"You believe this?"
Jimmy didn't nod or say a word, struck dumb.
Cundo said to Tico, "Where are you in this? You fucking her too?"
Tico said, "Who me?" but with a grin, on and off.
"Is Jimmy the only one who knows you I can trust? Jesus Christ, or you get him in bed too? This woman say she loves me so much?"
Cundo drew on his cigarette and stubbed it in the pile of macaroni and cheese and looked up at Dawn:
Dawn standing at her place now. She set aside the cover of the serving dish in front of her and brought out Tico's pistol, the good-looking Walther PPK with the silencer attached, and pointed it at Cundo.
"Jesus Christ," Cundo said, "you want to leave, go, get out of my sight. I won't stop you."
Dawn said, "I'm not leaving, you are," aimed the pistol at
Cundo's white shirt without a pocket and shot him three times in the chest, the silenced pistol sounding no louder than a BB gun. "There," Dawn said, "I'll never have to fuck that dwarf again."
Tico lifted Cundo's head by the hair, holding it at arm's length like a game kill, a trophy, Tico saying, "I think he's still alive."
"Not this time," Dawn said, seated again, smoking one of her Slims, using a napkin to wipe her prints from the gun. "Close his eyes and you won't think he's watching you. How does the back of the chair look?"
"Clean," Tico said. "The shots didn't go through, they still inside him. Tha's good, uh? No blood to clean up."
"But there's some on the tablecloth. Take it off and soak it in cold water with a little vinegar."
Tico grinned. "You know the secrets of a good housewife and how to shoot somebody. I could not believe it. You take the gun from the platter-pow pow pow, he's gone to the other side. Can you see him over there?"
"Not yet. He must be having trouble gaining admission." She said to Little Jimmy standing by the table staring at Cundo, "Sweetie, will you start clearing, please? Take the macaroni and cheese to the kitchen and dump it. Cundo ruined it with his cigarette."
Tico watched Jimmy move through the door to the kitchen. "He looks like he's in a trance."
"He's thinking," Dawn said, "how did I get into this?"
"He's more afraid of you," Tico said, "than he ever was of Cundo. Man, you were ready. I could not believe it, you make a speech and shoot him. Pow pow pow"
"With your gun," Dawn said, "the one you used on the guy at Saks."
Oh, now she was threatening him, but in a nice way. "You get caught, you say no, it wasn't me, it was that guy owns the gun." Tico grinned at her. "I can tell you, you be sorry you ever do that."
Dawn said, "Darling boy," a little surprised, "you're my numero uno, I couldn't begin to pull this off without you." Jimmy came into the dining room and she said, "Jimmy, I want you and Tico to understand, the three of us are in this together. We rely on one another. We share what comes out of this and not have to worry about Cundo." She said to Little Jimmy, "He'll never be mean to you again. But you can't tell Zorro what we did, he's not on our side. All right? You promise?" Little Jimmy nodded his head and Dawn said, "You promise as God is your witness you'll never tell a soul about this?"
"Yes," Jimmy said, "I promise."
"Not Zorro or anyone?"
"Yes, I promise."
"As God is your witness?"
"Yes, as God is my witness."
She thought of Cundo, the way he asked if she was being a saint.
Tico watched Dawn put her hand out to him. Jimmy went to her and bent down so she could kiss him and pat his cheek. "Tomorrow," she said, "we'll look at the books, okay? One of the first things we'll want to do is put the homes up for sale, then decide where to go from there. Okay?"
Jimmy nodded without saying a word and left, going out the back way.
Tico said, "You don't worry about him?"
"I know he's a risk," Dawn said, "but we can't keep him locked up. If Zorro finds out he might make Jimmy pay him, you know, to keep quiet."
"I could take care of Zorro."
"You could?" Dawn said.
Like a helpless woman now, after drilling Cundo three times. Tico smiled. "It would be easy," he said. "Hand me my gun."
It was on the table where she sat, resting after the execution. She said, "Foley's another problem. He'll want to know where Cundo is."
"What if he came for the dinner?"
"Well," Dawn said, "I'm not sure anyone would miss either of them. Barely out of prison." "You shoot Foley too?" "I'd have to, wouldn't I?" "You could do that?"
She looked at him with her made-up eyes and said, "Or you could."
He watched her draw on the cigarette and exhale a long slow stream of smoke.
"Did you get the ice?"
"Sixteen bags. The car is in the garage backed up to the freezer, where I put the ice."
She was shaking her head. "Cundo goes in first and we lay the bags on top of him. If they don't fit you can empty enough bags to cover him. The thing is, love, if I sell the houses in the next few days, we'll have to chip him out of the ice and arrange a quick burial at sea."
Tico, grinning, said, "You remind me of my mama."
"I look like her?"
"The way you talk. You funny the way she is. My cool mama, Sierra. Mr. FBI say he charge her for drugs I don't help him. Tha's the kind he is even bullshitting. Sure, I help him, I get in here where it's happening."
Dawn turned her head to stare at Cundo in the chair, his head against the backrest. "I thought you closed his eyes."
"I close them. They must have come open." "Did you feel for a pulse?" "You say he was dead."
"He must be," Dawn said. "We have to get him out, but I don't want to touch him."
"I carry him," Tico said, "like a baby."
"My lover man," Dawn said. "The rouge doesn't go with your body, the muscles under there." She picked up a napkin from the table, touched it to her tongue and gently stroked his cheek with it. She said, "Why don't we put the little monkey on ice before we finish up here?"
Tico liked the way she touched his face, looking at him with her Egyptian eyes. Man, but it scared him too.
TWENTY-FOUR
THE WAY FOLEY LOOKED AT HIS CHANCES WITH DANNY Karmanos, sitting on the patio waiting for her, if she wasn't grieving for a whole year and it was clear her time was almost up, he was in.
If she was still grieving but would go along because she'd given him signs and she wasn't a tease, he could take advantage of the situation.
Well, he could if he wanted to.
No, not if he felt that's what she was doing, didn't have her heart in it, was going along to get it over with. In that situation it wouldn't be cool of him to press it-even if in the act she saw fireworks going off.
When she did come out in her bathrobe she was holding a pair of white underwear. She handed them to Foley standing now in his wet Calvins sticking to him and said, "Why don't you change first? In the cabana."
Foley thanked her for the underwear and walked to the cabana thinking, Why didn't he change first? Before they did what? She'd said she was taking off her suit and putting on a robe, and that's what she did, she was wearing a robe. Maybe just the robe. But she didn't work her eyes on him as he thanked her. Then, when he got out of his Calvins and put on the brand-new pair, he had to pull them up over his stomach so they wouldn't droop in the seat. He didn't feel good in Peter's underwear and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked across the patio wondering if she'd ask how they were, if they fit all right.
She didn't. He sat down with Danny at the table, Foley looking at the pool lights showing in the dark. She said, "I've been thinking. I might be rushing my return to the world."
So much for his changing first.