Chapter 15




The room was Spartan. There was a good mahogany double bed and bureau. The window in the wall opposite the bed was covered with red drapes. Behind the entry door was a door that I assume led to a closet. April sat on the bed, letting her legs fall carelessly open. Unless she had a lot of self-control, she'd be fat when she was forty. Right now she was pretty in a pink-cheeked, almost plump way. Her mouth was pouty and her teeth were white and even. There was something theatrical about her movements when they occasionally became unrestrained, as when she had flopped on the bed.

I opened the door that I took to be a closet. It was. There were a few dresses hanging in it. There were also various leather restraints hanging from hooks and a wooden paddle that was too long for Ping-Pong and too short for canoeing. On the floor were a pair of sneakers and a pair of sling-back spike-heeled pump.s Apparently she had more than one image. There was nothing else in the closet.

I turned back toward April. She had hiked the jumper skirt up over her thighs so that I was aware that she wore nothing beneath it. She looked at me with her stage look -pouty innocence, Lolita, Debbie Does Dallas. Probably practiced her look in the mirror between tricks.

I parted the drapes on the window. Under the drapes the window was secured with thick wire mesh. I let the drapes drop back in place. I looked over the rest of the room. There was no other way out. I didn't see any signs of a bug, though that didn't mean there wasn't one. On the top of the mahogany dresser was a radio. I turned it on. Loud.

On the bed April was naked except for her knee socks. There were dark bruises on her buttocks that had begun to yellow, her wrists were chafed red. I remembered the time when a girl her age would have excited me. But it was a long time ago-when I was her age. Now it was like looking at a naked child.

I lay down on the bed beside her and put my arm around her and held her close against me and whispered, "My name is not Alley Oop, it's Spenser, and your parents hired me to find you." Her body went rigid and she tried to pull away. I held her against me. I said, "You won't have to do anything you don't want to do. But if you want out of here, I'll take you out."

April was perfectly rigid and silent. I had my mouth against her ear. "I don't know if there's a bug in here, but there could be, so we'll whisper and leave the radio up loud."

"A bug'?" "A microphone for listening to us," I whispered.

"I don't know."

"Now, you want out of here?"

She was silent.

"I think you do," I said. "It couldn't have been fun getting those bruises on your backside."

"Don't you want to fuck me?" she said.

"Nothing personal, but no, I don't. I want to take you out of here and buy you dinner someplace and see what our next step is."

She was still.

"Get dressed," I said, my mouth still against her ear, my arms around her, holding her against me.

"They won't let me go," she said.

"I'll take care of that," I said. I let her go and sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Angelo," she said, still whispering.

"That the disco prince downstairs?"

"Yes."

"He the bouncer?"

"Yes," she said. "He has a gun."

"But is he pure of heart?" I said.

She had slipped her blouse on. She stopped, half dressed. "They won't let me."

"Any other bouncers?" I said.

"During the day just Angelo. He gets off at seven and Monte and Dave come on for the night."

I looked at my watch. Five past five. "Good," I said, "we got them outnumbered."

She had her jumper on now, and her knee socks. She slipped her feet into the penny loafers. "What are you going to do with me after''"

"Buy you dinner, maybe some underwear. First we'll depart."

"Angelo's got a gun," she said again. Always she spoke in a whisper and never did she sound like anything much mattered. Angelo and his gun were a source of anxiety, maybe. But not much.

"I got one too," I said. "Let's go."

We went out her door and down the corridor to the stairs. We were on the landing where they turned when Angelo appeared at the foot. Mrs. Ross was with him. April stopped.

"Come on, babe," I said. "Nobody with blow-dried hair ever gave me trouble." We went down.

At the foot of the stairs Mrs. Ross said, "Through so quickly, sir?"

Angelo stood in front of the door, looking at me carefully. He was obviously a body builder and he was big, but I was bothering him a little. He frowned.

"Ms. Kyle and I are going to dinner," I said. "You know-wine, candles, a little romance. Things are too commercial nowadays, I say."

"I'm sorry," Mrs. Ross said briskly, "the girls are not allowed to date customers. April, go upstairs."

April took a half-step back and I put my hand behind me and stopped her.

"Let's not dick around here," I said. "April's coming out with me and Angelo isn't good enough to stop us."

I hadn't bothered Angelo enough. He underestimated me. He put his left hand flat against my chest and shoved, the way he would have some guy in town for a convention. I took his wrist in my left hand and yanked his arm straight out across my body. I put my right hand against his elbow and levered him sprawling against the stairs. I kept hold of his wrist as he fell and turned his arm up behind him. Then I got hold of his hair with my right hand and dragged him back up to his feet and held him with his arm bent up and his head pulled back.

"Open the door, April," I said.

"No," Mrs. Ross said, and April froze.

I took a deep breath. "Always the hard way," I said. I shoved Angelo away from me and into Mrs. Ross. They both went down, Mrs. Ross backward, Angelo on top of her. By the time they got straightened out, I had my gun pointing at them and the door open for April.

Angelo's breath was rasping in and out.

Mrs. Ross said, "You dumb cocksucker, you've gotten yourself in really big trouble. You don't know who owns this place, but you'll find out." Her voice was hissing as she spoke.

I gestured at the door with my head. "Come on, babe, let's go."

April didn't look at Mrs. Ross. She walked straight out the door without looking at anything.

I said, "If anybody sticks a nose out this door, I will put a bullet into his or her sinuses."

Mrs. Ross was working on her theme. "Dumb motherfucker," she hissed.

I backed out, closed the door, took April by the arm, and dragging her with me, ran like hell up Angell Street.

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