Eight Million Ways to Die

by Lawrence Block

Page 6

 

  He hadnt. Chance and his girl were in the first row and a good deal closer to the center. They took their seats and he tipped the usher, acknowledged greetings from some of the other spectators, then approached Kid Bascombs corner and said something to the fighter and his handlers. They huddled together for a moment. Then Chance returned to his seat.

  "I think Ill leave now," Danny Boy said. "I dont really want to watch these two fools pummel each other. I hope you dont need me to introduce you?" I shook my head. "Then Ill slip out before the mayhem commences. In the ring, that is. Will he have to know I fingered him, Matt?"

  "He wont hear it from me. "

  "Good. If I can be of further service-"

  He made his way up the aisle. He probably wanted a drink and the bars in Madison Square Garden dont stock ice-cold Stolichnaya.

  The announcer was introducing the fighters, calling out their ages and weights and hometowns. Bascomb was twenty-two and undefeated. Canelli didnt figure to change his status tonight.

  There were two seats empty next to Chance. I thought about taking one but stayed where I was. The warning buzzer sounded, then the bell for round one. It was a slow, thoughtful round, with neither fighter anxious to commit himself. Bascomb jabbed nicely but Canelli managed to be out of range most of the time. Nobody landed anything solid.

  The pair next to Chance were still empty at the rounds end. I walked over there and sat next to him. He was looking very intently at the ring. He must have been aware of my presence but didnt indicate it if he was.

  I said, "Chance? My name is Scudder. "

  He turned, looked at me. His eyes were brown flecked with gold. I thought of my clients eyes, that unreal blue. Hed been at her apartment last night while I was barhopping, dropped in unannounced to pick up some money. Shed told me about it earlier, called me at the hotel around noon. "I was afraid," shed said. "I thought, suppose he asks about you, asks me some kind of questions. But it was cool. "

  Now he said, "Matthew Scudder. You left some messages with my service. "

  "You didnt return my calls. "

  "I dont know you. I dont call people I dont know. And youve been asking around town for me. " His voice was deep and resonant. It sounded trained, as if hed gone to broadcasting school. "I want to watch this fight," he said.

  "All I want is a few minutes conversation. "

  "Not during the fight and not between rounds. " A frown came and went. "I want to be able to concentrate. I bought that seat youre sitting in, you see, so Id have some privacy. "

  The warning buzzer sounded. Chance turned, focused his eyes on the ring. Kid Bascomb was standing and his seconds were hauling the stool out of the ring. "Go back to your seat," Chance said, "and Ill talk to you after the fight ends. "

  "Its a ten-rounder?"

  "It wont go ten. "

  It didnt. In the third or fourth round Kid Bascomb started getting to Canelli, punishing him with the jab, putting a couple of combinations together. Canelli was smart but the Kid was young and fast and strong, with a way of moving that reminded me a little of Sugar Ray. Robinson, not Leonard. In the fifth round he staggered Canelli with a short right hand to the heart and if Id had a bet on the Italian Id have written it off then and there.

  Canelli looked strong by the end of the round but Id seen the expression on his face when the blow landed, and I wasnt surprised a round later when Kid Bascomb dropped him with a looping left hook. He was up at three and took an eight-count, and then the Kid was all over him, hitting him with everything but the ring posts. Canelli went down again and got right up and the ref jumped between the two of them and looked in Canellis eyes and stopped it.

  There was some halfhearted booing from the diehards who never want a fight stopped, and one of Canellis cornermen was insisting his fighter could have gone on, but Canelli himself seemed just as happy the show was over. Kid Bascomb did a little war dance and took his bows, then climbed nimbly over the ropes and left the ring.

  On his way out he stopped to talk to Chance. The girl with the auburn hair sat forward and rested a hand on the fighters glossy black arm. Chance and the Kid talked for a moment or two, and then the Kid headed for his dressing room.

  I left my seat, walked over to Chance and the girl. They were standing by the time I got there. He said, "Were not staying for the main bout. If youd planned on watching it-"

  The top of the card matched two middleweights, a Panamanian contender and a black boy from South Philadelphia with a reputation as a spoiler. It would probably be a good bout, but that wasnt what Id come for. I told him I was ready to leave.

  "Then why dont you come with us," he suggested. "I have a car nearby. " He headed up the aisle with the girl at his side. A few people said hello to him and some of them told him that the Kid had looked good in there. Chance didnt say much in reply. I tagged along, and when we got outside and hit the fresh air I realized for the first time how stale and smoky it had been inside the Garden.

  On the street he said, "Sonya, this is Matthew Scudder. Mr. Scudder, Sonya Hendryx. "

  "Its nice to meet you," she said, but I didnt believe her. Her eyes told me she was withholding judgment until Chance cued her in one way or the other. I wondered if she was the Sunny that Kim had mentioned, the sports fan Chance took to ball games. I wondered, too, if I would have pegged her for a hooker if Id met her in other circumstances. I couldnt see anything unmistakably whorish about her, and yet she didnt look at all out of place hanging on a pimps arm.

