The Long Wait Read online

“But I have to tell Mr. Servo...”

  “Whatever you have to tell him, he won’t want to hear, sugar.”

  “Oh, you’re wrong. I always....”

  “Mr. Servo is sick,” I said gently.

  “Sick? He’s never sick. What’s wrong with him?”

  “He just had the crap kicked outa him. Coming?”

  Her eyes got a little cloudy, but she didn’t say anything until I took her arm and walked her outside. Going down the stairs she said solemnly, “You’re in an awful lot of trouble, Mr. McBride. You know that?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, “yeah, I guess I am at that.”

  There was a bar right across the street from the building and it didn’t take much persuasion to steer her in and onto a stool set at right angles to the street. Her name was Carol Shay, she was twenty-six years old, had an apartment downtown someplace, a yearning to try her luck in the movies and a yen for one Manhattan after another.

  After a half dozen of the things she got giggly and tugged on my sleeve until I turned around. “You’re not talking to me, Mr. McBride.”

  “I was watching the office across the street. Thought maybe I’d have a chance to see my pals come out. It would’ve made good watching.”

  She giggled again and sipped her Manhattan. “Oh, forget them. They’ll go down the back way.”

  My ears picked up at that. “Why?”

  “Keeps the car down there. All his private appointments come up that way.”

  “Then what’s he got you for?”

  She squealed into her glass and raked her nails across the back of my hand. “He likes to look at me. Besides, I’m dumb.” Her eyes came up and laughed into mine. “I really am,” she insisted.

  I grinned back at her. Platinum head was dumb all right. Like a fox. For a hundred bucks a week she could afford to be as dumb as they come.

  She said, “Why’d you hit Lenny? Did you really do like you said?”

  “Uh-huh. A little guy too. His name was Eddie.”

  “You did!” Her eyebrows were perfect parentheses, nearly reaching her hair. “That’s Eddie Packman.” Her voice went down to a lower register. “He’s worse than Lenny.”

  “Swell. It’ll be more fun when we meet up again.”

  “You’re crazy!”

  “Nope, just mad. How long was Lenny in his office today?”

  “All day.”

  “Sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. He was in his office with the others since nine this morning. They even had their lunches sent up. Why?”

  “Oh, nothing special. Somebody tried to bump me this morning and I was wondering if it could have been our boy.” I got another incredulous stare before she turned back to the bar. “He could have gone down that back way you mention,” I said.

  “No. He was there. I had to call in for him often enough.”

  I hooked my finger under her chin and pulled her head around. “Not that often. I bet there was at least an hour there when he never was near his phone. Right?”

  “I ... I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  “That’s okay,” I said, “all I want is enough to make it look like it could have been him. That’s enough reason for taking him apart.”

  “I need a drink,” she said. “I hope to hell nobody sees me sitting here with you.”

  So I got her another drink, watched her drink it and bought one more to keep it company. “What’s the score up there, Carol?”

  I could see her fingers freeze around the glass. “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. Is that place the headquarters for everything that happens in this town?”

  She took a long time before nodding her head.

  “Like what?”

  Her smile wasn’t so bright this time. It seemed a little sad and a little lost. “Look, feller, I’m dumb. I’m beautiful but dumb. If you want to play any games, keep them between you and Mr. Servo or Eddie Packman. I don’t know anything at all and I’m glad I don’t because if I did you’re just the kind of a guy who could put on an act I’d go for and make me put myself in a jam.”

  “Like me?”

  “You’re nice.”

  “Say it better.”

  She propped her chin in her hand and looked at me sleepily. “I like big guys. I like the ones who can come out on top and who don’t give a damn for anything. I like them smart and beefed up so they don’t have to wear any padding in their suits. I like mean faces and short haircuts. I could go for a guy who could slap Lenny Servo around and get away with it. The only trouble is they never live long enough for me to enjoy.”

  “You tried it already?”

  “That’s telling.”

