Free The Erection Set by Mickey Spillane Page A

off.”
    â€œYours, Chet?”
    â€œMine, Dog.”
    â€œWhy? I didn’t know you were that sentimental.”
    â€œI’m not. I just didn’t want to see a lot of our good people go down before they finally tagged you. It was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils.”
    I slapped my hat on and grinned at him, reaching for the door.
    â€œDog,” he said.
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œI though about it a long time before I cast that vote,” he told me.
    Â 
    Lee had a pair of TV dinners staying warm in the oven when I finally reached his apartment. A couple of drinks had obviously taken off his jumpy edge and he gave me that old half-silly grin I remembered so well. He took one look at me and shook his head. “They got cabs and subways in this town, buddy. Did you forget how to hustle one?”
    â€œI walked.”
    â€œNo kidding. A new suit and you walked. I hope the raincoat worked.”
    â€œGood enough. I’ll press the pants dry later.”
    â€œWhere were you?”
    â€œTaking care of some business details.”
    His grin faded and he held up his hands. “Don’t tell me about them, Dog. Whatever they are, I don’t want to know.”
    â€œHell, you wouldn’t believe it anyhow.”
    â€œThe hell I wouldn’t.” He grabbed my arm and led me over to the bar. When he mixed a drink and handed it to me he said, “Look, Dog, about tonight ...”
    â€œRelax. I won’t embarrass you. Besides, I told you I had met Walt Gentry.”
    â€œIt’s not you I’m worried about. They’re a pretty hairy bunch, Dog. Me, I know them. We speak the same language. It’s when somebody new they can’t cross-index comes on the scene that you see the fangs come out. They’re nosy as hell and know how to dig things out and I’m just scared they’ll latch onto you.”
    â€œSo what’s there to find out?” I tasted the drink, nodded and put half of it down.
    â€œAbout all that money, for one thing.”
    â€œLet them call the bank.”
    â€œDog—I’m not kidding. That Merriman chick who writes the gossip column will be there, Dick Lagen who handles the political stuff from Washington ...”
    â€œFor Pete’s sake, Lee, I’m not big news.”
    â€œNot news ... just new. And you got that look.”
    â€œWhat look?”
    â€œLike you could be news. Listen, I know these people...”
    â€œI’m glad you do. How’s the female situation?”
    â€œDon’t you ever think of anything besides women? It used to be flying ... now all of a sudden you’re dame happy.”
    I finished the rest of the drink. “They’re kind of nice to have around.”
    â€œPardon me for sounding redundant again, but you’re absolutely nuts. Absolutely.”
    â€œThat didn’t answer my question.”
    Lee gave a hopeless shrug and a short pull right out of the Scotch bottle. “Every damn she-wolf in New York will be there—and don’t say it.”
    â€œSay what?”
    â€œGood company for an old dog like you.”
    I laughed at him and let him make me a refill.

VI
    Originally, Sharon had planned to forego the cocktail bash at Walt Gentry’s penthouse. It would be the same old crowd; a few live celebrities who owed a favor to the host, a half-dozen oldies still recognizable from their reruns on the late late movies and a host of hangers-on who lived in the fringe areas of show business. A handful of new ones would make an appearance, mainly recently imports from Europe or the West Coast, and a handful of regulars would be missing, either bored with the routine or having shipped out to some remote comer with a stock show or picking up a bit part “on location.”
    Sharon had expected to see a special screening of the new Cable Howard production, but S. C. Cable, who long ago had assumed that employees worked for him twenty-four