Benny Muscles In

Chapter Eleven

“Well? What did you find out?” Pat looked up from her soda.

“Everything’s arranged. Stay put here another fifteen minutes or so and we’ll be on our way.” He needed time to reach New York. Somebody there might have an idea.

“Fifteen minutes! What on earth can one do in a drugstore for fifteen minutes? Whom did you talk to?”

“Now take it easy, Miss Patricia. I talked to your father’s place and they’re sending a car over. Your father himself wasn’t there yet. Some delay in New York. Then I talked to the police again and they said that with the description I gave them it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to straighten this whole thing out. They don’t think it was anything criminal. Perhaps a prank.”

“I don’t care what it was. The whole thing is a nuisance and as far as I’m concerned there’ll be hell to pay before I get through!” She got up, mean and edgy. “I’m calling a cab,” she said. “Pay the man for his lousy soda and then wait here for the car they’re sending. I’m not waiting any longer.” She started to walk off.

“Wait! If you call a cab now, you’ll probably wait longer than it takes for the car to get here. Besides, and I’m sorry about this, Miss Patricia, I don’t think we have enough money for the cab. It’s another fifty-mile drive, you know. The car they’re sending was right here in town, at a garage.”

“You know, Benny, I’d say you’re acting mighty queer about this. Once I get to the house I can pay the cab ten times over, you know, and any more trouble out of you is going to cost you plenty once I tell Father about this.” She fixed him with her gray, unloving eyes, and Benny thought how easily he could reach out and choke that skinny neck of hers.

“Will you wait just one second till I check again? You can wait that long, can’t you, for chrissakes?”

She looked at him with surprise and was hardly able to speak. “Tapkow,” she managed to say, “that’ll mean your job,” and she walked to the telephone booth.

He didn’t stop her. He let her go and went outside. The yellow convertible was across the street, standing there waiting for him, and that was going to be the way out. He looked back into the drugstore. She was still phoning. He was hoping she was phoning a cab company and nothing else. But either way, he was ready.

When she came out he walked up to her. “They brought the car,” he said. “A mechanic brought it over and it’s across the street.”

“Oh?”

“Call the cab company and tell them not to come.”

“To hell with the cab company. Let’s get going.” She followed him out of the door and to the car. “When did Daddy get this one?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Benny started the motor.

“You know something, Tapkow? Those manners of yours aren’t going to interfere with your job much longer. I’ll see to it that this is your last official act with us.”

He didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on the traffic and worked his way to the less crowded side streets.

“Don’t you hear me? I’m talking to you, Tapkow!”

Her voice was nasty.

“Seeing how it is, kid, you can stop calling me Tapkow. It’s either Benny, if you want, or Mr. Tapkow. Take your pick.”

“Why, you insolent bastard! Do you think firing you is all my father can do to you? I’ll make it my personal business-”

“Why don’t you shut up?”

She gasped. Then her face turned a dark red. It made her gray eyes look flat and pale, like a fish’s eyes. “Stop this car, you insolent sonofabitch. Stop this instant or I’ll yell for help!”

He kept driving. The knuckles of his hands stood out white where he clutched the steering wheel.

“I said stop!”

He stopped. He yanked at the emergency brake and left the motor running. Then he took off his chauffeur’s cap, tossed it in the street, and turned to face her. “Now you listen to me.”

Her livid face came close and she screamed, “Get out of this car! Get out or I’ll-”

Benny clapped his hand over her mouth, making her head jolt against the back of the seat. She tried to jump up but he grabbed her bare arm and yanked her over to his side. “Another yelp out of you and you’ll regret it. Listen close now, Pat, because I’ve taken all I’m going to take. You yell, sister, and I break your teeth. The pretty ones in front. And nothing’s going to happen to me afterward, so you might as well sit still, keep your mouth shut, and stay out of my hair. That clear?” He gave her arm a sharp yank that made her gasp.

She didn’t move then. He started driving again and hit the highway south.

After a while he turned to look at her, wondering what next. She wasn’t the kind to huddle back and stay under. Any moment now she was coming up to make like her old man.

“Tell me, Tapkow-I beg your pardon, I mean Mr. Tapkow-do you have a wife?”

He didn’t know what to make of it. Her voice had been normal enough, just a trace of that metallic edge in it.

“No,” he said.

“I see.”

She waited, hoping he’d ask her why she had asked. But he just drove south, toward the Pendleton place, to keep her from suspecting and to give himself time to think. And he needed time for that call to New York. Perhaps they knew how to reach Alverato.

