Chapter 5

"What's 'The Pink Elephant'?" asked Judy.

"It's a bar."

She frowned. "A bar? How can that have any connection with the thing Uncle Russ wants me to find? Are you sure that's what the first clue means?"

"Well, figure it out for yourself. Tinted pachyderm-Pink Elephant. It fits."

"But you said the word pachyderm could also mean a rhinoceros or a hippopotamus."

"Yeah, it could. But I never heard of a Pink Rhinoceros or a Pink Hippopotamus. It has to be The Pink Elephant."

I didn't tell her the rest, the other reason I was so sure. The Pink Elephant wasn't just the corner-gin-mill type of bar. If their prices were any kind of guide, it was considered a rather high-class establishment. And they never would have sold many drinks at those prices if it hadn't been for their main attraction. Strippers. But they didn't hire just any girl who'd take her clothes off. The management claimed it hired only the most attractive girls, and the few times I'd been in the place I hadn't yet seen any girl I'd turn my nose up at.

And now some of the pieces of Russ Crawford's riddle were falling into place. He thought I was "admirably suited" for what he had in mind. In other words, he knew I was interested in girls. Especially pretty girls. And especially pretty girls who take their clothes off. What he really meant to say in his letter to Judy was, "Marty Nolan is a horny bastard, and where there are girls involved he's the one to handle the job." So there wasn't any doubt in my mind that his first clue referred to The Pink Elephant.

But I didn't think it wise to explain all that to Judy.

So I simply told her, "Believe me, it has to be the Pink Elephant."

She was still skeptical but she took my word for it, mainly because she couldn't think of anything else it might be.

"If you say so," she said. "So when do we go there?"

"We?"

"Well, of course. You're helping me look for the gift Uncle Russ left me, but you don't think I'm going to sit here and let you do everything all alone, do you?"

I should have foreseen that possibility that she'd want to come along with me, but somehow it hadn't occurred to me.

I cleared my throat. "Uh-well -I think perhaps-uh-I should go alone."

"Why?"

I didn't exactly lie to her. I just neglected to mention the strippers and, without actually saying so, I made it sound as though The Pink Elephant catered to a tough crowd and wasn't a place where she ought to go. It took a long time but in the end she gave in reluctantly.

"All right," she sighed. "You go alone. But be careful. You don't know what might happen in a place like that."

True, but it could be interesting to find out. So I went alone to The Pink Elephant.

The place hadn't changed much since the last time I'd been there. There might have been a fresh coat of paint on the walls, but aside from that everything looked the same.

The stools at the bar were almost deserted at the moment. That's because they were too far away from the real action and most of the paying customers were across the room.

On that side of the room, sticking out from a curtained backdrop, was a small stage with tables clustered closely around its three exposed sides. The trick, of course, was to try to get one of the tables right next to the stage. That way, when a girl came onstage and peeled down to her lovely skin, you were almost close enough to stick a finger in her pussy. Except that sticking fingers in pussies was strictly forbidden. You could look all you wanted, but not touch. Also, it was hard to get a table that close. Most of the guys who grabbed them were probably even hornier than me, and once they got the closest tables they usually sat there until the joint closed. So most of the time your best bet lay in getting whatever table you could, and then, if somebody left from a closer table, you could try to beat six other guys to it. If you were lucky, and if you wanted to stay long enough and spend that much for drinks, you might end up pretty close to the stage before the last stripper of the night came on.

I was lucky, though. Practically the first thing I saw when I walked in was a beautiful bare ass disappearing between the curtains at the back of the stage. Obviously I had arrived just as one of the girls had finished her routine. And the second thing I saw was a fat man at one of the tables right next to the stage. His glass was empty and he was busily collecting his pipe and tobacco pouch and matches, and stuffing them all in his pockets. He was clearly leaving, but no one seemed to notice because they were all craning their necks for a last glimpse of that bare ass disappearing between the curtains. I threaded my way through the tables and slid into the fat man's chair before he had moved a step away. All around me, other guys who had wanted that chair scowled at me.

