“My kid? God, I forgot all about him.”
“Sure you did. I fixed that. That’s where I’m good, see? Any common ordinary hooker can give you a quick lay, but I sized you up all evening.”
“You’re absolutely wonderful,” he said. “That’s the kind of thinking I admire. If you knew me better you’d know that.”
“Oh, sure,” she said. “If you had that kid on your mind all night you’d of blamed me for it.”
“What did you mean about his having an advantage?”
“You have to go home the day after tomorrow and be ready to give your wife a screw. But your kid had five days’ train-ride before he saw his wife.”
“I see,” said George.
“Five days on a train, he’d be as horny as a guy just out of prison. He is anyway. I’ll bet you were the same way when you were younger. Did you used to go around with a hard on when you were young?”
“Yes, I guess I did.”
“A few hours’ sleep and you’d be all set again, but I don’t allow anybody to stay here all night. Not anybody. It’s against my rules. So I guess if you’re gonna get any sleep you better go back to your hotel. Take down my number, but be sure and don’t write down my name. There’s not many people have this number, and I change it every so often.”
“Angela, I’d like to ask you something.”
“Anything. You’re entitled,” she said.
“Then I’ll ask you two things. First, did you really deliberately go about taking my mind off my son tonight? Or was that an afterthought?”
“I can prove it to you. O’Byrne and Elaine would have stayed in that Ginzo’s place all night, but who was it said let’s go some place else? Me. So we went to the Aquarium. Then who was it said let’s get out of the Aquarium and go to the Ball and Chain? Me. And when we got here, who showed you the dirty pictures? This could of been a lousy evening for the both of us if you kept thinking about that kid, but it didn’t turn out that way, did it? You gave me a pretty good time, I gave you a pretty good time. What’s the other question?”
“You’ve more or less answered it. I was going to ask you if you really got pleasure out of this work.”
“Most of the time. You know the old gag. She gave away a million dollars’ worth before she found out she could sell it. I take on some fellows that almost turn my stomach, what they like to do. But we’re all human, and the money is good. I bank an average of five hundred dollars a week, clear profit. And I got a promise of backing for my beauty parlor. A hustler has three worries. The Vice Squad. The mob. And getting a dose. Well, I never let a week go by without my doctor checking up on me. And I have a politician that takes care of the Vice Squad and the mob boys. You have to have a politician in this business, otherwise the mob moves in and you do what they say. Which usually means you’re only good for two or three years of the good money.”
“Do you pay the politician?”
“Oh, he’s too big to keep it himself, if that’s what you mean. The money I give him goes to the party. Small change to him. That’s not saying I don’t do him other favors.”
“Such as?”
“Like spying on other politicians. Like spying on men that aren’t politicians, too.”
“You could be spying on me, for that matter.”
She shook her head. “I never heard of you till tonight.”
“I see. I’m not important enough,” said George.
“Maybe you’re important, but I never heard of you. The ones they use me for are the big shots, that everybody heard of. Like the fellow I went to London for two days. In June I was in Saratoga for a Democratic convention. I only got my expenses, but since then they owe me a favor. A contract. In politics they say a contract. Any cop or any mobster that gives me the least bit of trouble, I just make one little phone call. A certain Bogardus number, that’s all.”
“Do you ever accept these contracts for people that aren’t in politics?”
“You mean getting something on somebody?”
“I was thinking more of getting information.”
“You want me to spy on somebody? Who? Some friend of yours?”
“Not exactly,” said George. “A young man who just married my daughter.”
“What the hell do you want to spy on him for? If your daughter married him my advice to you is stay out of it. Maybe I’d find out something about her that you wouldn’t like. Politicians and big shots I don’t mind. But a young married couple, give them a chance. I had a mother-in-law that was always interfering. No, no contract. I’d feel like a shit-heel. Your daughter won’t end up a hustler, but my advice to you is stay out of it. Maybe she’s like me. I wouldn’t of stayed married to Frank as long as I did if it wasn’t for his mother interfering.”
“She is like you, my daughter. Very much so, if the truth be told,” he said. “Well, Angela, it’s been a very interesting evening, and I never thought it was going to be. Dinner with an old college friend doesn’t usually turn out so well.”
“Do you have a yacht?”
“Afraid I’m not in that class,” said George. “Why?”
“Oh, I was looking for a ride on a yacht over the weekend. The summer’s almost over and I only went cruising twice since June. I like to get out of town over the weekend. There’s never anybody in town Saturday except actors. Anyway, how about giving me a ring on your way through town? I gave you the number.”
“I’ll call you at half past ten the day after tomorrow. If that isn’t too early for you.”
“You couldn’t make it half past eleven?”
“Very well. Half past eleven.”
“How did you like Elaine?” said Angela.
“Elaine? She was all right, I guess. Very pretty. Why?”
“Well, if you took a later train, I could have Elaine here. You wouldn’t be any good for your wife, but I guarantee you, you’d have some fun.”
“It wouldn’t be the day after tomorrow, now. It’d be tomorrow. I’m going to my hotel get a few hours’ sleep, then a train to Pennsylvania, and tonight I’ll be on a sleeper. So it’d be tomorrow, in point of fact. I think I’ll need a little more rest, but I will telephone you at eleven-thirty. Tomorrow.”
“Now don’t forget. I like you.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I like you,” said George.
“I wouldn’t trust you for a minute, and I’ll bet you can be a real son of a bitch. But all the same I like you, and I don’t say that to everybody. And I’ll tell you frankly, I didn’t like your kid.”
“Well, I don’t like him much myself, Angela.”
“That I could tell. Now you better take a run-out powder or I’ll start working on you and you’ll never get any sleep.”
“You’re a very sweet girl, Angela. I hope we see a lot of each other.”
“We will. I don’t want you to go, but it’s ten minutes of four. Soon it’ll be daylight.” She put her arms around him and kissed him, then handed him his hat. “Out. Scram,” she said. She took his arm, led him to the door, and nudged him into the hall and closed the door.
In the taxi, all the way to the Carstairs, he was in a state of euphoria for which the right explanation eluded him. Then he remembered Eulalie Fenstermacher, the prim voluptuary, who had once produced in him the same happiness. Thirty years later he was falling in love with a genuine whore, and in what way could a whore fail him?
In Swedish Haven and in Gibbsville he attended to his business according to plan. Arthur McHenry, salt of the earth as usual and as usual considerate of the other man’s time, had mercifully concise explanations of all the papers that were to be signed on this trip. He avoided small talk and discouraged the few casual visitors to their table at the Gibbsville Club. Their business and their lunch were completed before two-thirty. “I’ve taken the liberty of hiring a car for you,” said Arthur. “It’s a nice little Buick coupe. Rented it from Julian English. He just took it in trade on a Cadillac and he didn’t want to charge you anything, but I insisted. Five dollars for the day. You can leave it here this evening when you’re finished with it. Give the key to whoever’s at the desk.”