Chapter 16

LUIS SCALICI:

"I had it pretty good. Business was great and we didn't have too much crap that we couldn't take care of. City Hall was in the hip pocket.

It got so I could play golf and go on vacations and even had a personal valet. Big time. I was a hell of a long way from the old neighborhood.

But I still wasn't in Stephanie Warwick's crowd.

I met her at a theatre party one night. This time she came over and cooed over me and the dame I was with. She was like syrup. So I figured she wanted something. I got one minute alone with her and she wanted my phone number.

She called me the next day and we met in a hotel room she rented for the occasion. She was slinky as ever and gave me a drink and made it easy for me to get my hand up her leg. She wanted to get booted.

"You big strong darling," she said.

She never called me that before. Dames don't usually give me that line. I'm not the strong type. Anyway, it got me thinking.

But I took her into the bedroom just the same. I hadn't had a broad like Stephanie for a long time. I wanted to see if she was just as wild. She was. She made a dive at me and hung on my joint before I could get my pants off. "You taste good," she purred.

I couldn't get it in her. "That's old fashioned, darling," she said, and slung a string of some foreign phrases at me, giggling like crazy.

We messed up the bed something awful, but she never lost a drop. She blew tunes on me that I hadn't heard before. But her snatch was getting a little loose. Poor Stephanie was putting mileage on it.

"What d'you expect," she said when I was boor enough to mention it. "I have to have a man every night, sweetheart. It's good for my complexion."

She had something on her mind.

We screwed finally, and were laying there side by side with nothing but my connection rod between us, when she asked me.

"I wanna go see Lilli."

"Lilli who?" I knew who she meant.

"Darling, don't be evasive. I wanna go see Lilli."

"Why?"

She giggled and wriggled and got under me and bumped me around a bit, but I got it out of her.

"Darling, some of my best friends go to Lilli's place, that's how I know about it. I want to-well, I want to-be one of her girls."

I was startled. No kidding. Here was a society broad with all the dough in the world, wanting to be a whore in Lilli's house.

"Why, for God's sake?"

She giggled. "Just for kicks, baby."

She meant it too. We spent the rest of the night chasing each other around the apartment and nibbling and chewing and sucking. In the morning I couldn't have got it up unless she'd tied a string around it.

I had promised, so I went to see Lilli that afternoon. She was shook too, when I laid it on her.

"She wants to what?!!"

I explained it again. "This is a very unusual cookie," I said. "She is a dizzy with everything and needs kicks to keep her from going blase."

"Maybe it isn't a good idea-"

"I dunno how it could hurt anything. She wants to pretend she is a hooker-which she is, by the way-and she'll probably pay us for the privilege."

So Lilli said OK, and I called Stephanie and told her where to show up.

"Leave your furs at home," I said.

She giggled at me. "I'll just take my pussy," she said, and she did.

LILLI de WITT:

"That was one for the books. This Stephanie was a very nice looking doll. She came in, wearing a smart two piece suit that had set her back a flock of bucks, with real pearls around her neck. She was cool and smart and dripped poise.

Luis had said she was a crazy mad thing in bed. It was hard to believe, looking at her. But here she was, and she wanted action.

She didn't mince words either. "I just want to be one of your girls for a night or two."

I asked her why and she shrugged and didn't say anything.

I said, "It'll cost you."

"Everything costs me, Lilli. How much?"

"A grand."

"That's too much. I'll give you two hundred dollars for the use of one of your rooms for two days."

I shrugged at her, and smiled. "Deal."

"What do I do now?"

I told her. Calling Mazie, the maid, I set her up to the best room with Stephanie. Then I got on the phone and told anybody I could find to send Boozer over.

Boozer is a little guy, maybe five feet seven, with moist eyes and a belly. But the mob has been using him as a break-in guy for years. He can gentle a girl and diddle her into the idea better than anyone. He is hung like a horse, and some of my girls have talked about him with a far-away look in their eyes. Every time I saw him I wondered about-well, enough of that.

He came in, and he looked terrible. That's why he got the tag. He had been oozing. Mazie and one of the swampers got him cleaned up and shaved him. We got him some decent clothes, then I sent for Stephanie.

