The Men From the Boys - Ed Lacy

“Roughneck!” He almost screamed the word at me as he retreated into his office.

I don't know what it was, maybe the hatred in his eyes, but it was like looking into a crystal ball, seeing my life, and that one word, “roughneck,” summed it up. Roughneck, lout, bully... they covered the years, my lousy stupid life, all of it. It made me feel crummy.

King got courage, and some color back in his face, stuck his stickpin head out of the office door. “You think you can push me around because you're all muscles. Well, there will be an accounting soon that will...!”

“All right, don't crowd your luck with a roughneck,” I growled, and walked to the front of the small lobby, sat down, wondering why the cockroach had upset me—and he had. I sat there for maybe ten minutes, thinking of nothing, almost wanting to bawl.

Sam came over himself and I paid him for a bottle that looked like a watch charm, it was that small, but Sam wasn't the kind to gyp me. He asked if my cold was better, told me to drop over for some more pills.

Back in my room I found Barbara dressing. I placed the tiny box in her hands as she pulled on her dress, asked, “What's this?”

“A time bomb—what does it look like?”

She unwrapped it and stared at the little bottle, then up at me, and began to cry a little. “Lord, Marty, this is Arpege!”

“Sure is,” I said, as if I knew what she was talking about.

“I've bought the toilet water but... this is the perfume!”

She came over and gave me a sloppy kiss, whispered, “Hon, it's been a long time for us.”

“Sure, but you just took a shower, no sense getting sweated up. Some other time.”

She pulled away, rubbed her nose with the bottle. “You're a funny one—lately. Before you were so tough and ...”

“Being tough is a lot of crap,” I said, slapping her hips.

“... and now you're sentimental.”

“You bet I am. We've had some good times together. And being sentimental over a whore is getting down to the tacks of life.”

“Why did you have to use that word, Marty?”

“Why not? We never kidded ourselves. Let old poppa Marty tell you what I've learned the last few days—this is a whoring world and it makes us all whores in one way or another.”

Barbara slipped me the coy look again. “I suppose what you said is awful deep or something; I'll have to think about it. Marty, was the girl asking for you this morning really your wife?”

“Yeah.”

“She looks like what I used to dream about when I was a kid—being real big-time, real beautiful.”

“You should have seen her eight or nine years ago.”

“No, she looks beautiful now because she knows she isn't any kid and still she has it—what a figure.”

“Maybe she was too pretty.”

“How come you let something like that go?”

I slapped Barbara's hips again. “Something like that let me go. But by then it didn't matter. Flo was like a pug in training—all the time. Couldn't do this or that because it might spoil her figure, surf casting roughened her skin... all that. Now she wants me back and she has a swell setup.”

“No wonder you've been fluffing the duff here—you're going back to her.”

“No, it's too late for that.” I was suddenly bored with all the small talk. “Honey, want to take a walk, or something? I need some shut-eye.”

“Okay. Thanks for the perfume. Guess it is too muggy to do anything but sleep.”

When she left I sat on the bed, wondering how to kill the afternoon—my last afternoon. Be good to get drunk, but with my gut it might spoil things for tonight—and it was going to be tonight. Jones Beach was too much effort and ...

The phone rang—my boy in Immigration. He told me what I expected, and of course it fitted, as I knew it would. There it was, all wrapped up. I could pull the string now by merely calling Bill—they'd make him a captain at least for this—only there was my own very special angle, the only thing that mattered for me.

I still had the rest of the afternoon and my room depressed me. I went out and Lawson asked, “Where you going, Bond?”

“I'm going to break your nosy head!” I said, making for the desk.

He backed into the office. “I'm only asking in case you get any calls.”

“Tell them I'm out counting the pansies in Washington Square,” I said, turning toward the door.

I walked over to Seventh Avenue, stopped for pie and iced coffee. I was still being tailed. I decided to tell Lawrence good-by.

The doc wasn't happy to see me, said, “Mr. Bond, you upset him badly the last time you were here. I'll find out if he wants to see you.”

He returned in a few minutes to tell me I could go in. “But please make it brief and be careful what you say—no arguments.”

