Raylan_ A Novel - Elmore Leonard [82]
Raylan told Jackie, “You know when I fired the shot at the ceiling? I mighta hit my room upstairs. It wouldn’t of hurt it any, unless it put a hole in my extra pants hangin from a pipe.”
They were in the Hilton suite now that Harry had got for Jackie. Perfect. Nobody knew they were here.
The phone rang.
Art Mullen said, “Were you gonna tell me what happened or keep it to yourself?”
Raylan heard the shower turn on.
“I didn’t want to wake you up.” Raylan had his shoes off and his pants. “How’d you find me?”
“Bill Nichols. He told me you shot Delroy and are now staying at the Hilton with the girl you went after. Is that correct?”
“I’m keeping an eye on her till I get her back to Indy.”
“She sittin there with you?”
“Wait,” Raylan said. “No, I hear the shower runnin. Art, I’m not payin for the room. Mr. Burgoyne got it for Jackie. I’m gonna sleep on the couch.”
“Be the first time in your life, won’t it?”
“Art, I’m not gonna take her to that room I was using. This girl just won a million dollars. I’m not gonna sit in a chair out in the hall.”
“You saw her win a million bucks?”
“One hand of hold ’em. She’s twenty-three, about to graduate and poker is her life. She isn’t the least interested in an old fart like me.”
“ ‘He said humbly,’ ” Art said. “I’m not telling you how to bring her back. Long as you don’t run off to some island. She in love with you yet?”
He could hear the shower, the bathroom door left open.
He said, “Ms. Nevada is all the way into poker. She has the . . . stuff to make it work.”
“You were gonna say ‘balls,’ weren’t you.”
“Art, I’m gonna take a week off after I get her back to school. She carries a three seven five and she’s a nice girl. Art, tell me you’re done.”
He put down the phone, tore the rest of his clothes off and ran to the bathroom and paused, got ready. He opened the shower door saying, “Hi, are you decent?” Saying, “You’re way more than decent.”
She said, holding up her hands, “I’ve been in here so long I’m starting to shrivel.”
“I’m sure not,” Raylan said, giving her a poke.
“Talking to your boss turned you on?”
“Something around here does. I wonder if it’s this bare-naked girl in here with me?”
“Watching me so I won’t run away. You do backs?”
“Fronts and sides . . . Let me lather you up.”
She said, “No, let me work on you.”
He was at the place where he was thinking of ways to keep this going while Jackie was soaping every part of him.
Run out and bring in some champagne.
Say, That’s my cell, and run out.
Take a couple of deep breaths and think of cleaning your weapon. Your gun. Then step back in. This was for fun.
She said, “If I joined the marshals, could I be your partner?”
“I’d make it happen,” Raylan said, giving his new partner another poke.
She said, “Remember Young Frankenstein? The monster gets it on with what’s her name and she starts singing about finding the sweet mystery of life?”
“What made you think of that?”
“I don’t know,” Jackie said.
About the Author
ELMORE LEONARD has written more than forty books during his highly successful writing career, including the bestsellers Road Dogs, Up in Honey’s Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories When the Women Come Out to Dance. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Be Cool. Justified, the hit series from FX, is based on Leonard’s character Raylan Givens, who appears in Riding the Rap, Pronto, the short story “Fire in the Hole,” and now Raylan. Leonard is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA and the Grand Master Award of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.
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