Free The Grifters by Jim Thompson

out.
    His knees worked with expert cruelty.
    The cigarette burned into her hand, and his knees probed the sensitive nerves of her spine.
    It was a timeless world, an endless hell. There was no escape from it. There was no relief in it. She couldn't cry out. It was impossible even to squirm. The world was at once to be endured and unendurable. And the one possible relief was within her own small body.
    Scalding urine spurted from her loins. It seemed to pour from her in a flood.
    And Bobo stood up, releasing her, and she got up and went into the bathroom.
    She held her hand under the ice-water tap, then patted it with a towel and examined it. The burn was ugly, but it didn't appear to be serious. None of the large veins were affected. She lowered her slacks and swabbed herself with a slightly moistened towel. That was about as much as could be done here. The raincoat would cover up her stained clothes.
    She left the bathroom, crossed to the lounge where Bobo was seated, and accepted the drink he gave her. He took out his wallet, and extended a thick sheaf of new bills.
    "Your five grand, Lilly. I almost forgot."
    "Thanks, Bo."
    "How you making out these days, anyway? Stealing much from me?"
    "Not much. My folks didn't raise any stupid kids," Lilly said. "I just clip a buck here and a buck there. It mounts up, but nobody gets hurt."
    "That's right," Justus nodded approvingly. "Take a little, leave a little."
    "I look on it this way," Lilly said, shrewdly enunciating his own philosophy. "A person that don't look out for himself is too dumb to look out for anyone else. He's a liability, right, Bo?"
    "Absolutely! You're a thousand percent right, Lil!"
    "Or else he's working an angle. If he doesn't steal a little, he's stealing big."
    "Right!"
    "I like that suit, Bo. I don't know what there is about it, but somehow it makes you look so much taller."
    "Yeah?" He beamed at her. "You really think so? You know a lot of people been telling me the same thing."
    Their amiable talk continued as twilight slid into the room. And Lilly's hand ached, and the wet clothes burned and chafed her flesh. She had to leave him feeling good about her. She had to make sure that the score between them was settled, and that he was actually letting her off so lightly.
    They discussed several business matters she had handled for him in Detroit and the Twin Cities on her circuitous way to the coast. Bobo revealed that he was only in town for the day. Tomorrow he was heading back east via Vegas, Galveston, and Miami.
    "Another drink, Lilly?"
    "Well, just a short one. I've got to be running along pretty soon."
    "What's the hurry?! thought maybe we could have dinner together."
    "I'd like to, but…"
    It was best not to stay, best to quit while she was ahead. She'd been very, very lucky apparently, but luck could run out on you.
    "I've got a son living here, Bo. A salesman. I don't get to see him very often, so…"
    "Well, sure, sure," he nodded. "How's he making out?"
    "He's in the hospital. Some kind of stomach trouble. I usually visit him every night."
    "Sure, naturally," he frowned. "Gettin' everything he needs? Anything I can do?"
    Lilly thanked him, shaking her head. "He's doing fine. I think he'll be getting out in a day or two."
    "Well, you'd better run along," Bobo said. "A boy's sick, he wants his mother."
    She got the raincoat out of the closet, and belted it around her. They said good night, and she left.
    A little urine had trickled down her legs, making them itch and sting, and leaving an unpleasant sogginess in her shoes. Her underpants chafed and stung, and the seat of the slacks seemed to have soaked through. The ache in her right hand grew, spread slowly up into her wrist and arm.
    She hoped she hadn't soiled Bobo's lounge. She'd been very lucky, considering the amount her blunder must have cost him, but a little thing like that might spoil it.
    She picked up her car, and drove away from the hotel.
    As she entered her apartment, she kicked out