  “Your boss isn’t a good guy to kick the crap outa, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  I lit a butt and threw a shaft of smoke around the glass in front of me. “I hear he’s a ladies man.”

  “Nuts. He’s a male nympho, whatever that is.”

  “A saytr. Who’s his current?”

  “Some hot number from upstate who knows that the best way to his heart isn’t through his stomach. He keeps her in nylons in his apartment.”

  “Look,” I said, “what do you think will happen to me?”

  A frown flitted across her face. “I ... don’t know, really. Somebody ...”

  “Go on.”

  “Things just happen, that’s all. Don’t ask me questions like that. If I were you I’d take the first train out of here.” Her fingers closed over mine. “Do me a favor... leave.”

  “I like it here.”

  The glass sat on the edge of her lip a moment, then tipped sharply as she drained it. The bartender came over and made her another one without asking. It was on the house. “You would,” she said, then knocked that drink off too. When she turned around her mouth was pulled down wryly. “Damn all big guys. Come on, take me home.”

  When she got off the stool she almost went on her nose. I got her outside, whistled down a cab and shoved her in. By the time we reached her apartment she was all giggles and insisted on me seeing her to the door.

  The only trouble was, she fell asleep in the elevator and I had to carry her from door to door looking for Shay on a nameplate until I found it, then fish out a key from the bottom of her handbag to get in.

  It was a tricky little three-room apartment with the bedroom opening off one corner of the living room. I kicked the door open, dumped her on the bed and tossed her bag on the dresser.

  I started to leave when she said plaintively, “You forgot to undress me.”

  And there she was grinning at me, her eyes swimming through the blur of the Manhattans, but still very much awake.

  “The zipper runs all the way down the back,” she said.

  “I know. And there’s only one hook on the gimmick and your stockings are held up by adhesive tape.”

  She giggled again and raised one leg up slowly. Her dress fell back as far as it could ever get until she was all nice bare skin and sheer nylon that sent fingers crawling up the back of my neck. “You’re so right,” she said. “Now unzip me.”

  I stuck two cigarettes in my mouth, lit them and tossed one on the bed beside her. “Some other time.”

  She sure knew how to pout. She let her leg fall and picked up the butt from the spread. “You’re mean.”

  “Yeah, a real killer.” I grinned again and walked out.

  She let me get as far as the front door. “If you want, you can come back here and hide from Lenny. Forever.”

  Nice kid. Obliging.

  “Maybe I will,” I called back. I stepped outside, tried the door to make sure it was locked and got in the elevator.

  I was all the way down on the street when I remembered that I’d wanted to ask her if that peroxide didn’t sting like hell.

  I expected an ultra-modern apartment house with a door-man. I got a six-story affair with self-service elevator. I expected a bronze doorknocker shaped like a roulette wheel. I got a brass push bu
tton. I expected a name embossed in gold and got a plain printed card in a metal frame.

  I expected anybody to open the door but a sleepy-eyed vixen with flaming red hair who offered me a drink out of her glass before she said hello. I took the drink because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

  When I finished half of it I handed it back. “You always answer the door like that?”

  “I like to be naked,” she purred.

  “Doesn’t anybody ever complain?”

  She grinned at me as if I’d made a joke and finished the rest of the drink.

  “You selling anything?”

  “No, are you?”

  “It’s sold,” she said. “You want Lenny, don’t you?”

  “That’s right,” I lied.

  “He isn’t here but you can come in and wait.”

  She held the door open and closed it behind me. Now it was just what I had expected. Plush, Real plush. There was a room with books, a room with a bar, rooms with all the fineries of life and a special room with an oversized bed that was ready for use.

  I looked at everything there was to see, but I had to quit sometime, and there she was, curled up in an overstuffed easy chair, naked as hell, watching me over the rim of a fresh drink. You don’t describe naked women when you walk right in and find them like that. They’re just naked, that’s all. They’re kind of white and soft and everything seems to be in motion all at once. Watch ’em for just a little while and all of a sudden you’re used to them and it’s over with. Then you can talk.

