Chapter 10
After Conway dropped the girl off he needed a drink before facing Margo. Naturally enough he gravitated toward Clancy's.
It was late afternoon when he walked into the bar. The place was almost empty, except for one couple necking in a back booth. Clancy himself was nowhere in sight.
Conway ordered a whiskey and sat at the bar, sipping the amber fluid, contemplating his future. He liked what he saw ahead. Life with Teddy would be exciting if nothing else.
Sure, she'd put up a stink when she found out he wasn't about to return the money. But what could she do about it? Conway doubted that she'd leave him. All he'd have to do would be to lift her dress. Teddy loved him too much to go far by herself.
Conway pondered the fickleness of womanhood. Give any of them enough of what they want and they'll go the whole route. They made the world a very interesting place.
His problem now was Margo. First he had to return the car. Then he'd tell her of his plans. But why tell her anything?
Conway ordered another drink, pondering his own question. Maybe it was because he wanted to see her face when she found out she'd lost him. The woman had been so damned sure of herself. It could be that he wanted to get back at her for walking in on them this afternoon. What did a reason matter? He just wanted to get it off his chest that he didn't belong to her like so much baggage.
As Conway finished his second whiskey, Clancy came through the front door. He saw the younger man and a broad smile filled his flabby face.
"I been looking for you," he announced. "You wanted a job. I got one for you."
"Doing what?"
Clancy leaned against the stool next to Conway's. He looked around to see if anyone was listening. They were alone. The bartender polished his glasses at the far end of the bar.
"Collector," Clancy continued. "The boys need a new one. They like your style. Forty per cent of the take."
That was good dough, Conway reflected. And the work was easy. All he had to do was wander around picking up the take on numbers, tracks, and whatever was going at the moment. It was also a class job, offered to a privileged few. However the offer had come too late. His plans were set. "No-can-do," Conway said. "I got something better on the fire."
"Suit yourself," Clancy shrugged. "Think it over. There's no hurry." He added, "By the way, a friend of yours has been keeping this place hot."
"Who?"
"A tall, slender guy with ice for eyes. I'd make book that he's some kind of cop."
The insurance investigator. Conway grinned. "That crumb. He's after the money."
"Want me to take care of him?"
Conway shook his head. "There's no need. He'll get tired of hanging around."
"I don't like it," Clancy growled. "It gives the place a bad name. He sure hates your guts. I talked to him a while last night, feeling him out. He sure had nothing good to say about you."
"Nobody likes any of us down in this neighborhood," Conway reminded the portly figure. "We're supposed to be the has-beens."
Clancy grinned. "They should have our dough." He winked broadly, changing the subject abruptly. "By the way, I hear you been playing footsie with the Grinson dame."
Conway was instantly on his guard. "Where the hell did you hear that?" he snapped.
"Here and there," Clancy said. "You were up to her place last night. Then you went to the PETER'S joint and had a good look at her. After that a cab driver says you chased her down to Grant Park in his taxi."
Conway had panicked briefly, but then he decided there was no harm in anyone knowing that part of his business. At the same time his mind was refreshed as to how fast news did travel in the old neighborhood. It was a good warning. "I suppose I have been seeing her," he admitted. "What of it?"
Clancy took out a cigar and puffed it into life. "Nothing," he grunted, tossing his smoldering match onto the floor. "But if I was you, kid, I'd be a little careful with that broad. She's real flaky."
Conway fought a desire to leap to Teddy's defense. Instead he asked, calmly, "In what way."
Clancy shrugged. "Frankly she's a nut. No guy I know of has ever gotten anywhere with her. She don't seem to give a damn about holding onto a job. Her mother has been pro for God knows how many years to support the kid. PETER'S took her on to give the old lady a break." He flicked an ash from the cigar. "On top of everything else she's tried a half dozen times to knock herself off. She's just one of those miserably unhappy characters that ain't happy with what she's got. Hell, with her looks she could make a real bundle. I once offered her two G's a week to work the men in here. She spit in my face. Nope, she just ain't any good."
Conway had listened, but he'd only believed half of what he'd been told. The answer to Clancy's bitterness lay in his being refused by the girl. It looked as if Teddy had more sense than Conway had given her credit for. "I'd better go," he announced, sliding off his stool.
