’d been one of them, and I wanted my fifty grand now.
“You look good, Danny,” he told me. “A little pale, but otherwise fine.”
I grinned tightly and said, “I found a home at Sing Sing.”
Nick laughed, a good clean booming laugh. “They say you keep your sense of humor, and you’re all right. Yessir, Danny, it doesn’t seem to have hurt you one bit.”
“Not a bit.” I paused. “There’s a little matter, Nick.”
“Ah yes, the little matter.”
“A little matter of fifty G’s. You remember.”