  I said, “How long have you been around, Sis?”

  “Oh, a long time. For years and years. Are you a cop?” Before I could answer she shook her head, making her hair ripple down her back. “No, you wouldn’t be a cop. A cop would never have come in. A friend?” Her head shook again. “That couldn’t be it either. A friend would know better than to come in. A reporter maybe? Nope, not a reporter or I should have been raped.” She giggled and sipped her drink, making a pretense of being serious. “You must be an enemy. That’s the answer.”

  I lit a cigarette and waited until she put the drink down. She had to uncurl to reach the coffee table and did it with a lazy snaky motion. She leaned back in the chair and stretched, her breast taut, then pulled her stomach in and relaxed. “Do you know what Lenny’ll do to vou if he finds you here?”

  “No, tell me about it.”

  Another insane giggle. “That would spoil the fun. No, I’ll wait. You can talk and look at me while we wait. All you want to.” She reached for the glass again, struggled to claw out an ice cube and held it while she sucked on it. “Now talk,” she said.

  “Ever know a girl named Vera West?”

  The ice cube dropped in her lap. She got it back after a frenzied search and frowned at me. “Lenny isn’t going to like you.”

  “I don’t expect him to. What about it?”

  “I heard of her.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Oh, she gone and I’m taking care of Lenny now. Who cares?”

  “I care, Sis. Where is she?”

  She tossed her head impatiently. “How would I know. She’s been gone so long nobody knows. One time she was here, then she was gone. Just like that. Besides, I don’t like her.”

  “Why?”

  “Lenny talks about her, that’s why. He gets drunk sometimes and calls me by her name and sometimes I hear him swearing at her in his sleep. As long as he’s swearing I don’t care, but I don’t like him calling me with her name.”

  “What would happen if Lenny found her?”

  “I know what would happen if I found her.”

  She plopped the ice cube in her mouth, washed it around until it was melted then swallowed it. It must have made a cold track going down because she got gooseflesh all over. There was a lot of her to get gooseflesh. She shivered as if she liked it and reached out for another. This time she really stretched out for my benefit, making sure I didn’t miss anything. I think she was starting to get mad.

  I said, “What would happen?”

  Her tongue toyed with the ice cube. “I’d fix her so no man would ever want to look at her again. I’d fix her good. Someday I’ll find her. I think I know how, too.”

  “You do? How?”

  Something happened in her eyes. They started to match her hair. “What’ll you give me if I tell you?”

  “What do you want?”

  “That’s a silly question.”

  There was no doubt about her eyes. They were simmering coals waiting to be blown into life. They were half shielded by her lids so they looked lazy, but they weren’t. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen eyes like hers either.

  I said. “Lenny’s nuts about you, isn’t he?”

  “Certainly.” She dragged the word out. “Lenny’s oversexed too.”

  I pushed up out of the chair. “Excuse me. Be right back.” She didn’t say anything so I walked through the room. It only took a couple minutes to find out what I wanted to find out. On the dresser in the bedroom was a small fortune in diamonds and a slightly smaller fortune in pearls was strung over the tap in the bathroom sink. Her pocketbook was on the telephone stand and there were C notes stuffed in it with a few fins like poor relations guarding the roll.

  No place in the house was there even so much as a pair of lace panties.

  Lenny was so nuts about his little chipmunk that he wasn’t taking any chances on her leaving the nest. The only way he could keep his nymph at home was to garnishee her clothes and I couldn’t think of a better way if I tried.

  When I went back inside she wasn’t in the chair. She was stretched out on the couch with a cigarette in each hand daring me to come over and have a smoke. I took the dare. I reached for the cigarette but I wasn’t watching close enough. She twisted it and touched the hot tip to my hand and laughed when my mouth went tight.

