Blue Belle - Andrew Vachss [45]
"It's you I'll be calling. Make sure your phone works, okay?"
She watched my face. "Whatever you say."
I found the pay phone, called Belle's number, listened to her answer, hung up.
The walk back didn't help—I could work it out in my head easy enough, but the answers were no good. The Prof was dead reliable. If he hadn't called in, he was in trouble, or he was dead. Either way, I had a debt.
Belle let me back in. I checked the phone; the cord was long enough to reach anyplace in the little cottage, even out onto the deck.I asked Belle for a fingernail file. Then I flipped the phone over, opened it up, checked the contact points, making sure the bell would work. I closed it back up, turned the dial on the underside to the loudest setting. I put the phone back on the end table near the couch, watched it.
Belle's voice came through the fog. "You can do everything to phones but make them ring, huh?"
The room came back into focus. Her face was scrubbed clean, but the glow was gone. "What is it, Belle? You look like you're afraid of me."
"I'm afraid of you shutting me out."
"This isn't yours," I told her, my voice flat.
Belle's hands went to her hips. Her little chin tilted up, eyes glistening. "What kind of a woman do you think I am?" she demanded.
I shrugged, knowing it was cruel, locked into my own course.
She moved closer, taking up all the space between us. "I said I was going to love you, Burke. You think I'd make you tell the truth and not do it myself?"
"No."
"You think I told you the truth?"
"Yes."
"You know what I want?"
"Sure."
She bent down to where I was sitting, pulled the cigarette out of my mouth, pressed her nose against mine.
"Tell me what I want."
I didn't move, didn't change expression. "The back of the joint where you work—it's like a suitcase with a false bottom. Plenty of room back there. Armored car gets hit at the airport—the hijackers take off running. But they don't go far, right? They pull in the back of the joint, stash the getaway car, and walk into the club. When the cops come looking, they've been there for hours. An alibi and a hideout all in one. Easy to come back in a few weeks. Move the cash out." I took the cigarette out of her hand, leaned back, took a deep drag. "How do they get rid of the getaway car—chop it down? repaint it back there? drive it into the back of a moving van, dump it in the swamp one night?"
She didn't answer me. Just watched.
"All that money just sitting there. Clean, unmarked bills. Probably two or three good jobs stashed in one place. Couple of hundred grand, minimum. Wouldn't be the first time somebody turned around and hit the syndicate. Hijackers aren't like numbers runners—that's why they don't make good employees."
I took a last drag, stubbed out the butt. Feeling her eyes burn on my skin.
"Whoever set this up, it's a big operation. Costs a lot of cash to front. The syndicate probably takes a piece from every hijacking at the airport. That's the way they'd do it. I know how things work. All the young mob guys want to do today is move product. They leave the armored cars and the banks to the independents."
I lit another cigarette, thinking back to the way I used to be. Telling the truth, the way she wanted it.
"A good thief, he can't stand to see a big lump of cash sitting around. Just a matter of time before some crew takes a shot."
Belle took the cigarette away from me again, put it to her lips. A red dot glowed in front of my face. Two more in her eyes.
"You didn't answer me, Burke. Tell me what I want. Tell me the truth."
"You want me to hijack the cash."
I saw her right shoulder drop, but I kept my eyes on her face. Her hand came around in a blur, her little clenched fist catching me high on the cheekbone just under the eye. She drew back her fist again. "That's enough," I said.
Her mouth trembled. The firelights went out of her eyes. She pulled away from me, fell face–down on her big white bed. Cried softly to herself as I pulled some ice cubes from the refrigerator. I wrapped the ice cubes in a towel and held it to my face. Sat