So I went to my place and drank and there went that day and that night.
I awakened about noon, eliminated some waste, brushed my teeth, shaved, mused. Didn’t feel too bad. Didn’t feel too much. I got dressed. I put on an egg, let it boil. I drank a glass of half-tomato and half-ale. I let the egg run under cold water, peeled it, ate it and then I was as ready as I would ever be.
I picked up the phone and got Jack Bass at his office. I told him who I was. He didn’t seem happy with me.
“Jack,” I told him, “remember that Frenchman I told you about?”
“Yeah? What about him?”
“I got him out of the way.”
“How?”
“He’s dead.”
“Good. Was he the one?”
“Well, he was in contact with her.”
“Contact? What the hell you mean by that?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Try me, Belane.”
“Listen, I’m trying to nail Cindy’s ass. That’s why you hired me. Right?”
“I don’t know why I hired you. I think it was a mistake.”
“Jack, I got the Frenchman. He’s dead.”
“So where do we stand?”
“He can’t bang her.”
“Did he?”
“Jack…”
“Did you? All this ‘nail her ass’ shit! Are you a pervert?”
“Look, I got a tight tail on Cindy. We want hard evidence.”
“There you go again!”
“We’re closing in, Jack. It won’t be long. Trust me.”
“Then there was more than the Frenchman?”
“I think so.”
“You think so? You think so? Hell, I’m paying you good money. It’s been weeks and all you can tell me there’s a dead Frenchman and ‘I think so’? You’re just spinning your wheels! I want action! I want evidence! I want this thing busted wide open!”
“Within 7 days, Jack.”
“You’ve got 6.”
“6 days, Jack.”
There was silence at his end. Then he spoke again.
“All right. I’m leaving for the airport in an hour. Got business back east. I’ll be back in 6 days.”
“Everything will be solved, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby. What’s this ‘baby’ shit?”
“Just a manner of speaking…”
“You clean up this mess or I’ll see you in hell, motherfucker!”
“You talking to me, Jack?”
I was holding a silent telephone. He’d hung up on me. The prick. Well…it was time to get busy…