Hit Man - Lawrence Block [66]
While Moncrieff may have forgotten that loose lips sink ships, Strang evidently remembered that the best defense was a good offense. He made a couple of phone calls, and eventually the phone rang in the house on Taunton Place, and the old man took the call and took the contract.
When Dot pointed out the complications—i.e., that their new client was already slated for execution, with the fee paid by the man who had just become their new target—it became evident that the old man had forgotten the original deal entirely.
“He didn’t know you were in Cincinnati,” she explained. “Didn’t have a clue he’d sent you there or anywhere else. For all he knew you were out walking the dog, assuming he remembered you had a dog.”
“But when you told him. . . ”
“He didn’t see the problem. I kept explaining it to him, until it hit me what I was doing. I was trying to blow out a light bulb.”
“Puff puff,” Keller said.
“You said it. He just wasn’t going to get it. ‘Keller’s a good boy,’ he said. ‘You leave it to Keller. Keller will know what to do.’ ”
“He said that, huh?”
“His very words. You look the least bit lost, Keller. Don’t tell me he was wrong.”
He thought for a moment. “The fat man knows there’s a contract out on him,” he said. “Well, that figures. It would explain why he was so hard to get close to.”
“If you’d managed,” Dot pointed out, “I’d shrug and say what’s done is done, and let it go at that. But, fortunately or unfortunately, you checked your machine in time.”
“Fortunately or unfortunately.”
“Right, and don’t ask me which is which. Easiest thing, you say the word and I call both of the middlemen and tell them we’re out. Our foremost operative broke his leg in a skiing accident and you’d better call somebody else. What’s the matter?”
“Skiing? This time of year?”
“In Chile, Keller. Use your imagination. Anyway, we’re out of it.”
“Maybe that’s best.”
“Not from a dollars-and-cents standpoint. No money for you, and refunds for both clients, who’ll either look elsewhere or be reduced to shooting each other. I hate to give money back once it’s been paid.”
“What did they do, pay half in front?”
“Uh-huh. Usual system.”
He frowned, trying to work it out. “Go home,” she said. “Pet Andria and give Nelson a kiss, or is it the other way around? Sleep on it and let me know what you decide.”
He took the train to Grand Central and walked home, rode up in the elevator, used his key in the lock. The apartment was dark and quiet, just as he’d left it. Nelson’s dish was in a corner of the kitchen. Keller looked at it and felt like a Gold Star Mother, keeping her son’s room exactly as he had left it. He knew he ought to put the dish away or chuck it out altogether, but he didn’t have the heart.
He unpacked and showered, then went around the corner for a beer and a burger. He took a walk afterward, but it wasn’t much fun. He went back to the apartment and called the airlines. Then he packed again and caught a cab to JFK.
He phoned White Plains while he waited for them to call his flight. “On my way,” he told Dot.
“You continue to surprise me, Keller,” she said. “I thought for sure you’d stay the night.”
“No reason to.”
There was a pause. Then she said, “Keller? Is something wrong?”
“Andria left,” he said, surprising himself. He hadn’t intended to say anything. Eventually, sure, but not just yet.
“That’s too bad,” Dot said. “I thought the two of you were happy.”
“So did I.”
“Oh.”
“She has to find herself,” Keller said.
“You know, I’ve heard people say that, and I never know what the hell they’re talking about. How would you lose yourself in the first place? And how would you know where to look for yourself?”
“I wondered that myself.”
“Of course she’s awfully young, Keller.”
“Right.”