Our system is to let a John pick from three or four girls. If he's a big spender, he can pick from all of them. Anyway, we put Stephanie in with a couple other girls, and I could see she was a little nervous. The other girls stared at her, wondering where the hell she came from. I went in and cooled them off.

Girls are so damn jealous. "This is Stephanie," I told them. "She's just here for a few days-" and that seemed to do it. They didn't mind the competition if it wasn't permanent.

Then I fixed it with Boozer to choose Stephanie.

This was my idea. I wanted to see how this society big shot could stand up to real professional work. I told Boozer to take his time.

He liked her. His boozy little eyes lit up when he saw her. I didn't tell him anything about her at all, merely that she was paying for a good time. I wanted him to do her good, but I warned him that she was supposed to think he was a customer-she wanted it that way.

He went upstairs with her and shut the door.

That night, Mazie went up with a tray of food for them. She told me that it all seemed peaceful enough to her.

"He's layin' in bed, Miss Lilli" she said. "Smokin' a cigar."

So far, so good. They rang down for some drinks later, and Maxie told me that Stephanie grabbed the tray and pushed her out.

"That gal was in a hurry-"

I went up and listened at the door later on. All I could hear was the bed squeaking, and some muffled laughter and voices.

Mazie took them breakfast. "They're both sleepin', Miss Lilli," she said. It was almost noon.

I went up and knocked. Stephanie asked: "Who is it?"

"Are you two alright?"

"Go away," she said.

I shrugged and went back downstairs. They sent for drinks, and in the evening Maxie took them more food.

"They looks a little pale," she said.

During the evening she took them more drinks and came to me with an envelope. "Miss Stephanie, she says this is for you."

I opened it. There was a short note and a hundred dollar bill. The note said: "One more day-please?"

I sent up a bottle of champagne.

The next day, about two in the afternoon, Boozer staggered downstairs. He was dressed and he was glassy-eyed.

"You put me through a meat-grinder," he accused. He had a drink and tottered out. I grabbed my skirts and ran upstairs. I expected to see Stephanie half dead.

She was lying on the bed, naked, staring at the ceiling, a smile on her face. She turned around lazily when I burst into the room.

"I think I'm gonna like this job-"

I gaped at her.

"Who's next?" she said.

LUIS SCALICI:

"I was sure surprised at Stephanie. She stayed four days with Lilli. I heard about Boozer, so I looked him up.

"That dame had a goddam rubber cunt," he said. "She's a one-gal cathouse. Where the hell she come from?"

"Society," I told him.

He shook his head. "One guy ain't enough for her. She threw me out 'cause I only got one dong."

I believed it.

Lilli told me that Stephanie had serviced eighteen guys, different guys, and that four of them hand gone back for seconds.

"I was thinking of sending for a doc," she said. "Some of them looked peaked when they got out of there."

"She's a tiger."

"I wish I had her permanent," Lilli said. "There were no complaints." She sighed. "Except from her."

I saw Stephanie later. About the last time I saw her, as a matter-of-fact. It was a week after her fun at Lilli's house. She invited me to a cocktail party at her apartment. Her husband was there too.

It was a plush layout, one whole floor at the Carleson Hotel, with catered help. The wine flowed like over Niagra Falls. I was the only member of the hoi polloi in the place.

"Darling," Stephanie said, kissing me lightly on the cheek. "I'm so glad you could come."

She was cool and smooth as a windy glacier. Every hair in place, as unruffled as a sidewalk. I tried to break the calm, no one was close to us. "Wanna screw?"

She only smiled distantly. "Darling, come meet my husband." She took my arm.

I had already met this bird, long time ago in a bar. The night I had first met her. But he didn't remember me. He was a thousand years older than her, and a little doddering, but still sharp.

We said a few words and then I got away. He didn't impress me. We were worlds apart; there was nothing much for us to talk about, except maybe how Stephanie wriggled in bed. He wouldn't appreciate me mentioning that. Anyhow, I doubted if he knew anymore. She'd kill him.

There were other good looking broads around. A few gave me the old eye and I headed toward one who had lots of cleavage and nice round ass. I was thinking that if more of these society dolls were like Stephanie, I might just wind up screwed tight.

But Stephanie intercepted me. She guided me into a small den room, and shut the door.