The same cop was on the door and he gave me a hard look as I went in. The boy was in a wheel chair, tape over his nose, the top of his head bandaged. He was bare to his waist although most of his ribs were taped. I said, “Well, kid, you're coming along fine.”

“That's what they tell me.” His eyes seemed to be studying me. “Glad you came by, Marty. I've thought over what you told me—I'm still going to become a cop—at least try to. I'll be a good cop if for no other reason because I'll stop any other Marty Bonds from abusing their authority.”

I shrugged. “You do that, Lawrence—if you can. All right, if you're still badge-happy, pass the exam and they'll welcome you with open arms.”

“Is this another of your... uh... jokes?”

“Kid, you stumbled on the hottest thing going. You stick to your story; you always knew this was big.”

“I don't understand you.”

“You will by morning. And don't be modest. Blow your horn loud. The cops wouldn't listen, but you knew there was something fishy about Lande from the go. Don't rap the department, but don't let the reporters forget you. I'm giving you full credit for ...”

“You've cracked it?”

“By tomorrow you and I will have cracked New York City wide open. Now don't ask no more questions—just wait.” I shook his hand. “So long, kid.”

“Marty, what's all this about?”

“You'll know tomorrow. I hope this beating has taught you something, but I doubt it. Maybe it may teach you not to learn things the hard way. Good-by, Lawrence.” I let go of his hand.

“But, Marty...? Wait!”

I opened the door as he called, “Dad—wait!” I closed the door softly, winked at the cop, and walked out onto Seventh Avenue.

It was a few minutes after three and for no reason I walked across the street and bought a ticket for Loew's Sheridan, lost myself in the darkness. It was cool and the movie was one of these color jobs shot over in Europe, and I got a kick out of seeing the streets of Rome and Naples I remembered from the war. The story was silly as hell and the other feature had Hollywood winning the West from the Indians for the millionth time. I chewed mints and worked on my running nose, wondered if my shadow was enjoying the pictures.

It was almost seven when I came out into the hot end of the day, feeling rather sorry for myself—a guy who didn't know what to do with his last hours but spend them seeing slop on the screen.

I walked over to Eighth Street and had a good sea-food supper. It was a big meal and didn't seem to bother my gut, although when I reached the Grover I had to dash for the John. I came back to the lobby, shut off the radio in the office. Dewey came in from the desk. “Hey, I'm listening to a story.”

“Take the radio out to the desk, I have some typing to do. I told you to lay off the back room last night—a guy came in while you were getting your wine chilled.”

“That's a lot of nonsense. I never left... How did you know?”

“Forget it and get out of here.”

It took me an hour to peck out a letter, with a carbon, telling Bill how Bochio had knocked off Cocky Anderson. I played up Lawrence big in my report. I even suggested sweating Willie for the exact details. After I sealed it, I wrote my name over the back of the envelope so Dewey's curiosity wouldn't get the best of him, put Bill's name on the front, along with the phone number of the station house.

I went to my room and shaved and showered like a bridegroom. Dropping some weight made me look in shape—on the outside I looked healthier than I had since I was a teenage punk. I made sure my gun was in working order before I slipped it and some extra shells into my pocket. I dragged an old suitcase from the closet, took out my army .45 which I'd smuggled into civilian, life, checked it, strapped it above my right ankle.

It was eight-twenty and starting to get dark. One thing worried me—Lande might not be home when I phoned him. He could easily be at a movie, or something. But he'd have to come home sooner or later.

Out in the lobby I motioned for Kenny to take over the desk and walked Dewey to my room. He took a swig of the pint of sherry in his hip pocket as he sat down, asked, “Now, what's cooking?”

“We're cooking without wine. Dewey, when you finish that pint, that's going to be all for the night.”

“You a reformer now, too?”

I pulled out all the bills I had in my pocket: three tens, a five, and four bucks. Tearing them in half I gave him one part, said, “After tonight you get the rest, go on a week's drunk if you want. But for the next couple of hours you're working for me, and don't forget it.”

Dewey fingered the torn money. “Marty, why the green salad?”