  To her it was fun. A very nice little chipmunk. She and Lenny must have had some great times together.

  “You mentioned something about finding Vera West,” I reminded her.

  “Vera? Oh ... I did, didn’t I.”

  I said, “Maybe I better ask Lenny like I came here to. When will he be back?”

  She twisted on the couch, doing things that were supposed to make me forget what I came for. “Oh, not for hours and hours,” she grinned.

  Those kind of games I could play too. It was an awful waste, but she was too naked to be exciting. She should have used a curtain or something. Anything. I flipped the lit butt and it landed right on her belly. Her eyes popped open wide and she doubled up with a curse. It was funnier than with the ice cube.

  I laughed once and started off to the door. I looked back in case she was getting ready to throw something. A dame like that can go off the handle pretty hard.

  Hell, she wasn’t even mad. She was grinning and her eyes were brighter than her hair. “I have some mean things I’m going to do to you for that,” she said. The pause between her words slowed me down. “When you come back,” she added softly.

  I pushed the button and waited for the elevator to come back up. My reflection was grinning at me in the black glass window of the door. Nice having a couple of red hots throw themselves at you in the same half hour. Some town, this Lyncastle.

  The super had his apartment in the back of the building. He was short, bald and toothless, but the thousands of ash barrels he had hefted gave him arms like kegs. Before I said anything I held up a ten-spot and let him look at it.

  He liked it.

  He showed me his gums and picked it out of my fingers. “Come on in.”

  When he picked a couple of dirty undershirts off the chairs in the living room he nodded for me to sit down. He squatted across the room from me still playing with the bill. “So you’re nosing for news. Who of? Servo? The whores on the top floor?”

  “You catch on quick, don’t you?”

  “Nah. Them’s the only two in the place anybody’d pay for news of.”

  “Who else has been
asking?”

  “You a cop?”

  “Nope.”

  “Reporter?”

  “Nobody that counts. I just want information”

  “Okay. The whores pay off to the cops. They send people around to ask how business is. It’s good, they pay steeper, you know?”

  “And Servo?”

  He let out a gummy chuckle. “Ever hear of honest cops? We got some here. Guy by the name of Lindsey.”

  “I know him,” I said.

  “So he keeps after Servo. Likes to know who his contacts is, you know?”

  “Yeah, Who are they?”

  “For ten bucks I should stick my neck out? Mister, for a hunnert I don’t even know nuthin’. For five maybe I could scare up something.”

  “If you’re dead you can’t spend five hundred any better than ten.”

  His eyes glittered at me. “No, but with five I could clear outa this trap. Me fer the country, see? Can’t make no dough around here.”

  “Got anything worth five hundred?”

  The glitter disappeared and he shook his head. “Well, I ain’t even got anythin’ worth ten. I’m only kidding myself. It’s a long time since I seen any company and I felt like talking, you know?”

  I leaned back in the chair and stretched out my legs. Time wasn’t that important. Talk, that was what I wanted. Small talk. Big talk. After five years talk was all you had to go by anyway. I said, “How long has Servo been here?”

  The guy seemed to relax somewhere. Maybe he felt the way I felt and knew how interesting the subject was. “Oh, he been here almost ever since he came. Spent a fortune getting his place redecorated. You oughta see the chippy he got up there.”

  “I did.”

  I saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. He leaned forward in his chair tensely. “Yeah ... how was she?”

  “Bare. She wanted to play. I didn’t.”

  He swallowed again. A vein throbbed in his neck. “Cripes, what a dame! I go up there to fix a tap and she don’t have nothin’ on. You know what she did? I start uncorking the nut and alla time she’s talking to me sexy so my hands can hardly hold that damn wrench, then when I’m not looking she grabs a ball-peen hammer outo my kit and...”

  “What about his other women?”

  His eyes lost their glaze. He stared at me, blinked and sat back, chewing on his lip. “He always got good lookers.”