He put it back in his pocket. “Not one of us has ever used the ticket,” he said proudly.
“Thank you,” I said. “Peace and love.”
“Peace and love,” he answered.
I was almost at the door when I turned back. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I almost forgot. I meant to ask Brother Jonathan for a few of those Js you roll here. The ones in the yellow paper.”
“Sure thing.” He fished in his breast pocket and came up with three cigarettes, which he held out to me. “Will that be enough?”
“I don’t want to take your last,” I said.
“I can always get more. We get four a day.”
I put them in my pocket. “Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome. Peace and love.”
“Peace and love.” I went outside to the car. No wonder no one ever left. With four of those sticks a day they were walking on clouds. And who in their right mind would want to leave heaven?
Marissa’s voice broke into my thoughts. “Where to now?”
“Back to the hotel.” The first thing I planned to do when I got back to Los Angeles was to send these sticks to a laboratory for analysis. I was dead certain that there was something more than marijuana in them. And if I was right, I was going to see Reverend Sam about it. He was entitled to know what was going on in his own Retreat.
It was past four o’clock by the time we got back to the hotel and Lonergan had not yet returned. We stood at the desk in the lobby. “Want to join us for a drink?” I asked Marissa.
“I think I’d better get up to the office,” she said. “I’ve been out all day and things have a way of piling up.”
I nodded. “Dinner tonight?”
She smiled. “Of course.”
I had an idea. “Can I have dinner served in the cottage? I’m getting a little tired of eating with all those people around.”
“You can have anything you want. Just tell me what time and how many people.”
“Just the three of us,” I said.
“It is done.”
“Another thing. Could you have the plane stand by to take me back to LA at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon?”
“No problem. Do you want me to drive you down to the bungalow before I go upstairs?”
“That’s okay. We’ll walk. I could use the exercise.”
The sun was still hot and by the time Eileen and I reached the cottage I was soaking wet. The small patio pool looked inviting. “Swim?” I asked.
We stripped right there and jumped in. The water was warm but refreshing. I held on to the side of the pool and yelled for the butler.
“Sí, señor?” His expression didn’t change when he saw our nudity.
“Planter’s punch?” I asked Eileen. She nodded. I held up two fingers. “Dos.”
He grinned. “Sí, señor. Dos planter’s punch.”
I swam over to Eileen. “It’s not a bad life.”
“You have something on your mind.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I know you,” she said flatly. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “I really don’t know.”
She watched me silently.
I did a slow crawl up and down the pool, then stopped in front of her. “I wish I did know. But thinking doesn’t seem to help. It’s jungle instinct. Something I picked up in Nam. Nothing I can put my finger on. But everything seems just a beat off center.”
She leaned over and kissed me. “I have faith. You’ll figure it out.”
The butler came out with the drinks on a silver tray. He put it down at the edge of the pool and went back inside. We picked up our glasses.
“To the good life,” I said.
“The good life.”
We sipped our drink. It was potent. He must have used four different kinds of rum to create this explosive combination. “Whoo-oo,” she said huskily. “It feels like liquid fire.”
I laughed. She was right. It was instant high. I put my drink down. “Did you ever have your pussy eaten under water?”
She giggled, already a little drunk. “Can’t say that I have.”
I took the glass from her hand and put it down next to mine. “Brace yourself then,” I said. And dived.
Bobby came back around eight o’clock. He sprawled in the living-room chair. “I’ve had it,” he said. “The next time I get a brilliant idea don’t let me do it.”
“What you need is a snort,” I said, opening the drawer in the cocktail table. I took out the small jar and a silver spoon and handed it to him.
He inhaled two spoons in each nostril before giving it back to me. I put one away, then closed the jar and returned it to the drawer. “How’s that?” I asked.
His eyes were shining. “Yeah!”
“Finish?”
He nodded. “Just made it before we lost the light.” He leaned toward me. “Do you know how big that guy’s cock really is?”
“I really don’t care,” I said.
“He told us twelve inches, but it’s really fourteen and a half.”
“Why would he say it’s smaller than it really is?”
“That’s what I asked him,” Bobby replied. “He looked at me with his sad brown eyes and said in a hurt voice, ‘Ah don’ want people to think I’m a freak.’”
I laughed. “How’d you happen to find out?”
“Samantha. She got him up, then sprang a tape measure on him.” He held out his hand. “Hit me again.”
I passed him the coke and he took two more snorts. “Shit, I needed that.” He got to his feet. “What are you doing for dinner?”
“Quiet. Just Eileen, Marissa and me.”
“Why don’t you come over to our cottage afterward?” he said. “We might have some fun. Danny and the girls each threw two hundred dollars into a prong poker pool. It all started when Danny said that he could take more of King Dong than any of them.”
“I think the heat’s gotten to all of you.”