"Are we gonna screw?"

"Later, darling," she smiled at me. "Business first."

"You want to go back to Lillie's? You'd better ask her."

"Forget Lilli. I want you to do something for me-" She poured us drinks and handed me the glass. "For pay, of course."

"Baby, I'll lay you for free."

"I know you will, darling." She came close and ran her hand up my pants front. "Forget this little thing for a minute."

"Little?"

She sighed. "Males." She sipped and moved away. "Darling, you're a gangster, after all-" I grunted.

"-I just want to hire you, in your porfessional capacity."

"To do what?"

"To kill someone." She smiled at me as though she had said nothing at all. I blinked at her.

"Who?"

"My husband, darling."

There was a dead silence between us for a long time. This broad was a better gangster than me. I had never killed anyone. I almost asked her why she didn't do it herself. She was capable.

"Well?" she said. I asked her why.

"For various reasons, darling. Mostly, I need the money. His money."

"Yours is all gone?"

She smiled wiimingly. "Long gone, sweetheart. I adore gambling."

"IOU's?"

She nodded. "Very pressing. I must have the money. And I can't ask him for more. Or my friends. I already owe-more than I care to think about."

That was a familiar story to me. "Lemme think about it," I said. "What's your time-table?"

"I have to have money in two weeks. I must."

She looked different when she said that. There was a hardness about her that I hadn't noticed before, and I would have noticed it. I had seen every part of her.

"Alright, let's meet and you tell me all about him. Habits, where he goes, that stuff."

"Alright."

"And bring your pussy."

She looked at me under the lashes. "You want it now, darling?"

I took a small helping of it, then we went back to the party. I stood around for an hour and stared at the husband. It seemed a shame to rub him, he was going downhill fast. He'd do it himself. But Stephanie was in a hurry. She had to hurry up nature. Too bad.

I contacted one of the hard boys, a guy named Gillie. He was a slim, pasty-faced goniff who looked as harmless as a one-legged Scoutmaster, but who liked shivs and rods. Gillie was quick and accurate. All he needed was a finger.

Gillie was free. The mob wanted five grand for the rub-out. I knew Stephanie would pay it.

We met at the Pickering Hotel. She came, wearing a long coat and a scarf. I already had a room that we could get to without passing the desk. No one saw her.

I had brought along a bottle and she gulped down a snort of Scotch. "I brought my pussy," she said.

So I laid her on the bed without even taking off her skirt. She giggled the whole time. It was like a couple of kids in the back seat. I got the old snake in her and rode it in as far as it could go and we both shook it and thumped it and undulated it and shook the bed. I made her squeal and buck when the first spasm hit her.

"Oh darling," she whispered, "let's fuck all night-"

I got off her, with my dingus still brick hard, and stripped down. She captured it with her lips and I had an awful struggle trying to reach the bottle on the dresser with her working it like a piston and taking my mind off the booze.

Then we had another drink and I stripped her bare. I splashed Scotch on her and went after it, licking it up while she yelled. We ended up head to tail on the bed and worked that way for a sinuous gorging time. She tasted lush. She made me jet and pulsate, flat on my back, and milked me limp.

I almost forgot what we had come for, but she didn't. We were lying side by side, taking a breather and just easing it in and out, when she told me his schedule.

"He'll be at the Henley Trust Building every day this week. They're working out a contract. You've seen him, and I've got the license number of his car in my purse."

"Do you know when he leaves the building?"

"In the afternoon. That's your job, darling." She squeezed me with her vaginal muscles. "Were you thinking of an ambush?"

"Yeah."

"I'd rather have it look like robbery-"

"Ambush is easier, precious."

"Is it? Maybe, but not for me. I don't want any investigation-or as little as possible."

I pumped her nice and steady, looking at her and feeling her big bare tits pressing my chest. I wondered if she wanted to be along so she could see him bleed.

"How about night, does he go out?"

"I could arrange it."

"Somewhere out of town? Guns are noisy in town."

She smiled. "Alright. We'll go visit someone. You can hold us up on the road."