A waitress appeared and I ordered a drink while I ogled her. Apparently the management's policy of hiring pretty girls applied not only to the strippers but to the waitresses as well. This one was a tall blonde with a shape that would have made you look twice, no matter what she was wearing. But now you looked more than twice because of the uniform she had on. It was a version of a bunny costume, cut low enough on the top so it, barely covered her breasts, and cut high enough at the bottom that it barely covered her ass. And it was so skin-tight it gave the impression that if she sneezed it would split right down the middle and leave her stark naked. I ogled her a second time when she brought my drink. When she bent to put it on the table, I peered closely at her attractive cleavage.

Then music floated out of some hidden speakers and the next stripper came onstage.

She was rather short, had jet black hair and was wearing some kind of long flowing costume so that yards of billowing material swirled around her as she moved. But as she gracefully went through her routine and gradually peeled off all the excess yardage, it became obvious there was a voluptuous body underneath.

She got down to the point where she was wearing only a narrow strip of transparent gauze across her tits, and a similarly transparent little thing that might be called panties if you really stretched your imagination.

Then she took off the strip that covered her breasts.

Her tits weren't overly large but they were full and round and nicely shaped, and a ripple of applause spread across the tables as she stood still for a moment and let the audience gaze at her near nudity.

Now she began to move again. Her body undulated exotically and she went through a few more steps of her routine before she reached for the hidden snaps that held the scrap of material across her crotch.

She took it off.

Now she wore only a g-string.

The applause was louder this time and again she danced briefly around the stage. Finally she stopped, stood motionless in the center and reached for her g-string. She made a move as if to take it off, then hesitated, making it plain that she was waiting for more applause. She got it. She smiled and reached for the g-string again, and this time she moved it an inch or two so everyone got a glimpse of her cunthair. Then she stopped again and waited for the applause. Hell, she was going to take it off but she just wanted to hear the men clap loud enough before she did.

And apparently the applause finally satisfied her.

She took off the g-string.

Naked, she posed again, turning in all directions so no one in the audience would miss a thing. But she still wasn't through displaying her body. Now she walked to the edge of the stage, right up to the tables, and slowly strutted around all sides of the stage, giving every one a good close look. Then she turned and came back again, only this time she added a new twist. She stopped and put a foot up on the edge of one of the tables.

She did it at my table too. Her leg was gracefully bent as her foot rested on the table. Through the tangle of her pubic hair I could see the puffy edges of her cuntiips. She winked seductively, ran her tongue over her lips. Then she slid her hands up her thighs and pulled her cuntiips open.

I was gazing right into her pussy.

You peer into a girl's open cunt like that and it's a hell of a thing when you're not allowed to even touch her. I wondered how many pricks were getting stiff as she went from table to table like that. And after she'd given everyone a close up view of her pussy, she blew kisses to the audience and disappeared behind the curtains.

The next girl came onstage. She wasn't as graceful in her movements, but that didn't seem to disturb the men in the audience. They were there to ogle naked girls and that was their only concern. So this stripper got just as much applause when she uncovered her breasts and took off her g-string.

But once she was naked, she had a different routine from the previous girl. The focal point of her act was not her pussy but her tits, and they were big enough that they couldn't help but be the focal point. They were two huge melons sprouting on her chest. I don't think I've ever seen a girl with such enormous boobs.

But it wasn't just their size. It was what she did with them that was fascinating. She must have had tremendous muscle control. She bounced them up and down, and swung them from side to side like giant pendulums. And then, unbelievably, for her finale she rotated them in circles. No other part of her body seemed to move except the huge breasts that swung around and around in great arcs. But one of them rotated clockwise while the other went counter-clockwise. The audience loved it. They were still applauding wildly as she slowly backed through the curtains, her enormous tits still revolving in opposite directions.

I heaved a deep sigh and finished my drink.

