Hard Candy - Andrew Vachss [63]
"Okay."
"I will know, Burke. And then I have to call Wolfe."
"Okay."
"When will I know."
"Ten days, two weeks."
I lit another smoke, waiting for her answer. So much for me to carry. Dead weight. Unreasonable anger flared in me. Lily, she could do the right thing, sleep easy. She walked the line. Part of me wanted to pull her over it.
"Lily, can I consult you in your professional capacity? As a client?"
"Sure." Absentminded, still thinking about waiting to call the Hot Line.
"I have a problem that's affecting my mental state."
"What?" Impatiently.
"I'm going to kill someone."
She got it. Never flinched. "Ten days, Burke. It's too late for Elvira, but not for the others…not for all of them."
But for my love.
108
ELVIRA was quiet, sitting between Max and me on the way back.
"Your friend Lily… she was nice."
"But you know it was all game, right?"
She flashed the no–soul smile of a little girl who learned to do tricks too soon. I pulled up outside Train's place. Max stepped out, holding the door for Elvira like a chauffeur.
"Tell Train I'll be around to see him soon," I told the girl. "I won't be taking you back. Just one last talk. I want to part friends. Tell him, he'll know what I mean."
She turned to face me. "Did my mother kiss you goodbye the last time you saw her?"
"No."
She slid off the seat without a word. I didn't look back.
109
MAX DIDN'T react when I passed by Mama's. Didn't change expression when I cruised by his warehouse. I knew the look on his face. Whatever. It. Takes.
I backed the Plymouth into the last slot in the loading bay of what had been a factory years ago. When the landlord rented it out for lofts, he left the last piece to use as a private garage. When I explained to the landlord that his son's identity was safe with me, he gave me a hell of a break on the rent. Free. Threw in the garage too.
We took the back stairs to my office. Max stood well aside as I opened the door. I threw Pansy the signal—she waited patiently to see what I'd brought her. The beast watched Max with her homicide eyes, a soft growl just inside her teeth. Talking about him the way he had talked about Wesley.
Anytime. Anytime you want.
They'd known each other for years. Max never patted her. She never bothered him. He bowed to Pansy, no expression on his face. Pansy watched.
I got her some liverwurst out of the refrigerator, gave her the magic word, watched it vanish. She stretched out in a corner by the couch, bored. I crossed over to my desk, cleared a place so I had a flat, blank table. Gestured for Max to sit in the chair I use for clients.
He made a gesture like he was dealing cards. I shook my head. Our life–sentence gin game wasn't going to be continued tonight.
What was the truth? My promise to Immaculata? Or could Max really know? Why didn't it hurt me more…like it should have? How come? Bad pun.
How to explain it? I lit a smoke. Put it on the lip of the ashtray, folding my hands behind my head, looking at the cracked cement ceiling. Max reached over, put the cigarette to his lips, took a deep drag. Smoke fired out his flat nose in two broad jets.
I pointed at myself Put my hands under the desk, tried to lift it off the floor. Strained. Gave it up. Too much weight for me to lift.
Max hooked two fingers under the desk. It came off the Astroturf I use for carpet like it was floating.
I shook my head. It wasn't a weight someone could lift for me.
He spread his hands. "What?"
I drew an hourglass figure in the air. Made my right forefinger rigid, poked it into an opening I made in my left fist. Again and again. Okay?
He nodded, watching.
I pointed at my chest. At my heart. Stiffened the forefinger. Approached the opening in my fist. The forefinger went limp. Wouldn't go in. Pointed at myself again.
Max pointed at me. Smiled. I was joking, right?
Wrong.
He made an hourglass sign of his own. Made a "no good" gesture. Drew another in the air. Opened his hands. Try another woman.
I drew another woman. Another. One more. Pointed at myself again. Stiffened the forefinger