“I asked because in that case I would have been sure you’re a wife beater.”

He ignored her.

“Tell me, Mr. Tapkow, do you always beat your women?” She moved closer, looking at him with a show of interest. “Do you enjoy beating women?”

“No,” he said.”

“Then why do you?”

He turned his head and said, “I didn’t beat you. I told you to shut up. Then you did shut up and that was that.”

“I see. And that was that Aren’t you going to tell me again?” She was needling him now.

“No. Next time I do what I warned you about.”

For a moment she didn’t say a thing. Then she said, “You know, Tapkow-uh, Benny-you turned out to be quite something else than a boot-licker… Well, aren’t you pleased?”

He hadn’t been following her.

“You dislike me a great deal, don’t you?”

This time he turned and looked at her. It hadn’t occurred to him. As a part of his deal she was everything. As a person she had no importance to him.

“You’re talking through your hat,” he said and turned to the road again.

“I have a talent for making people take note of me, Benny. Or wouldn’t you think so?”

“Jump in a lake.”

She had her arm on the back of the seat now and he could feel his sleeve brushing her blouse now and then.

“Insolent bastards like you don’t hold up very long, Benny Because it’s an act. What would you do if I jumped out of the car?”

He tensed, thinking for a moment that she might “I’d stop you,” he said.

“Aren’t you sweet. So you are taking note.”

“Just don’t jump,” he said, and moved to be clear of her.

“What if I told you I’m starving, that I’m starving to death? What would you do then?”

“I’d get you something to eat, for chrissakes. Now shut up, will you?”

She rolled away from him, lying slouched in the seat. There was a smile on her face, one side of her mouth up and crooked.

“Where are you going, Benny? To the place?”

“Yeah, to the place.”

“Did you say Daddy’s there, waiting?”

“I said he wasn’t there yet. He’s still in New York.”

She didn’t talk for a while and Benny forgot her. He was thinking he could miss the cutoff, fake motor trouble.

“Benny, I’m hungry. I’m serious now. Stop at the next place you pass.”

Here was his chance.

“There’s nothing on this road. There’s a place I know, but it’s east. We’ll have to turn off.”

“Go ahead and turn off.”

He turned off on a state road and drove east. Perhaps he’d gain time this way. He didn’t trust her as far as he could spit against the wind, but so far there was nothing she could do.

After a while they came to a roadhouse, a low, sprawling affair with palm trees in the front and a long row of cabins leading back into an artificial grove.

They got out and went to the screened patio with the tables. Benny had the car keys in his pocket.

“Order something while I’m gone. I’ve got to phone again.”

“Phone whom? My father?” She sounded sharp.

“No,” he said. “Not your father.”

She didn’t stop him again and he went inside and asked for a phone.

“Right behind you on the wall, bud.”

Benny pulled out a bill and flicked his finger against it. “I mean someplace private.”

The bartender came out from behind the bar and took the bill. “Follow me, sir.” They walked to the back. There was an office there and the phone was on the desk.

After the door closed behind him Benny picked up the phone. First the St. Petersburg number. He waited a long time, listening to the phone ring. Then he hung up. Next he placed a long-distance call to New York. While the operator made the connections he walked to the door and opened it. Pat was not at the table. He started to dish out when he saw her come back. The door that said “Ladies” was slowly swinging shut.

When he picked up the phone again the operator was already talking. “Ready with your call to New York, sir. Go ahead, please.”

“All right. Hello?”

“Hello, who is it?”

“Tapkow. That you, Wally?”

“Yeah. What’s up, Benny?”

“Wally, listen close. Something went wrong. We made the rendezvous and they picked up the wrong dame. She’s on the boat now. Can you get hold of them?… Waddaya mean no?… Three days? You mean I gotta hold onto this spitfire for three more days?… Yeah, of course I got Pendleton’s daughter. Now listen. I’ll call you again tomorrow and give you a contact where I can be reached. Meanwhile, try like hell to get to Alverato. He may get in touch sooner, because he ought to know by now he’s got the wrong dame… O.K. So long.”

He walked back to the table where Pat was waiting. This time he was going to find out. “Your father,” he said, and watched her face.

“My father?” Her voice sounded less friendly. “What did he-what did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I called the Florida place is all. They said he won’t be down for three days.”

He watched her exhale the smoke from a deep drag and it sounded as if she had been holding her breath. He sat back.