This was all very entertaining, having one stripper show me her open cunt and watching another girl with talented boobs. But it wasn't really helping me get any closer to whatever it was Russ Crawford must have wanted me to find.

I glanced around the room and noticed, for the first time, that an area in the back was dimly lit. As near as I could make out, that section seemed to have a number of booths along the walls which offered a certain amount of privacy. I didn't have any idea what I might accomplish there, but I wasn't accomplishing anything where I was and I'd have to tell Judy I'd done something beside ogle the strippers. So I got up, almost getting trampled by the rush of men who wanted my front table, and moved to the back of the room. I found a booth with an empty table and slid into the seat.

In a few moments a waitress appeared from somewhere and now I learned that the waitresses in this part of the room were dressed differently from the ones out by the stage. Fastened around her waist, this girl wore some kind of long diaphanous skirt that almost reached the floor, but it was the damndest kind of skirt I ever saw. There was no front to it. Her legs and thighs were completely exposed. In fact, almost everything was exposed. All she wore under the revealing skirt was a g-string.

And above the waist she was nude. Well, almost. Nude except for pasties on her nipples.

I eyed the bold thrust of her breasts and the jiggle of that firm rounded flesh as she walked. With everything else she was showing, I wondered what idiot made the rules that said she had to cover her nipples. According to those rules, maybe it'd be okay if I showed my cock as long as I kept my balls covered.

The girl took my order and brought my drink. She leaned over to put it on the table and her tits dangled in front of me. I reached up and tapped one of her pasties with a fingertip.

"Compared to the girls on the stage," I said, "you're kind of over-dressed."

She grinned. "The pasties give a little protection."

"Protection?"

"A lot of guys get horny from watching the strippers, and then they like to come back here and pinch our nipples."

"I thought we weren't supposed to touch."

She shrugged. "Back here where it's darker-well, nobody pays much attention to the rules."

"Oh."

I traced my finger over the swell of her tits. Her skin had the feel of velvet. Then I gently cupped a breast in my palm.

"Will you buy me a drink?" she asked.

I'd kind of been expecting that. Up front the girls got paid for peeling all the way down, and back here they got a percentage on the drinks they could con the suckers into buying. But I was here to get information and some extra expense was unavoidable.

"Sure," I said, "I'll buy you a drink. If you can help me with something."

She got a wary look. "Like what?"

"I'm a friend of Russ Crawford's. Did you know him?"

She thought for a moment, then sighed. "I could be a bitch and tell you I didn't know Russ and let you buy me some drinks so I'd make more money. But-well, you were nice to me."

"I was?"

"When you felt me a minute ago. I don't mind guys feeling me a little bit-it goes with the job. Only some of them squeeze hell out of my tits and it hurts. But you didn't do that."

"I figure girls are to be loved, not hurt."

She smiled. "That's what I mean-you're a nice guy. And you want Kate, not me. I'll send her over."

She was gone before I could ask her anything further and it wasn't long before another girl arrived.

"I'm Kate," she announced.

I nodded. She was a tall redhead and was wearing only the pasties, g-string and revealing skirt. With her full thrusting breasts and sensuous thighs and legs, she made a delightful picture in that skimpy outfit. She slid into the booth beside me and I bought her a drink.

Even though she was tall, my head came above hers. She looked up at me for a minute, then glanced at the width of my shoulders.

"Jesus," she said, "you're a big guy."

I eyed her nearly naked tits. "You're kind of big yourself."

"You sound like Russ. He was a too."

"Well, I don't know whether I'm really a breast man."

She looked surprised. "You don't like tits? Then how come you've been staring at mine like you want to eat them or something?"

"I didn't say I didn't like tits. I love 'em. Especially a pair like you've got. I only meant- well, the way I look at it, a girl's got more than just tits." I dropped my hand to her thigh. "A lot more. Her boobs may be the first thing that catch your eye because of the nice way they stick out, but you don't want to overlook all the other things that can be just as interesting."