"Good enough. Where?" She eased closer and hitched her hips up. I was able to get another millionth of an inch into her. Then I rolled her onto her back and thrust hard. She giggled and purred. "You hit the spot, darling-"

I kept hitting it, hard and fast, and she squirmed like a snake with stomach cramps. She shrilled in my ear and exploded. I remembered what Boozer had said about her rubber cunt. It was electrified. I rammed her head into the pillow and tried to hold her down. She bucked up in the middle and we rolled around till she finally began to subside.

She was panting and cooing like a gallon of turtle doves on a slow fire. She couldn't keep her pussy from throbbing and convulsing; she didn't want to.

"We'll make it look like robbery," I said, still pronging her.

She sighed and nodded.

"Will you have a chauffer?"

"Oh darling, stop talking shop-" She writhed under me and tried to slip her tongue into my mouth.

"We gotta settle it, don't we?"

"I wanna fuck."

So I gave up and went on feeding it to her.

In an hour I was worn to a frazzle and begged off. We had another drink and a cigarette, and discussed the problem.

"You'll have to get rid of the driver," I told her. "That's one too many witnesses."

She nodded and thought about it. "Maybe I can get him to take one of the sports cars. Then he'll be driving."

"Maybe nothing, you've got to be positive. No driver or no deal."

"I didn't know gangsters were so particular."

I let that one go. "About the price. Ten grand."

She yelled out loud. "Ten!?"

"He's a big shot. If you wanna knock off a newsboy I can get it cheap."

That cooled her off. She flounced out of bed and walked around the room glaring at me. "You're taking advantage of me, goddammit. I can get any crumbbum to do it for less."

"Go ahead." I got up and put on my pants.

"We're not bums."

"We? I'm hiring you, not an army."

"No," I corrected her. "You're hiring a professional gunman. Not me. I won't even be there."

That stopped her. She had a good sized drink, staring at me. I think she realized all at once that it was different from what she'd expected.

"Five grand," she said at last.

I shook my head. "Ten is the price."

It took her another hour to agreee. By that time she did she was all business and hard as nails. I hadn't seen this side of her. We didn't screw anymore.

But she laid out the route. We got a map and pored over it. We agreed on the place, the end of a bridge on Smollett Road-I knew it pretty well. It was twenty miles past the town of Smollett. Well out in the sticks. I told her Gillie would put up a roadblock. When her husband stopped to see what was going on, Gillie would rub him.

"Then you scream for awhile," I said to her. "And figure out what next."

"What is next?"

"Either you stay there to get found, or you push him aside and drive to town. It's up to you."

She stared at me for along time. The next day I took Gillie out to look at the place. It was what they call a secondary road. Paved, one lane each way. The bridge was wooden, over a dry creek bed. There was plenty of junk around for a roadblock. Gillie got out and prowled around, making little noises in his throat. He was careful. He looked at everything. But he seemed satisfied.

"I'll use my heap for the block," he said. "I'll get a red lantern, he'll stop alright."

"Take his wallet, and anything else you want. But don't screw around with the girl." He squinted at me. "Yours?"

"Anybody's. But she'll get too wild. I don't want you in Sing Sing."

She called me the next evening and we met on a side street. I got in her car and we talked. She had it arranged for a Thursday night which was two nights away. She was all business. She gave me five grand; I was to collect the remainder when the job was completed. We set the time and she even gave me a snapshot of the car, a sleek foreign job.

"It was taken a few months ago," she said. "There won't be another car like it on the road."

I showed the snapshot to Gillie. He studied it carefully and gave it back. That snapshot became a very damaging hunk of evidence against me. I put is in my pocket and forgot about it, I never got the other five grand.

Gillie did the job and it went off like clockwork. She delivered him on time. Gillie did his usual professional job and lifted a wallet with five hundred clams in it, and a ring. He left the watch because of the inscription. Stephanie was smart enough to wear a few jewels which Gillie took.

"She didn't say a word," he reported. "She just looked the other way while I plugged him. Cool broad."

She drove the car to the next town with him beside her. There was a hellova roar went up. Warwick had been a bigger shot than I thought. I should have asked for twenty grand.

They didn't hold Stephanie at all. She took a boat after they got her statements. There was a picture in the paper of her going up the gangplank in black. That's the last I saw of her.

Otto came looking for me, the sonofabitch.