‘You’re quite a man,’ she said huskily. ‘Let’s go to bed, damn it! I think you could launch me off my pad.’
‘Let’s talk.’ Lepski sat opposite her. ‘When I’m on police duty, there’s no count down for my rocket.’
She laughed.
‘I like that... a witty cop! Okay, so you are a stinking sonofabitch, but let’s talk. Give me a cigarette.’
‘I wouldn’t give you a kiss of life,’ Lepski said. ‘Talk... I want to get out of here.’
She took a cigarette from the box on the table, looked at him for a light, then seeing he wouldn’t give her one, she used a match.
‘Jack wants his boat back,’ she said. ‘I told him if anyone could get it for him you could.’
Lepski took a cigarette from his pack. As he set fire to it, he shook his head.
‘That crap doesn’t dazzle me. Let’s have it right from the beginning and fast. I have better things to do than to share the same air with you.’
‘Baldy Riccard talked Jack into renting his boat. The boat’s vanished. Jack’s blowing his stack He wants his boat back.’
‘When did he rent his boat to Baldy?’
‘Two months ago... March 24th if you want it exact.’
‘Why?’
‘What does it matter? He rented it. Now there’s talk that Baldy is dead. Jack must have his boat: all his money is tied up in it.’
‘I asked you: why did he rent the boat to Baldy?’
Goldie hesitated, then said, ‘Baldy offered five hundred bucks. Jack would rent his mother to a circus for that kind of money. I told him he was out of his mind, but he wouldn’t listen to me. Do you have to keep asking questions?’
Lepski rolled his cigarette around in lips as he squinted at her.
‘Why did Baldy want the boat?’
‘He was going on a trip.’
‘Is that right? I didn’t imagine he wanted the boat to file his nails with. What trip? Where?’
Goldie again hesitated.
‘You cops! You make me sick! Always questions and no action. If you must know... Havana. He said he would be back in three weeks: it’s now eight weeks. Now we hear he was in Paradise City last Tuesday and the creep hasn’t been to see us. Now they say he is dead.’ Again she hesitated, then went on, ‘Jack’s not only worried about his boat, he’s worried about Jacey and Hans.’
Lepski ran his fingers through his hair.
‘Jacey and Hans? Who are they?’
‘The crew, stupid! You don’t imagine Baldy could take a boat to Havana on his own, do you?’
Lepski drew in a long, exasperated breath.
‘Are you telling me the crew as well as the boat are missing?’
She slid her hand under her sweater to scratch her ribs.
‘Do you have wax in your ears? Isn’t that what I said? The crew and the boat are missing.’
‘So two men are missing for eight weeks and no one has reported it? Is that right?’
Goldie shrugged.
‘They are homos. Who cares about homos?’
‘But Thomas didn’t go to the police? So why is he worried now about them?’
‘He’s not all that worried about them. He’s worried about his boat.’
‘Why didn’t he report all this?’
Goldie scratched some more under her sweater.
‘Are you really as dumb as you sound?’ She looked wonderingly at him. ‘So Jack goes to the cops. He tells them his boat is missing and Hans and Jacey are missing. So what do the goddamn cops do? Do they look for the boat? Do they look for Jacey and Hans? That’s a laugh. They twist Jack’s arm and want to know where he found the money to buy the boat.’
Lepski knew this was right.
‘So what do you think I am... I am a cop, damn it!’
She relaxed back, regarding him.
‘Oh sure, but you’re off your territory. That’s why I told Jack you might be able to do something about his boat without involving him.’
Lepski turned this over in his mind. He realised she had something. He pulled out his notebook.
‘Give me a description of the boat.’
‘It’s a forty foot launch, painted white; the cockpit painted red. Her name and port are in red: Gloria II. Vero Beach.’
‘How is she powered?’
‘Twin diesel if that means anything to you: it just means two screws to me.’
Lepski scowled.
‘Cops can be witty, but not whores. How about the crew?’
‘Hans Larsen: tall, blond, twenty-five years of age, a Dane. Jacey Smith, small thin, broken nose, a negro.’
Lepski paused in his writing and regarded her with grudging admiration.
‘It’s a shame your brains are between your legs,’ he said. ‘If you moved them up to your head you could have made a good cop.’
She sneered.
‘Who wants to be a good cop?’
Lepski shook his head in despair.
‘Who was Baldy scared of?’
‘Everything... everyone.’
Lepski paused to light another cigarette, then he said in his cop voice, ‘If you go vague on me, I’ll toss you to the wolves. Keep talking and you and me are buddies: start stalling and you’re headed for the tank.’
Goldie’s mouth twisted into a contemptuous sneer.
‘Wake up, Lepski! You’re off your territory. You wouldn’t dare take me in. Lacey would castrate you.’
Lepski knew that was possible. He rubbed the end of his nose with his pencil.
‘Don’t let’s argue,’ he said. ‘Baldy was scared. Everyone tells me he was scared. If you want me to find the boat, I must know who was scaring him. It’s as simple as that.’
‘I don’t know. Jack doesn’t know. Yes, Baldy was scared. He pulled a big job and it turned out to be too big.’
‘How do you know?’
‘He told us. He said it was the biggest job he had ever pulled.’
‘I know all that,’ Lepski said impatiently. ‘What was the job?’
‘Do you imagine we were crazy enough to ask him?’
Lepski decided she was telling the truth.
‘Fifteen minutes ago, a gunman walked into Mai Langley’s room and put a slug in her head,’ he said after a pause. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes. When you live the way Jack and I have to live, you have to know what’s going on... sometimes before it happens.’ Goldie was now speaking quietly and her eyes were troubled. ‘A friend called us.’
‘And if Mai hadn’t had her head shot off, you wouldn’t now be flapping with your mouth?’
Goldie lit another cigarette. Lepski saw her hand was unsteady.
‘This is a mess,’ she said. ‘Someone is shutting mouths.’ For the first time since he had been in the room, he saw she was losing her poise. Fear was beginning to show in her eyes. ‘What are you going to do for us, Lepski?’
‘On what you’ve given me so far, nothing,’ Lepski said bluntly. ‘Use your head, baby. If you can’t put a finger on the man who was scaring Baldy and who shot Mai, what can I do?’
‘If I could, I’d tell you. I don’t damn well know!’
Lepski felt he had stayed too long. Every minute he remained on Lacey’s territory was one more minute to his disadvantage. He got to his feet.
‘I’ll tell you something. Before Mai was knocked off she said the boat Baldy had hired had been sunk. This is strictly between you and me. I don’t know how Mai knew this. I didn’t have time to find out. But she said it was sunk. She said someone had shot holes in it.’ He regarded her dismay. ‘You start working out who could have shot holes in the boat. Tell Jack to use his brains to find out too... if he has any brains. Then if you get an idea, call me at headquarters.’
‘Do you mean you knew all the time Jack’s boat is sunk?’ Goldie yelled.
‘Don’t go shrill on me, baby. If you and Jack don’t come up with some ideas fast you’ll both see the inside of the tank as accessories.’