I stroked her thigh, feeling its smoothness beneath my fingers. And I worked my hand higher toward her crotch which was covered only by the g-string.

She mocked me with a smile. "You're a philosopher yet. What are you doing in a place like this? I thought only horny guys came in here to stare at naked girls."

"Maybe I'm a horny philosopher. And naked girls are some of my most favorite people." My fingers played around the edges of her g-string. "As a matter of fact, honey, I wish you weren't wearing quite so many clothes."

She didn't answer, but just sipped her drink and the silence grew between us for a time. I knew I ought to be making some effort to find out why Russ's first clue had brought me here, but I didn't even know what the hell I was looking for. The only connection with Russ that I'd found here so far was this nearly naked redhead.

"Did you know Russ very long?" I asked her.

She shrugged, making her bare breasts leap. "A while. He came here quite often-for the last year or two, I guess."

"And you got to know him pretty well?"

She looked at me. "You're asking if he screwed me?"

"Well-"

"Yeah, he screwed me. And he was pretty damn good too, for an older guy. I gather you were a friend of his."

I nodded. "For a Song time. Plenty of bottles we shared together." I grinned. "One night we even shared a girl."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Where'd you take that girl you shared?"

"To my house."

"What'd she look like?"

"Christ, I don't remember any more. She was a redhead like you, that's all I know. But she wasn't built like you."

She nodded. "I was wondering if you were the guy he was telling me about, and I guess you arc."

"Russ told you about me?"

"He mentioned different things. Like sharing that other redhead. When it came to girls, I guess you and Russ had pretty much the same tastes, huh?"

"I guess so."

"You want to screw me?"

She came out with it so unexpectedly, I blinked at her in surprise. "That's an interesting idea. I'm glad you thought of it."

"Well, Russ liked me in bed, so I thought you would too."

"Yeah. How long before you're through here?"

She patted my leg and stood up. "Not long. While you're waiting, you can watch the strippers and get a little hornier. I like horny men."

So I watched the strippers. Yeah, and I got horny too. Hell, any guy who sits and looks at naked girls showing their bouncing tits and their hairy cunts is going to get horny if he's normal. And I'm plenty normal when it comes to that.

And when we got to Kate's apartment she didn't exactly cool me off either. She told me to make myself a drink and said she'd be back in a minute, then she disappeared into the bedroom.

When she came back, I almost dropped my drink.

She had changed into a black nylon robe that was so thin it was like a black mist floating around her body. The neckline plunged all the way down to her waist, not only revealing the deep valley between her big breasts but leaving her breasts mostly uncovered too. It was a long robe, coming almost down to the floor, only it didn't cover much more down below than it did up top. She had it tied at the waist but below that it swung open with every step she took, showing her tapering thighs almost up to her crotch. And even where her body was covered, it damn well wasn't hidden. Through the gossamer material of the robe I clearly saw her nipples and the dark patch of her cunthair.

I gulped. "Jesus, you ought to warn a guy when you come out wearing a thing like that."

"Well, you've been looking at other girls all evening. Now I want to make sure you look at me."

"I'm looking-I'm looking."

"And I'm going to do a little looking too."

I frowned. "You like to look at yourself?"

"No. At you."

"Me?"

"You've been having a good time watching the strippers all evening. Now I want to enjoy myself and watch someone strip."

I stared at her. "You want me to put on a strip act?"

"Why not? A man likes to watch a girl take her clothes off. Why shouldn't a girl like to watch a man undress?"

"Well-"

"I don't mean you have to go into a dance routine or anything like that, Just stand there and take you,?- clothes off."

"Yeah, but-"

"It gets rue all charged up watching a man's body slowly being exposed-his chest, his stomach, his prick. Just the sight of a big prick turns me on."

"Maybe I don't have a big enough prick for you."

"Russ said you did."

It's nice to have friends who say good things about you. I wondered what else Russ had told her. It seemed obvious she was the key to that damn clue Russ had left.