“That gave you a jolt, huh?”

For a second the sharp line showed between her eyes, then she leaned forward on her elbows. The very difference on her face made her look hard. “I get my jolts elsewhere,” she said. “Almost anywhere else.”

She moved closer. He had one hand on the table and she leaned forward on her elbows. One small breast rested on his hand.

He didn’t move it.

“Even with the help?” he said.

Her light eyes never wavered and she stayed where she was.

“Even with the help,” she said.

He hadn’t known just how brassy she could be and it made him angry. He moved the fingers of his hand on the table slightly. She must have felt it but didn’t stir.

“Later,” she said, and they looked at each other like enemies.

It wasn’t going to do to cross her. There were a number of things he would have liked to do to her, but the stakes were too big. So it wasn’t too hard to hold back and forget about her. And besides, she was a stranger to him. He had known women that sold it and others that didn’t. Pat was like neither. Pat was doing the buying.

Sometimes he had felt that there was another kind of woman, a woman to whom buying and selling had nothing to do with it, but he wasn’t thinking of that now. All he knew was that Pat meant business and nothing was going to mess that up. She wasn’t going to pull him aside, get herself frantic, and maybe keep leeching around when everything ought to be over.

“While you’re just sitting there, Tapkow, go get us a cabin.” She leaned back and looked at Benny with her cold eyes. “And don’t tell me this is news to you. You’ve known for the past hour we’d end up in bed.”

She was playing it his way, and he didn’t like it.

“Go on, Benny. Or I’ll do it with the waiter if you won’t.” She didn’t even blink.

He got up and left.

The cabin was way in the back. He stood by the bed, smoking, trying to get his temper under control. If he didn’t need the time, the time for the big chance… The door opened and she walked in. “You could have come back to pick me up,” she said.

“You got here.”

There was silence for a moment and he could hear her breathe. “How do you want it, Benny? With clothes or without?”

He turned as if stung and saw the smirk on her face. “I bet you feel like cast iron,” he said.

“You haven’t even touched me yet.” There was that clear, metallic tone in her voice. “But let’s not ruin my clothes. My luggage is in the other car, you remember.” She unbuttoned her blouse.

“If there’s any chasing to be done around here, it’ll be me who’s doing it.” His breath hissed and for once he felt cornered.

She just laughed. The blouse fell to the floor, and then the skirt. Then she kicked her shoes off. Benny saw the muscles move in her long thigh.

“You take off the rest,” she said. “You do it.”

He sat on the bed and lit a cigarette. “This is your show, kid. You do it.” He blew smoke at her thigh.

She was all over him like a snake. One hand tore at his hair and he felt with surprise how one sharp first smacked into his mouth. Then she caught his nose. He jumped up and she flew against the opposite wall. Then the surprise stayed with him when he saw her come back. The flat of his hand caught her cheek, but her eyes, like a fighter’s, never left his. And then he felt her balled fists stinging his ribs, then his neck and stomach. He reached for her and they fell on the bed, struggling. He could feel the muscles in her twisting back. When her bra ripped she suddenly stopped. Benny saw her small breasts, like hard lemons, and she twisted to meet him. But she stiffened when she saw his eyes. He grabbed her and with a swift pull she was suddenly on her feet. Her arms were pinned back, then her feet thrashed free again, and when she came down she was cramped in the dark as the closet door swung shut and the lock clicked into place.

His cigarette had rolled under the bed. He bent to pick it up, sat in the chair by the window, and smoked. He watched the closet door tremble with her pounding. He sat and smoked another cigarette. After a while there was no more noise. It had got dark outside and the gloom of the cabin just showed the rumpled bed and her clothes on the floor. He pulled the sheets straight, then went to the closet.

She stood flat against the wall. Benny could see her breathe and he saw that her light eyes weren’t cold any more.

“Come out,” he said.

She didn’t move, only her breath came faster.

Benny took her bare arm and led her to the bed. She was different now. Her nakedness was smooth and soft in the dark room.

“Lie down.” He pulled the covers back.

She lay down, waiting. This was as new to her as it was to him. Then he covered her with the blanket. He stepped back and looked down at her. “No dice,” he said.

For a moment she said nothing. “Start all over?”

“We’ll start all over,” he said. “Good night, now.”

Once in the middle of the night she woke up and looked for him. His breathing came from near the door, where he was lying on the floor asleep. You couldn’t have opened the door without waking him.