Free Strange Embrace by Lawrence Block Page B

her, Sondra.”
    “The fuzz came around,” she said. “Big bad fuzz with a crooked nose. Showed me a badge and asked me questions. So I told him I saw Elaine with a guy. Fell up to her pad, oh, maybe ten o’clock. Maybe later. Maybe earlier.”
    He could not help smiling. This, he thought, was Haig’s proof. Sondra would be magnificent on the witness stand. She would not even be sure of her own name. A defense attorney would have a barrel of fun with her.
    “That’s not what I mean,” he said. “About Elaine. What kind of a girl was she?”
    “Solid. Good to know. What else?”
    “Who were her friends?”
    Sondra Barr waved a hand that took in the whole room. “Everybody,” she said, “and nobody. She was hard to reach. She belonged and she didn’t. Like floating.”
    Like floating? He wondered what cloud Sondra was floating on. “What was she interested in?” he asked. “What was her kick?”
    “Ordinary-type kick. She didn’t dig getting high. She had this theater bit going for her. She had it almost made before that cat carved her. A bad scene, huh?”
    He grunted vaguely.
    “And sex,” Sondra went on. “That was a kick of hers. Sex is an ordinary-type kick, right, Jack?”
    “I thought she was a virgin, Sondra.”
    The laughter was back again, high and dry and brittle. Then it stopped all at once. “I’m hip,” the girl said. “Elaine was a virgin. I forgot for a minute.”
    “Then—”
    “She thought about sex a lot,” the girl said. “She had this mystic attitude, you dig? That’s all.”
    He nodded. He was not getting anywhere with Sondra and the place was beginning to get on his nerves. He wondered what would happen if he wanted a cup of coffee. Nobody seemed to be interested in taking an order from him. How did the place show a profit?
    “Anything else, Sondra?”
    “Hey,” she said unsteadily. “Hey, why are you pushing me? Who are you, anyway? Who the hell are you, dad?”
    “A friend of Elaine’s.”
    “A friend? Okay, friend. That’s all for now. On your way, friend.”
    “Look,” Johnny said. “I was interested in her. I thought she was the greatest. I was starting her on her career, understand? I’m the producer of the play she was rehearsing for, and…”
    “Producer!” Sondra lost, or half lost, her stoned expression. The violet eyes narrowed, actually focused, carefully measured Johnny as if he had registered on them for the first time.
    “That interest you?” he queried.
    “Sort of.”
    “You an actress too? You after a part, is that it?” Johnny figured he might be able to offer her work in exchange for information, in a pinch.
    “I’m no actress. I don’t want a part. And I have nothing to trade.” She was still measuring him with those violet orbs. “Wish I did, though.”
    “Try hard. Maybe you’ll think of something. Why should Elaine’s killer get away with it? Let’s nail him.”
    “I’d help you if I could,” Sondra said. Her expression went foggy again, and then she seemed to come to a sudden decision. “Would you help me?”
    “Sure. How?”
    “Well, you’re a producer. That means you must make it with the very best chicks. Lots of them. I mean—you know about women. You know how to handle them. Dig?”
    “I’m not sure,” Johnny admitted.
    “Well, Mr. Producer, I’d appreciate it if you would handle me.”
    It took him a few seconds to get the idea. When it sank in, he said levelly, “For money?”
    “Kicks,” she said. “Just kicks.”
    “All right,” Johnny said. “But you’ve got to think of something. I’ll do my best to deliver for you—if you do your best to deliver for me. Any little thing. Search your memory.”
    “It’s a deal,” Sondra said. “Come on.”
    She led him out of the Gila Monster and into the fresh air. Now that she was on her feet, he had a chance to look her over.
    Pretty good stuff, he had to admit. Tall, and on the slender side. But a beautiful, heavy bosom. A bottom enticingly