  We walked a block south and half a block east to a parking lot where Chance collected his car and tipped the attendant enough to get thanked with more than the usual degree of enthusiasm. The car surprised me, just as the clothes and manner had surprised me earlier. I was expecting a pimpmobile, complete with custom paint and interior and the usual wretched excess, and what showed up was a Seville, the small Cadillac, silver on the outside with a black leather interior. The girl got in back, Chance sat behind the wheel, and I sat in front next to him.

  The ride was smooth, silent. The cars interior smelled of wood polish and leather. Chance said, "Theres a victory party for Kid Bascomb. Ill drop Sonya there now and join her after weve concluded our business. What did you think of the fight?"

  "I thought it was hard to figure. "

  "Oh?"

  "It looked fixed but the knockout looked real. "

  He glanced at me, and I saw interest in his gold-flecked eyes for the first time. "What makes you say that?"

  "Canelli had an opening twice in the fourth round and he didnt follow it up either time. Hes too smart a fighter for that. But he was trying to get through the sixth and he couldnt. At least thats how it looked from my seat. "

  "You ever box, Scudder?"

  "Two fights at the Y when I was twelve or thirteen years old. Balloon gloves, protective headgear, two-minute rounds. I was too low and clumsy for it, I could never manage to land a punch. "

  "You have an eye for the sport. "

  "Well, I guess Ive seen a lot of fights. "

  He was silent for a moment. A cab cut us off and he braked smoothly, avoiding a collision. He didnt swear or hit the horn. He said, "Canelli was set to go in the eighth. He was supposed to give the Kid his best fight until then, but not to get out in front or the knockout might not look right. Thats why he held back in round four. "

  "But the Kid didnt know it was set up. "

  "Of course not. Most of his fights have been straight until tonight, but a fighter like Canelli could be dangerous to him, and why chance a bad mark on his record at this stage? He gains experience fighting Canelli and he gains confidence by beating him. " We were on Central Park West now, heading uptown. "The knockout was real. Canelli would have gone in the tank in the eighth, but we hoped the Kid might get us home early, and you saw him do that. What do you think of him?"

  "Hes a comer. "

  "I agree. "

  "Sometimes he telegraphs the right. In the fourth roun
d-"

  "Yes," he said. "Theyve worked with him on that. The problem is that he generally manages to get away with it. "

  "Well, he wouldnt have gotten by with it tonight. Not if Canelli had been looking to win. "

  "Yes. Well, perhaps its as well that he wasnt. "

  We talked boxing until we got to 104th Street, where Chance turned the car around in a careful U-turn and pulled up next to a fire hydrant. He killed the motor but left the keys. "Ill be right down," he said, "after Ive seen Sonya upstairs. "

  She hadnt said a word since she told me it was nice to meet me. He walked around the car and opened the door for her, and they strolled to the entrance of one of the two large apartment buildings that fronted on that block. I wrote the address in my notebook. In no more than five minutes he was back behind the wheel and we were heading downtown again.

  Neither of us spoke for half a dozen blocks. Then he said, "You wanted to talk to me. It doesnt have anything to do with Kid Bascomb, does it?"

  "No. "

  "I didnt really think so. What does it have to do with?"

  "Kim Dakkinen. "

  His eyes were on the road and I couldnt see any change in his expression. He said, "Oh? What about her?"

  "She wants out. "

  "Out? Out of what?"

  "The life," I said. "The relationship she has with you. She wants you to agree to… break things off. "

  We stopped for a light. He didnt say anything. The light changed and we went another block or two and he said, "Whats she to you?"

  "A friend. "

  "What does that mean? Youre sleeping with her? You want to marry her? Friends a big word, it covers a lot of ground. "

  "This time its a small word. Shes a friend, she asked me to do her a favor. "

  "By talking to me. "

  "Thats right. "

  "Why couldnt she talk to me herself? I see her frequently, you know. She wouldnt have had to run around the city asking after me. Why, I saw her just last night. "

  "I know. "

  "Do you? Why didnt she say anything when she saw me?"

  "Shes afraid. "

  "Afraid of me?"

  "Afraid you might not want her to leave. "

  "And so I might beat her? Disfigure her? Stub out cigarettes on her breasts?"

  "Something like that. "

  He fell silent again. The cars ride was hypnotically smooth. He said, "She can go. "

  "Just like that?"

  "How else? Im not a white slaver, you know. " His tone put an ironic stress on the term. "My women stay with me out of their own will, such will as they possess. Theyre under no duress. You know Nietzsche? Women are like dogs, the more you beat them the more they love you. But I dont beat them, Scudder. It never seems to be necessary. How does Kim come to have you for a friend?"

  "We have an acquaintance in common. "

  He glanced at me. "You were a policeman. A detective, I believe. You left the force several years ago. You killed a child and resigned out of guilt. "