“It was bound to happen,” he said. “King Dong got to all of them. The same thing happened the last time I did a session with him.”
“He’s got to be the eighth wonder of the world,” I said.
“He doesn’t think so. He says his kid brother is bigger.”
“Now that would make a layout. Why don’t you shoot both of them together?”
“Can’t,” he answered. “The kid’s only fifteen.” He started for the door, then stopped. “Incidentally, you know who’s got the real hots for him?”
I looked at him.
“Dieter,” he said. “He came by at the end of our session. He volunteered to be the judge tonight.”
“What was he doing out there?”
“I don’t know. We were shooting in a flower field in back of the house. He came from there. When we were finished, he went back inside.”
I lit a cigarette and got to my feet. “I’ve asked the plane to stand by to take me back tomorrow afternoon. Want to stay down and finish the set here or come back with me?”
Bobby didn’t hesitate. “I’ve had it here. I’ll go back with you.”
44
I leaned back in the tub. The soft fragrance of the perfumed bubbles and the grass was better than the greatest incense in the world. I watched Eileen go from the makeup table to the closet door. “Hey, you’re looking good,” I said.
I meant it. Standing there naked, she was like a vision out of a wet dream. “I don’t know what to wear,” she said.
“What difference does it make? It’s just the three of us.”
She threw me a look which said I was stupid. She took a long black dress and held it against her. “What do you think?”
“That’s fine.”
She replaced it and took out another. A flowing pink-beige chiffon. “How about this one?”
“That’s good, too.”
“You’re no help,” she said in a disgusted tone and turned back to the closet. “I should have brought the white Lor
is Azzaro.”
I took another toke as the telephone rang. “Will you get that?” I asked.
She picked up the receiver. “Yes?” She listened for a moment, then brought the phone over to the side of the tub. “It’s Uncle John,” she said, handing it to me.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Right now I’m stoned and sitting in the bathtub watching a fashion show.”
There was disapproval in his voice. “I’m serious.”
“You asked what I was doing.”
“I think we ought to meet.”
“Okay. How about breakfast?”
“Tonight.” His voice was flat. “I think I’ve come up with an answer to our problem. How long will it take you to get straight?”
“Half an hour all right?”
“Meet me in my room.”
I put down the phone, climbed out of the tub and headed for the shower stall. “Dinner might be a little late,” I told Eileen. “I’ve got to go up to the hotel and see Lonergan.” Then I went into the shower and turned on the cold water full blast.
“Come, have a drink,” he said as he let me in. “I just fixed myself a martini.”
I followed him to the bar and climbed up on a stool while he poured a scotch on the rocks for me. I tasted the whiskey. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” He came right to the point. “Julio agreed to move his operation away from here.”
“What made him agree to that?”
“Eighty-three relatives who are either on the payroll or working for the hotel in other ways.”
“That’s good enough reason,” I said thoughtfully. I took another sip of the drink. “What makes you so sure that he’ll do what he promised?”
“He gave me his word,” he answered coldly.
That was the end of it. Final. Period. Lonergan’s face was impassive. Even if I were Julio, I would think a long time before I crossed him.
“I’m still not sure. I don’t think we’re going to get gambling down here. At least not in the foreseeable future. And without gambling, the costs are too high.”
“I’ve taken care of that, too,” Lonergan said.
“You’ve been busy.”
He didn’t smile. “They’ll take a lease with a purchase option.”
“That’s interesting. How much?”
“Two hundred fifty thousand a year plus twenty percent of the operating profit from the hotel and fifty percent of the casino profits if we get gambling. The term of the lease is five years. You can buy the hotel at any time during the lease period for ten million dollars cash. The only thing you have to guarantee is to spend one million dollars for changes and improvements, which you would have to do anyway.”
I did some quick mental arithmetic. Rent, staff, overhead and amortization of the improvements added up to a base cost of about eight hundred thousand a year.
He was right with me. “You could break even at about a thirty-five or forty percent occupancy.”
“It’s still a big nut.”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll have to think about it. I wonder what made them go for a deal like this?”
“They had an attack of realism. And no place else to go.”
I stabbed. “What about Señor Carillo?”
He shot me a sharp look. “You know about him?”
“Only what I read in the newspapers.”
“We saw him this afternoon. He guaranteed government approval of the deal.”
“He’s got that much power?”
“He owns practically everything in the state.”
“Where are the Indians?” I asked.
Lonergan was puzzled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s nothing.” I laughed. “When do they expect an answer?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Let me sleep on it. I’ll have an answer for them before I get on the plane tomorrow.”
“Okay.” He took another sip of the martini.
“One thing you haven’t told me, Uncle John.”
“What’s that?”
“How do you feel about it? Do you think it’s a good deal?”
“I think it’s as good a deal as you can get. But you’re the one that has to decide whether you want to take the shot or not. It’s your money.”