Impatiently she dropped in a chair. "Well, are you going to strip for me or not? Don't tell me you're modest or something."

It wasn't a question of modesty. Hell, I couldn't even count the number of times I'd taken my clothes off in front of a girl. It was just that I'd never done it as a deliberate strip act with the girl staring at me like Kate was, and that made it different somehow. Still, she knew something about Russ and I had to find out what it was, so I was going to have to humor her. Even if it meant giving her a strip show.

I unbuttoned my shirt and drew it off, then pulled my undershirt over my head. My shoes and socks were next. When I opened my belt, her tongue crept out and crawled across her lips. I pulled down my zipper and slowly lowered my pants, then stepped out of them and dropped them on a chair. For a moment I stood in just my shorts. Now her eyes had a humid look and I noticed she'd slipped her hand inside her robe and was rubbing her cunt.

I started pushing my shorts down very slowly, just an inch at a time. Now she could probably see my pubic hair. The shorts went lower. I *was watching her closely and when I saw a sudden glint in her eye I knew my cock was exposed. I slid the shorts down the rest of the way and kicked them aside. Now I was naked.

"Beautiful!" she murmured. "Russ wasn't kidding about you. God, look at the size of that thing!"

"Let's get you naked too."

She shook her head. "Not yet."

"What the hell do you mean-not yet?"

"Taking your clothes off is only part of it. I like to watch a prick get hard."

"Pine. You start playing with it and-"

"No, we'll do it my way. I'm going to tease you and make your cock get stiff." She giggled. "I love to be a cockteaser. It gets a man all worked up and it makes me excited as hell."

I don't know whether I would have gone along with this kinky set-up under ordinary circumstances. But I needed to find out what she knew about Russ, and that meant I had to play along.

She grinned. "Does it get you hot and bothered to have a girl show you her naked body? I hope so. Then I can watch your prick get big and stiff."

She pulled open that plunging neckline to expose her breasts. They were just as full and round as when I'd seen them back at The Pink Elephant, but now there were no pasties and I could see her thick brown nipples as well. She began to massage her tits, running her hands over them, cupping them in her palms and squeezing the soft flesh.

"Do you like to watch me feel my breasts?" she breathed. "It makes you want to feel them, doesn't it? You'd like to get my tits in your hands and squeeze them-mmm, it feels so good!"

Goddamn it, it did make rue want to get my hands on her breasts. My prick was starting to tingle, but I had to play her silly game and just stand there and look.

"Watch this," she said. "Did you ever see a girl Lick her own nipples? You can only do it if you have big boobs."

She hefted her tits upward, dropping her head at the same time. Her tongue crawled out and flicked against her nipple. She licked it gently, her tongue fluttering back and forth, and then she shifted and licked her other nipple.

She looked up at me. "I'll bet you're good with your tongue, aren't you? You know how a girl's nipples feel firm and rubbery on your tongue. And look how hard my nipples get when I lick them."

It was true. They had grown stiff and pointing, hard little peaks on her breasts.

"You're getting hard too," she said.

I nodded. My cock was tingling more than ever and was starting to stiffen.

"See if this gets it harder," she murmured.

She untied the belt around her waist and pulled her robe open all the way down the front. Now her entire body was exposed to my view. But she was going to show me even more than that. She spread her legs wide, then pulled her cuntlips apart.

I stared into her gaping pussy.

"It's just like before," she ginned, "when that stripper put her foot up on your table and showed you her cunt. Did you like looking at her cunt?"

"Yeah."

"She didn't do this, though."

She poked her finger into her pussy and slowly slid it in as far as she could get it. Then she gently worked it in and out.

"You like to watch that?" she purred. "I'll bet it makes you wish it was your prick in there. Oh Jesus, I'm getting juicy! The juiciest cunt in the city, that's me. I look at a good stiff cock and it's like somebody turned on the spigot in my pussy."

My prick was stiff and throbbing like mad and I'd had about all of her crazy game I could take.