“A reminder that if you make a mistake I won't be around to give you the rest of the lettuce,” I said, pocketing the torn bills. “Your job is simple: I don't want you to leave the desk —not for a second, even if the Grover is on fire. You're being paid to stay by your phone. And to take good care of this.” I placed the letter addressed to Bill in Dewey's lap. “Don't let anybody get ahold of that letter, even see it—till later. Understand?”

Dewey nodded.

I gave him a slip of paper with Lande's store phone on it. “And keep this handy, too. All right, here's the deal. Starting at ten o'clock you call this number every fifteen minutes. No matter if the desk is busy or not, every fifteen minutes you call. I'll answer and say, 'Lawson is a fag.' That's all. You don't answer anything except one word, 'Okay, Marty.' But if ...”

“That's two words.”

“All right! Goddamnit, Dewey, you just answer, 'Okay, Marty.' Not another sound. Now, when you ring and there isn't any answer, or if somebody else answers, says, 'Hello?' says anything but 'Lawson is a fag,' you hang up—and call Bill Ash fast at the number on the envelope. That's the police station. Tell him—or whoever answers at the precinct—that you want a cop damn fast. If Ash answers tell him you have something important and he must come and get it—at once. You only give this letter to Ash, and ask to see his badge, or to a uniformed cop. Got it?”

Dewey swallowed, his eyes watered, and he touched the envelope like it was hot. “Marty, you in something... something... real bad?”

“This is all the way for me, Dewey. That's why I want you to stay off the wine and on the ball. Remember, if anybody answers with anything but our passwords, don't you say a single word, just slam the receiver down and call the police. And for Christ's sake, be sure you're dialing the right number, the one on the slip. Now, tell me what I told you.”

Dewey stuttered through it and we went over it again. Then I told him, “Good. Finish the pint—you'll need that. Stay at the desk, and remember—start calling at ten sharp. Even if you have to go to the John—stay at the desk!”

Dewey stood up, put Bill's letter in his back pocket, Lande's phone number in his shirt pocket. He asked, “Marty, what are you in? Will I ...?”

“You'll be a lousy hero. One more thing, don't blab about this to Kenny, Barbara—nobody.”

“Listen, Many, you know hew I am—maybe I won't be able to ...”

He was shaking a little and I slapped him on the back. “Just do what I told you and everything will be okay. Hell, we're pals, you're the only one I can trust. Get going. Remember, you start phoning at ten sharp—about an hour and a half from now. 'Lawson is a fag.' If anybody says anything else, even if you think it's me, hang up and call the cops. Get going.”

When he left I put the carbon of the letter in an envelope, addressed it to the kid in the hospital, then put the rest of the torn money in another envelope addressed to Dewey. I dug up a couple of stamps, locked my door, and dropped the letters in the mail chute off the lobby. I took the self-service elevator to the eighth floor, opened the linen-closet window, stepped out on the adjoining fire escape—the weight of the .45 at my ankle making me clumsy.

I went up and over the roof, down into the alley, moving carefully. After last night they'd be wondering how I got out of the Grover. Dropping into the alley as softly as my two-hundred-odd pounds would allow, I stood very still in the darkness.

I had company—somebody in front of me was breathing heavily.

I stood there for a long moment, fingering the gun in my pocket, retasting the sea food, trying not to belch.

Whoever was sharing the alley with me was making a lot of noise with his breathing. I waited, but my buddy was playing it cool. I got my flash out, knelt and placed it on the cement alleyway, pointing it in the general direction of the breathing.

I got my gun out and leaning way over to the right, I reached out with my left foot, pressed the button. I spotlighted an old bum huddled in one corner. I grinned as he blinked his bleary eyes to get me in focus.

I pocketed the gun and picking up my flash I started toward him. He said, “Put that light out, you big sonofabitch.”

“They making you winos braver these days?” I asked.

I was on top of him and he sort of grinned and his teeth were too good for a wino and his eyes were too bright—he wasn't drunk—he was on junk. He was sitting with both hands on the cement and he raised himself off the floor a few inches as his legs struck out, scissored around mine.

I fell on top of him, kicking, swinging with my flash... and thought I heard the swish of a sap behind me before my head exploded in a burning white flame.

Six