“Your money, too. You’re a partner.”
“I haven’t done too badly going along with you so far. Whatever you decide now is all right with me.” He walked me to the door. “Either way I haven’t lost anything.”
“What do you mean?”
A smile came to his lips. “I managed to take a walk barefoot in the surf.”
Eileen had chosen the black dress and her eyes were shining as she let me in. I glanced over at the cocktail table. The jar and the tiny spoons lay on a small silver tray.
“That’s no fair,” I said. “You got a head start.”
“I was going down. I needed a hype. What happened with Uncle John?”
I went for a spoon in each nostril before I answered. I could feel the energy expanding inside me. “I’ve got a deal if I want it.”
“Going to take it?”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
She came toward me, her face serious. “Don’t do it. I have bad vibes about the whole thing.”
“You may be right. But if it works, it could mean a lot of money.”
“Do you need the money, Gareth?”
“Not the money. But the game is fun.”
“It won’t be fun if you lose.”
“I can afford it.”
Her eyes grew dark. “Maybe, if all you lose is what this costs you. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “Maybe I’m just on a down trip.” She picked up the jar and a spoon and snorted two big ones. Afterward she took a deep breath and her eyes grew even brighter. “That’s better.”
I smiled. “Everything goes better with coke.”
The butler came in with hors d’oeuvres, tiny enchiladas, delicately thin tortillas rolled around chili and beef, crackers and avocado dip. He fixed a scotch on the rocks for me and a margarita for Eileen. He gestured toward the dining table, seeking our approval.
The table was beautifully set for three with candles, linen, crystal glasses and Dom Pérignon in the wine bucket. I called on my limited Spanish. “Muy hermosa.”
He smiled, bowing, a grin of pleasure on his face. “Muchas gracias, señor.”
There was a knock at the door and he went to answer it. Marissa was wearing the white gown she had worn the first night.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” Eileen said.
Marissa smiled with pleasure. “And so do you,” she said.
Without asking, the butler brought her a margarita.
“Wait a minute,” I said, picking up the coke. “We’re two spoons up on you.”
Marissa looked at us doubtfully. “I don’t know. After last night—”
I laughed. “It was the mixture that got to you. I won’t let that happen tonight.”
“Okay.” She took two good hits.
I held up my glass. “To happiness.”
We drank.
“There’s one thing missing,” Eileen said. “If you take over this place, I’m going to insist that there be music in every room.”
“There is music,” Marissa said. “I guess I forgot to show you.” She walked over to the bar and pressed a button on the wall beside it. Mexican music poured into the room. “We also have American music,” she added, pressing the button again. It was Frank Sinatra singing “Night and Day.”
“I like that,” I said. “Dance?”
“Which one of us?” Marissa asked.
“Silly questions get silly answers,” I said, holding my arms wide. “Both of you, of course.”
They moved close to me and I put an arm around
each of them. Eileen laid her head on my left shoulder; Marissa rested her face against my right cheek. Their perfumes intermingled. We moved slowly; our bodies pressed closer and closer together. It was beautiful.
And so was dinner. We all fell in love.
The golden light from the fireplace played on their naked bodies as they lay sleeping, entwined in each other’s arms, on the zebra rug. I sat on the floor, leaned back against the couch and swirled the cognac in the crystal snifter. I sipped it slowly, savoring its tart warmth.
They were double Goyas, two Naked Majas. The fire turned Eileen’s pale flesh to gold and Marissa’s already tanned body to copper. Marissa’s nipples were like purple grapes compared to Eileen’s, which were more cherry pink. They slept facing each other, each had an arm under the other’s shoulder and one hand cupping and shielding the other’s sex.
At first, Marissa had been shy, but when she felt the warmth and love and heightened sexuality brought on by the combination of music, drink, dancing and dope, she opened like a flower. And in the end she was the most sensual of all of us, demanding, taking, tasting and loving until we were drained and exhausted.
Now they were asleep and I was wide-awake. Coke did it every time. I watched them for a moment more, then got to my feet. I slipped into my slacks and went into the jasmine-filled night air.
There were still screams and shouts of laughter coming from Bobby’s cottage. They had been going strong all night, although after a while we hadn’t heard them.
Holding the drink in my hand, I padded down the walk to the other cottage. I opened the door and stepped into the middle of an argument.
Samantha was staring at Bobby and Dieter, her naked breasts heaving with anger. “It’s not fair!” she yelled. “You fags always stick together.” She turned and saw me. “They screwed us!” she shouted. “They had it rigged so that Danny would win.”
“I could have told you that.” I smiled. “He’s president of the Los Angeles chapter of the FFA.”
“I wouldn’t give a damn if he were the president of the DAR!” she snapped.
“Okay,” I said. “What was unfair?”
Harold Robbins Thriller Collection Page 45
