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.The way I see it, it was easy to give Van a mickey because ofthe way Mr.Lawless always gave him a drink.The two girls were below, and Ithink they were just to dress up the act a little.I think there was somebodyin a boat waiting for him to jump, and they took him to an airplane somewhere,maybe a seaplane.They say he took off with a million dollars.You can buy alot of help for a small piece of that kind of money.""And he's in Mexico?""Sure.He went there a lot.Him and John Tuckerman, hunting, fishing, horsingaround.They were best friends of each other.John has been way into the sauceever since.Bombed out of his mind.What did he ever have besides being Hub'sbest friend?""You liked Lawless?""Hell, yes.Everybody that worked for him liked him.It really hurt him badwhen he had to start laying people off from the businesses he ran.And I knowfor a fact he was trying to sell the Julie.Some people came aboard and lookedher over.But it's hard to move a boat like that.She won't suit people withreally big money, and she's too much for the average boat fella.I guess ifhe'd sold her, he'd have had to disappear some other way that would look likehe died, so the insurance would go to Mrs.Lawless and the girls.""Did they come out on the boat much?""His family? Oh, sure.But a lot oftener before than after things started toget tight for him.I mean you can run a lot of dollars through those dieselsjust to move that thing out for an afternoon picnic.She's way overdue forbottom work right now, too.Like the man said, if you have to ask, you can'tafford it."He stopped and motioned me ahead of him, and we went into a place calledLucille's.It was long and dark, with a mahogany bar, a brass rail, sawdust,spittoons, Victorian nudes in gilt frames, bowls of salted peanuts, and a gameshow on the television perched over the far end of the bar.Lucille squeezedpast one of her bartenders to come down toward the entrance and take care ofus herself.She was roughly the same size as Walloway, and of only slightlydifferent dimensions.She wore what looked at first glance like a bluebathrobe.She had curly shiny black hair, like a poodle.Her face was whiteand stiff as wallboard, and she wore lots of eye makeup and lots of burgundylipstick: I guessed her at about sixty."No thumping anybody tonight, Deej!" she ordered in a whiskey contralto."Meet my friend name of McGee.He whipped me three times."She looked me over."Looks as if he could do it again if he had a mind to.Welcome to my place.Deej, you start anything, you can bet your bucket I'mcalling the law early.""I was only funnin', honey.""What would you done to him was you serious?""I've never been serious in my whole life.Double Bellows and a Miller'schaser." I settled for the chaser.He was almost offended, but I explained Ihad other places to go and I didn't want to start more than I could arrange tofinish.I said the previous night was still too fresh in my memory, what Iremembered of it.He told Lucille we had been talking about Lawless and Tuckerman."If I had ashiny dime for every time I've heard those names in the last two months, Icould quit and live ladylike," she said."Seen John Tuckerman lately?" he asked her."No.He's down to that shack on that land nine miles south Hub bought for hisgirlfriend to design apartments on, and they say his sister is there and shePage 64ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhas got him dried out and she's keeping him dry, but his brains are stillmush.I don't never want to see him back in here.He was flat-out pitiful.Idon't want to see people that make me sorry I sell the stuff.I don't needthat kind of guilts.I got more than enough other kinds to go around.""Did you know Hubbard Lawless?""Everybody knew Hub.The business people in this town, of which I am one,aren't never going to find it , easy to forgive him for what he done to thetown.He left us in a depression here.Everything is tied into everythingelse, and when something quits, other things get hard up on account of it.They say we got fourteen percent unemployment here, and I can feel it in mygross, believe me.But at the same time, everybody knows Hub worked hard tomake things work, and he did things for the good of the place too.Hecontributed to everything when he was doing well.Community Chest, Boys' Club,Cedar Pass Park, bandstand, the Pirate Pageant.He didn't keep regular hours.He was out at that ranch by dawn.He'd work at getting stuff shipped in themiddle of the night.Nobody ever knew when that man slept.He always had asmile and a little joke.The way it looks to me, when he got the money forHula Marine, he should have used it to shore up the other businesses insteadof buying the wrong land at the wrong time for the shopping center and thatcondominium thing.""What you forget, Lucille," DeeGee said, "he wasn't thinking straight.He hada bad case of nooky disease.""I don't allow dirty talk in here, and you know it.""I would have said it nice if I knowed how, Lucille, dammit.You know as wellas I do that architect woman had him going in circles.""Well," she said, "nobody is perfect, and I hope that wherever he is, Mexicoor wherever, he's found some kind of peace, because he sure got awful jumpybefore he took off.The town will make out.People will keep coming down fromthe north.' 1'hings will keep going.They always have.""You have a kind heart, Lucille," DeeGee said."Not kind enough to set you up a freebie.""Okay.Hit me again anyway.Same thing.You, McGee?"I excused myself and left.He seemed disappointed to have me go.I imagine hegot over it in about forty seconds.It would take him about that long to get agood look at the two young women who were going in as I was leaving.TwelveI FOUND Meyer in a booth in the lounge.Business was better than usual.BillyJean Bailey was tinkling away at her compulsory background-music stint, withno one listening.She looked at me and through me, with no change ofexpression, and looked away, smiling and nodding at someone else.After I brought a drink back to the booth, Meyer reported on the rental Mazda."I had to wait quite a while for Mr.Wedley.He was out with the tow truck ona pickup.Shorthanded.The boy pumping gas did not know anything aboutanything.When Wedley came back he was busy on the phone for ten minutes.Finally he was able to tell me about the Mazda [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]