"Kate, for Christ's sake!"

"Think of how it's going to feel when you ram your hard cock into my wet cunt and fuck me."

"Goddamn it-"

"My pussy is almost ready for you. And your prick is so nice and big. Bring it over to me."

I stepped closer to her and she seized my cock in her hand, her fingers curling around it. With an experienced and tantalizing touch, she gently stroked up and down the length of it. And at the same time she kept sliding her finger in and out of her cunt.

She giggled. "I'm a horny bitch, aren't I? I work on your prick with one hand and on my pussy with the other. Bend down a little and see if you can get a finger on my clit."

I did as she asked and rubbed my fingertip over her clit. It was hard and swollen with excitement and she jumped as I touched it. Gently I massaged the hard little- nub.

Suddenly she pushed me away. "Jesus, that's enough-I'm ready! You want to go in the bedroom?"

"The hell with the bedroom. Get your ass down on the floor."

She slid out of the robe which wasn't covering anything anyway and dropped to the floor. Lying on her back, she flung her legs wide apart.

"Stick it in me!" she panted. "Bury that lovely cock in my twat!"

She grabbed my prick, guiding it to her, and poked the head into her cunt.

Her eyes were wild. "Sink it in my pussy-ram it in me!"

There was something on the inside of her thigh, so high up it was almost in her crotch. It looked like a smudge and I tried to brush it away, but it stuck there.

"Get it in me!" she wailed.

The hell with the smudge. I urged my hips forward and her cunt was so wet I went in all the way with one easy push.

"Ahh!" she breathed. "That's better. God, you fill my pussy with that club of yours! Now fuck me good!"

I started out at a fairly fast tempo, sliding my cock in and out of her with long steady strokes. As worked up as she was, I didn't think she was going to last very long.

"Harder!" she demanded.

I picked up the speed and fucked her harder. But that still didn't satisfy her.

"Harder!"

Now I was working in a hard fast rhythm, my prick plunging deep into her juicy cunt. Hell, the way this was going, I wasn't going to last very long either.

It was a wild fuck. My body battered against hers with such force that I pushed her a few inches across the rug and I had to crawl after her to keep sinking my cock all the way into her. Her head rocked from side to side and she drummed her heels on my ass as if she wanted to make sure I kept getting into her pussy as deeply as possible.

She surprised me by lasting longer than I'd thought she would. In fact, the way we were going at it, I was getting dangerously close to the peak and I began to wonder if she was going to get there with me.

So I decided to help her along.

I slid my hand down between our bodies and got my thumb on her clit.

"Jesus!" she screeched.

I kept massaging her hard clit and her heels beat on my ass more furiously than ever. She was panting for breath and there was a funny strangling sound in her throat.

I don't know which one of us got there first. I'd reached the point where I couldn't hold back any longer and I just had to let it go. She suddenly stiffened at the same instant. Then the come raced the length of my prick and blasted deep in her cunt. And as she felt the first hot spurt, she went crazy beneath me. Her body leaped and plunged, her hips bucking so violently I had to hold her tightly to make sure she didn't force my cock out of her pussy. Over and over my prick jerked and with each jerk it squirted another burst of come into her, while she still thrashed beneath me and her nails tore at my back. Then slowly the violence began to subside. Her thrashing died away to an occasional tremble. My cock jerked less frantically and finally pumped one last feeble spurt of come in her cunt.

It was over and for a time we lay without moving, my body on top of hers and my prick still in her pussy.

At last I pulled it out and settled back on my haunches. A little trickle of come leaked from her cunt and as I watched it I saw that smudge on her thigh again. Only it wasn't a smudge. I bent closer to look at it and saw it was a small tattoo-a letter and two numbers. R49.

I frowned. "That's a screwy place for a tattoo. What the hell does R49 mean?"

"I wish I knew. Your friend, Russ Crawford, had it done. He paid me pretty well; and the only thing he told me was that it was damn important."