“Hey, Rick!” he kept saying over and over, watching me count. “Hey, Rick! Tha’s something...”
“Shut up!... two-ninety... five... three twenty... thirty...”
“What the loot, Rick?”
There was three-hundred-and-forty-two bucks even. I folded the bills into one big wad and stuffed it deep in my pocket. “Enough,” I said.
“Jeez, Rick, we got enough to ride in fancy train, maybe, huh? We gon get lost in style, huh?”
“We don’t travel on no trains, jerk.”
“You wan me to get car?”
“Later.”
Punchy’s face screwed up in a disappointed frown. “Rick, we gon cut out like you say, ain’t we? Me and you gon leave this lousy town an’...”
“We got something to do first.”
“Jeez, we better not kill no time, Rick. I see what you done to that old man in the store. Them cops is gon...”
“That jerk seen our faces and knew who we were. But he ain’t going to see nothing no more.”
“Sure, Rick, but we better...”
“I told you we got something to do first, jerk!”
Punchy spread his palms and gave me that dumb look. “What, Rick? What we gotta do first?”
“Manny,” I told him. “We got to take care of Manny.”
“Manny?” The moron really couldn’t figure it. “Manny...?”
“You were talking to him today, weren’t you?” I said tightly.
“Yeah, Rick, but...”
“What’d you tell him?”
“Me?... tell him, Rick...?”
“You told him about our set-up, didn’t you?”
“Jeez, Rick, he ask me what I look so happy about, an...”
“And you told him.”
“Well, I only tell him me an you gon cut out for good, tha’s all.”
“That’s all, huh?”
“Well... well, he ask what we gon use for dough, and...”
“Oh, you dumb, stupid, jerk!”
“I... I don see what was so wrong, Rick. I...”
“You don’t, huh?”
His jaw hung open and he kept staring at me with that stupid expression again. It took a long time for his jaw to come up to where he could use it to talk with. “Jeez... ho-ly Jeez, Rick, you... you don mean Manny went an...?”
“How else did the cops get there so quick, jerk? The old man was just starting to close up. He didn’t set the alarm.”
He nodded slowly, like it was starting to sink into that thick skull of his. “Yeah... yeah... I... I din hear no alarm.”
“No, we didn’t hear it, but the cops did. Manny was the alarm.”
He stuck his hands in his pocket and swallowed, and his eyes dropped to my feet. “Manny!... madre dio!... I sure din think he...”
“You don’t think... period.”
He looked up. “But... but why, Rick? Why he wan do that to us.”
“Not us, lunkhead. Me.”
His eyes narrowed, and he was trying to think hard. “ ’Cause... ’cause you knock over his girl, Rick?”
She was a dish, all right, that Lola. Manny’s girl. She didn’t want no part of me... but I mean no part. She got it, anyhow. I waited for her in the hall where she lives one night. She wasn’t willing, but that didn’t matter. Who the hell did she think she was? Park Avenue? But I didn’t really give a damn for her, you understand. It was Manny I wanted to show. I wanted him to know he didn’t have anything I couldn’t have, anytime I wanted. Let him know who the better man was. Like Punchy knew.
I nodded to Punchy. “He figured he’d even it up by calling the cops on me. But he didn’t even up nothing. Nothing. There’s a whole new score to settle.”
Punchy looked scared. “Why... why don we just cut out, Rick? Hell, we got the money an...”
“Shut up! I want you to get your kid brother, Angel, to get the word to Manny. The cops picked me up, see? But you got away. You got plenty of loot, but you’re scared. Plenty scared and you don’t know what to do.” I looked at him. “You following me, man?”
His jaw was hanging again, but he nodded.
“All right. Angel tells Manny you want to see him down here. You’re willing to cut him in for half of the loot, if he helps you duck the cops. You want to cut out. Clear, out, see?”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “How... how much, Rick? How much loot did I get?”
“Never mind. He don’t have to know that.” I pulled the wad of bills out of my pocket and peeled off a twenty. “Here,” I said. “Tell Angel to give that to Manny. That ought to make the bastard good and hungry.”
Punchy took the twenty and turned it over in his fingers, grinning. “Madre!... madre dio!...”
“Move, jerk! Move!”
“Sure... sure, Rick.” Punchy turned and scooted.
I doused the light and stuck my hand in my pocket and clenched the walnut grip of that ‘piece’. Man, it felt good. Damn good. Like you was king of the world. Nobody argued with you when you owned a ‘piece’. Nobody wanted to get burned. Anybody who crossed you was a jerk.
Manny was a jerk.
Punchy was back in ten minutes. Manny was on his way. I told Punchy what to do and we waited. We heard the foot steps coming down to the basement a few minutes later. They stopped by the door in the darkness. It was quiet for a minute.
“Punchy?” It was Manny.
I nudged Punchy. “That... that you, Manny?” he said.
“Yeah.”
I yanked the light on and ducked behind the furnace. Punchy waited under the light. Manny came back there and I watched him. Oh, that lousy sharped-up jerk! Strutting like he was a big politician or something. He was wearing his pants all pressed up, and suede shoes and a new suede jacket, and his blonde hair was plastered down to his head. All dressed up like he was celebrating because he figured I got canned.
Manny came over to Punchy, and he was grinning. “Man, you look scared,” he said. He got down to business fast. “How much did you get?”
“P... plenty,” Punchy started, “I... I...”
That’s when I stepped out behind Manny, the .38 in my fist. “Hello, pal,” I said.
You never saw anything spin around so fast. “Wha...?” he choked. His eyes damn near popped out of his head when he saw me. Such pretty blue eyes, too. Only they were all full of white flecks.
“Who looks scared now, pal?” I said.
His jaw dropped open and he looked a little like Punchy. “R... Rick...”
“Surprised, pal?” Man, was I grinning!
“Yeah... I... I mean, no. No, Rick, I...”
“Oh, sure. You’re surprised, pal. You’re real surprised, ain’t you?”
“Look, Rick...”
“You figured I was out of circulation, didn’t you, pal?”
“No... no, Rick...”
“Sure you did, pal. You’re smart... oh, the shrewdest, man. You called the cops, and you figured you took care of little ole Rick, didn’t you?”
He swallowed hard and his Adam’s apple bobbed like it was going to bust clear out of his throat. He was a tall, thin, good-looking guy, but his face was all white and twitching now, and you could practically hear them knees knocking. He tried to talk smooth. “Give... give me a break, Rick. I... I didn’t know what I was doing. I swear, I...”
“Shut up, jerk!”
“I... I’ll do anything for you, Rick. You... you want Lola?... you want her, Rick? Okay... okay, she’s yours... I... I’ll fix it up... sure... sure... anything, Rick, boy... any...”