Free A Hell of a Woman (Crime Masterworks) by Jim Thompson Page B

They put out a flier on you, and they pick you up in no time."
    "B-but vot-"
    "I'm telling you," I said. "She gave me until Monday night, so Monday night we go over there. I'll go in first and tell her you'll be along in a few minutes, and then you slip up on the porch and I start talking to her. I tell her I'm sticking my neck out a mile, so how about a roll with the gal for my trouble. And she'll go for it, see; she practically propositioned me already. So then I say I've got to be sure she won't try to stick me some time. She'll have to give me something in writing to show that she and the gal consented to the deal. That the kid's over twenty-one and she's done it before and-Well, what's the matter?"
    He'd been frowning a little. I gave him a hard look, and he cleared his throat apologetically.
    "It… a little strange, it sounds. You t'ink she vould do such?"
    "Sure, she will. It's a cinch."
    "Den vy iss it necessary for me to be dere?"
    "Why?" I said. And for a minute I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Why, dammit, I don't need to explain that to you, do I?"
    "If you vould not mind, pleass. So mixed up I am, I cannot-"
    "Why, it's because she's liable to hang back, know what I mean? She's liable to think I'm trying to pull a fast one on her. So I step to the door and say, well, here you are now. I want that statement. I want it right then or the deal don't go no further. I'll tip you off and tell the cops it's a frame, and she'll be in heap big trouble."
    He nodded, his face clearing. He hesitated.
    "Vould you-You do not t'ink perhaps you could go to the police now and-?"
    "I thought of that," I said, "but I'm afraid it wouldn't work. They'd probably lock you up while they were trying to get to the bottom of things; and maybe they wouldn't stick you on a rape rap but you'd still be in for a long jolt. It's a pretty messy deal, you know, anyway you look at it. Even if it wasn't rape-"
    "It vas not! I svear it, Dillon!"
    "-it still looks bad. You can't make it look any other way. There are at least a couple of charges they could stick you on, and they'd damned well give you the maximum on each."
    He sighed; nodded again.
    "You are right, my good friend. So, if you are villing to do me dis great favor…"
    "I owe it to you," I said. "I got you fired, and now I'm trying to square things. Anyway, it's a pleasure to put a crimp in that old bitch's tail."
    He told me I was a nice man and a "chentleman," again. He looked at the bottle, set it down on the end table, and stood up. "So much you haf done, I am ashamed to ask-"
    "Sit down," I said. "You're going to stay here. Stay right here until this is all over with."
    "B-but"-he sat down again; he didn't need any urging at all-"It iss too much."
    "Nuts," I said. "I'm glad to have some company. Now how about some bacon and eggs?"
    His eyes filled up; I thought, by God, he was going to start blubbering. "My good friend," he said. "My fine friend." And he brushed his nose on his sleeve.
    "There's just one thing," I said. "You'll have to stay under cover, understand? Keep inside the house and don't let anyone know you're around here. It wouldn't look good, know what I mean, if the old gal decided to get tough and we had togo to the police. They'd figure that we were buddies, see? Get the idea that one of us was lying and the other was swearing to it."
    "So," he said. "I vill do as you say."
    I fixed him some grub.
    I went out and got more whiskey.
    I made him go to bed in the bedroom, and I took the lounge.
    I fell asleep fast, but along about three in the morning I woke up, feeling kind of cramped and like something was hugging me.
    Something was. The bedclothes. I was all tucked in like a two-year-old.
    I started to lug the stuff back in to him; and then I remembered Mona, that sweet child, and the way he'd taken advantage of her. So I just took what blankets I wanted, and dropped the rest on the floor.
    Let the son-of-a-bitch freeze. He'd be plenty hot in the place he was