Clancy clapped him on the shoulder. "Think over that job offer, kid. Give me an answer any time this month."
It was dark when Conway slid into Margo's car. He was about to drive off when he heard someone calling out his name. He looked over and saw Dolly coming his way. She slid onto the seat beside him without waiting for an invitation.
"I was praying that I'd see you," she said, a little breathless from running to meet him.
Conway took a good look at the girl. In the two days since he'd last seen her she'd changed drastically. There were deep circles beneath her eyes and the light smile had been changed into a frown. "What's up?" he asked.
"Let's go some place where we can talk privately," Dolly suggested.
Conway shook his head. "I'm in kind of a hurry. Spill it."
Tears formed in the young girl's eyes. She worked her handkerchief, as if about to tear it to shreds. "I ... I have a proposition to offer you," she began hesitantly. She looked up at him. "Do you like me ... I mean do you like my body?"
"I never thought about it one way or the other," Conway admitted, wondering what was coming.
He wasn't long in finding out. Dolly had entered the car wearing a coat. Now she pulled it open. Beneath the covering the young girl was absolutely stark naked. "Now what do you think of me?" she asked softly.
Conway looked around. Fortunately there was no one near the car to see her lavish display. He turned back toward the nude body, frankly disgusted with what he was seeing. He knew that the girl had been well used. He could build no desire for something that had been offered to the public so blatantly.
"What's the deal?" he asked.
The tears were still in Dolly's eyes. One of them had trickled onto her cheek. "You can have me all you want, any way you want, for a year. I'll make you a good mistress."
Despite his disgust, Conway was pleased that she thought so highly of him. His charm had certainly been clicking since he'd gotten out of prison. "You can't be giving this away for nothing," he guessed.
"No," Dolly agreed, continuing to work on her handkerchief. "In exohange for my body I want a thousand dollars."
Conway almost laughed in her face. She was hardly worth two bucks, let alone a thousand. "To hell with that noise," he growled. "I've never paid in my life. I'm not starting now."
"Please," Dolly pleaded. The tears were flowing freely, faster than she could mop them up. "I must have the money."
"Why?" Conway snapped. "You need a new fur coat?"
It was obvious that the young girl was miserable. "No," she said, her voice but a whisper. "I'm in trouble and I need money."
Conway wasn't surprised. "How'd you get in a jam?"
Dolly shook her head. "I don't know. I thought I was careful."
"Why doesn't your so-called gang take up a collection and have you fixed?"
The young girl continued to dab at her eyes. "They won't have anything to do with me," she sobbed. "I need help desperately. I thought with you having that forty thousand and all, you'd be glad to help me."
Conway wondered why Clancy hadn't warned him that this dame was crazy too. Imagine, getting herself in trouble and then running to him for help. It might have been different if he'd slept with her along with everyone else in the neighborhood. This way he was supposed to pay off without having any of the gravy.
"Please," Dolly persisted. "If you'll let me have the money I'll try and pay it back. I'll start charging for myself. You can send me men."
Now she was asking him to become a pimp for her. "I'm in a hurry," he growled. "You'll have to get the dough someplace else."
Dolly's eyes widened as if unable to comprehend that he'd refused her. "No," she cried. "You've got to give it to me."
"Out of the car," Conway ordered coldly. "I'm not giving you anything."
Dolly clung to him in desperation, sobbing wildly, hysterically.
In the end, Conway had to evict her bodily, opening the door and shoving her into the street. He looked back once, as he blasted away, and saw her looking hopelessly after him.
By the time Conway pulled into the garage below Margo's apartment he'd calmed a little from the effect Dolly had had upon him. Once he'd left her behind he'd realized that he might have been wrong in deserting her like that. He'd even become a little sorry for her.
There was a little more to it than that. The code of the old neighborhood was that the guy who had, helped the guy who hadn't. Everybody suspected he'd hit the forty grand. If he didn't help out Dolly he could never go back there again. Conway wasn't quite ready to burn all of his bridges behind him. The money wouldn't last forever. There'd come a day when he'd need a fresh start. It was only smart to smooth out the future a little.
He pulled into a parking place, making a mental note that he and Teddy would drop by Clancy's before they left town and leave the grand behind for the girl.
That problem solved, Conway looked ahead to a new one: Margo.