The thought angered him. But he kept his mind on Bobo and Charlie. “What’s your deal?”
“I’ll give Charlie back half the dough,” Bobo said, “if he’ll promise to get out of these hills and not make any trouble. Otherwise he’ll get all the trouble he’s asking for, and I’ll keep all the money.”
Bobo stood up, moved toward the door, Skip Merrill a sardonic shadow beside him.
Barney said, “Leah wants to get out of here.”
“That Leah,” Bobo said.
Skip Merrill grinned; he had broken, yellow teeth. “Some babe. What kind of playmate is she, Loy?”
Barney looked at him levelly. “She’s warmer than a kewpie doll,” he admitted. “But Charlie ain’t. He’s got ice in his veins. He may not want to leave so bad. I don’t think he’ll take your deal, Bobo.”
“Maybe I got a way of forcing the deal,” Bobo said darkly.
Barney studied Bobo’s face again. Bluff or bravado wouldn’t work in this setup. He saw neither in Bobo’s face.
“You just do me this one favor, Barney,” Bobo said. “We’ve always been friends, but I won’t sponge on friendship any further. Just outline the deal to Charlie, see if you can help swing it, and meet me tomorrow night just after moon-rise at the cabin on the point overlooking Little Sanloosa. You can’t miss the place. Meantime, Skip and me will locate the boat you lost and fetch it back to the dock.”
“I don’t want to be dragged into this,” Barney told him. “But I’ll run this one errand.”
“I told Skip you would. Maybe a little pressure will fix things so that we can iron out the details tomorrow night.”
Bobo and Skip went out. Josie stood by the fireplace, very pensive. “That Leah, Barney — is she really such a... warm playmate?”
Barney looked at Josie’s trim back and grinned. “She’s got a bucket of hot coals where most dames carry their hearts.”
Josie whirled on him, and Barney’s face went stiff. His kidding had misfired. Josie had tears brimming in her eyes.
Barney reached out, his face contrite, his mouth open to try to say something soothing.
“Don’t you touch me, you big hunk of overgrown muscle! Cousin Bobo has done nothing but give you a build-up every time your name was mentioned. But now I believe Bobo really is punch drunk.”
She picked up that rifle again, marched into the bedroom, and slammed the door. Barney let his hand drop and closed his mouth. He felt terrible. He hadn’t known Josie long, but he wanted to know her a lot better. A crazy kind of dream was beginning to stir in the nethermost parts of his mind.
He sat on the settee. But he wasn’t sleepy any longer. The rain had stopped. Moonlight was filtering through the window. He might as well go back to the cottage in the village.
“Cripes,” he muttered, “but I feel lousy.”
Leah cooked breakfast the next morning, scrambled eggs and scorched bacon. She shoved the food before Barney and Charlie, sat down at the end of the table, and poured herself a drink from the bottle of bourbon she had set out.
Charlie, who had the physique of a scarecrow, hunched his shoulders and picked up a fork. “Lay off that stuff, baby. It’s not a healthy breakfast.”
Leah looked out over the silent mountains and shivered. “Why don’t you take a running jump in the lake? You can’t find Bobo Hensley, and you’re not man enough to take the twenty grand from him if you did.”
Charlie’s thin hands began to shake. “You let me find Bobo and I’ll get the dough,” he said. “I’ve dealt with tougher characters before.”
“Big talk — and meantime we rot. I don’t see what I ever tied onto you for.”
“A meal ticket, baby. Just like your first husband.”
“We’ll leave my first husband out of this,” Leah said, splashing a second drink into her glass. “He was more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
“Maybe I ought to punch you one,” Charlie threatened, “and show you just how much of a man I am.”
This, Barney thought, can go on indefinitely.
“I saw Bobo last night,” he said.
Charlie dropped his fork and Leah spilled her whiskey.
“You... you get the dough?” Charlie asked. He tried to laugh. The sound was forced, patronizing, and it sickened Barney. “You wouldn’t hold out on me, Barney?”
Barney whittled Charlie down with his gaze. What a prize sap I was ever to hook up with this character, Barney thought. But Charlie could be plenty smooth when he wanted to be. Smarter boys than Barney had been taken in by him. Barney guessed there were two Charlies, really, the one who put on the suave front and this other one who had begun to be revealed when the money disappeared.
“You really think Bobo would hand over that money to me?” Barney asked.
Charlie’s thin face grew glum. “No, I guess not. Bobo have anything to say to me?”
“He wants to make a deal.”
Leah stiffened on the edge of her chair, lynx-eyed. Charlie laid down his fork with an elaborate motion. “A deal?”
“Bobo says he will split the money.”
Charlie cracked his colorless lips in a mirthless laugh. “Some boy, Bobo. What does he take me for?”
“I told him you wouldn’t do it.”
“Did I say I wouldn’t?”
Barney studied Charlie’s face. Charlie had something up his sleeve. Barney felt a tremor of fear for Bobo pass through him.
Charlie flung his arms wide in a charitable gesture. “I don’t mind living and letting live, Barney. Where do I meet Bobo?”
“I meet him first,” Barney said. “Tonight.”
“Arrange things for me, pal, and we’ll all be one happy family again.”
“Yeah,” Barney said. He watched Charlie turn to Leah. That calculating expression in Leah’s eyes didn’t change. She knew Charlie was up to something but she couldn’t figure what.
“See, baby,” Charlie told her, “we’ll be getting out of here before long now, and I’ll give you a grand to buy a new winter coat.”
Still chortling, Charlie left the cottage to buy some cigarettes in the village. Leah watched him walk down the path out of sight; then she tossed off her drink. She got up to move around closer to Barney; she was a very delectable image in shorts and halter.
“Thanks, Barney, for trying to fix things.”
She poured herself another drink, offered the bottle to Barney, and sat looking at him. Her lips were ripe, red, and glistening wet. She was bored stiff and Barney knew he could kiss her if he wanted to.
“I didn’t try to fix anything,” he said. “I ran into Bobo by accident, through a little cousin of his who lives four or five miles this side of the boat dock.”
She laughed. “Female cousin, Barney?”
He nodded, said seriously, “It ain’t over yet, Leah. Not by a long shot. Charlie won’t go around handing out ten thousand dollars.”
“I know. I had the same feeling — that he’s planning something. I think he intends to meet Bobo, throw down on him with a gun, and take all of the money.”
“Well, he’d better be careful. This is Bobo’s country, his league. He’s running with a tough sidekick named Skip Merrill. Something powerful is driving Bobo to keep that dough. I had the feeling he intends to keep it, even if he has to kill for it.”
Her green eyes darkened. “He sounds determined.”
“He’s got just one thought in those scrambled brains — to keep at least half the dough. When Bobo grabs an idea like that, nothing will cause him to let go.”
She leaned toward Barney. “Then,” she said, a huskiness slipping into her tone, “it’s still partly up to you, Barney. You got to fix it so we can get out of here. You can do it, acting as middle man.”
“I don’t like the sound of that phrase, middle man. I don’t want any part of this setup.”