Braithwaite had lifted us off nicely, however, and set us down on a military field somewhere inland. There I'd inspected some interesting and moderately confidential facilities to make my officer act look good if anybody bothered to trace me this far. Then a car had run us into Pensacola where I changed back into slacks and sports coat, leaving my military identity in the empty apartment with my lieutenant commander's uniform. We'd come roaring back along the beaches in Braithwaite's low-slung Healey, reaching New Orleans a little after dusk.
It had been a complicated damn performance, worthy of the old OSS and similar glamorous organizations. If it had accomplished nothing else, I decided, it had made some service people feel they'd been in touch with great matters of international intrigue. Maybe that was the idea. I'd got out of the car a few blocks from the hotel.
"Just walk straight ahead, sir," Braithwaite said. "You'll see it on your left. You can't miss it."
"Sure," I said.
"I'm not supposed to ask questions, I know," he said. "But… Ah, hell. Good luck, sir." He held out his hand. It was the first sign of humanity that had peeked through the Naval Academy polish.
I shook his hand and looked down at him for a moment. The sports car in which he sat wasn't much more than knee high. I said, "If you're interested in more of the same, it can probably be arranged on a permanent basis. I'm just passing the word as it was given to me. Personally I'd stick to the Navy if I were you. But you're entitled to know somebody liked the way you handled this."
"Thank you, sir." It was hard to tell in the dark, but I thought his boyish face flushed a little with pleasure. "As for the offer..
"Don't kid yourself it's all a matter of fancy counter-signs and fast driving," I said. "And don't waste your answer on me. The recruiting office…" I told him the number in Washington to call, and gave him a kind of salute. "Happy landings, as we birdmen say."
Thinking of this now, I felt old and cynical. To cheer myself, I looked for the neat little fanny in pink, but it was gone. Presently I spotted the tight, shiny dress some twenty degrees farther along the curving bar than it had been. My first thought was that the kid had moved to another stool. Then I realized that the great circular contraption, occupying the whole center of the room, was actually rotating like a real merry-go-round, but much more slowly.
I'd been briefed on this earlier, of course, but it had slipped my memory for a moment. Being reminded of it, and seeing it in action, came as kind of a shock, particularly since it was something I wasn't supposed to forget. It was part of our plan. At the same time I became aware that a woman was being seated at the table to my left, only a few feet down the upholstered bench that ran along the wall.
"Waiter," I said, carefully ignoring her, "waiter, either I'm drunk on one Martini or that thing is moving."
There was a quick laugh from the. woman who'd just sat down. "It certainly is!" Olivia Mariassy said. "What a dreadful thing to put in a bar! I thought I was intoxicated, too, when I came in here this afternoon and saw it."
This was the approach that had been decided on. I guess Hollywood would have said we were meeting cute. The words were right, but she wasn't the greatest actress in the world, and I don't suppose she'd ever picked up
– or been picked up by-a man in a bar before. The laugh was strained and the voice was forced. It wasn't good.
I looked around the way a man might, addressed by a strange woman in a strange place-that is to say, hopefully. After all, I wasn't supposed to know it wasn't Brigitte Bardot who'd sat down beside me. I let my face go disconcerted for a moment before I covered up politely. Dr. Mariassy hadn't altered much since I'd last seen her. Of course, it had been only a few hours, but there are women who can manage a change of clothes and a light application of lipstick in that length of time.
Our scientist lady was still wearing her clumsy tweeds, however. The pulled-back straight hair, the lack of makeup, and the heavily rimmed glasses still gave her the look of a frustrated old-maid schoolteacher. She had made only one change: she'd put on high heels. The table, and the poor light, made it hard to estimate the extent of the improvement, but I got the impression that her legs weren't half bad.
Her smile was pretty awful, however. It obviously hurt her to have to smile at me. Maybe it would have hurt her to smile at anybody. I encouraged myself with that thought.
"Well, it is kind of a strange notion, ma'am," I said politely. "I wonder how long it takes to go around."
This was also part of the prepared dialogue. It gave her an opportunity, in line with her scientific character, to suggest breaking out the watches and doing some timing. As the circular bar actually took some fifteen minutes to complete one revolution, we'd be practically old friends by the time this research project was finished and checked-old enough friends, at any rate, for me to buy her a drink and, a few drinks later, ask her to take pity on a lonely Denver character who knew nothing about New Orleans, not even where to find a decent meal.
It was a good enough opening for a pickup romance, but we weren't putting it across. I hoped she could feel it. I hoped she'd have sense enough to stall a little with the cigarette bit, giving me a chance to play gentleman with-a-match, before she pitched into the act in earnest.
Then I remembered she didn't approve of smoking. I could see her gathering herself to deliver her next line, and I knew it would be about as convincing as a schoolboy's excuse for playing hooky-and a man was watching us from the door.
He made no bones about it. He just stood there regarding us thoughtfully, and I knew he was the one. I didn't have any doubt. I mean, you get so you can spot them, the trained ones, the pros, the men in the same line of work. I don't mean I recognized his face. He was new to me. We didn't have him in the high-priority file, not yet. But he was our man, he had to be. They aren't common. It wasn't likely there'd be two of that species around-besides me, I mean.
He was a big, middle-aged man with a bald head and protruding ears like the symmetrical handles of an ornamental vase, but he wasn't ornamental, far from it. I got an impression of almost spectacular ugliness in the glimpse I allowed myself. I didn't dare look longer. Maybe his instincts weren't as acute as mine. If so, there was a chance that he hadn't spotted me yet; that he was just making note of me in a routine way, as he'd have made note of anybody who made any kind of contact with his real subject, Olivia Mariassy.
There was still a chance, if not a good one. So far she hadn't given herself away hopelessly. A maiden lady intellectual was bound to be a little awkward, adventurously addressing a strange man in a bar. But we couldn't expose him to any more of her phony smiles and memorized dialogue or he'd know the meeting had been planned.
"Excuse me," I said abruptly, and turned away just as she started to speak. "Waiter!"
Rising, I was aware of Olivia's face kind of crumpling. After all, she'd nerved herself to go through with the repulsive performance, and now the horrible man was kicking the script out the door. Well, it could pass for the reaction of a shy woman away from home whose tentative advances had been rudely rejected. I hoped she'd know enough to buy a drink and drink it, as any woman would to cover her confusion, before she ran out. I also hoped she'd remember, then, to go straight to her room and stay there with the door locked as she'd been instructed to do if anything went wrong.
Walking away after paying my bill, I knew it still wasn't good enough. He'd sat down at a corner table; he didn't seem to be looking our way any more, but I knew he wasn't missing a thing. He'd naturally be watching for a plant, a ringer, anything to indicate that his subject was hep and a trap was being set, that a pro was being slipped into the game against him. He wouldn't be watching for it any harder tonight than last night, perhaps, or tomorrow night, but he'd be on his guard always to spot anything out of line. He had to be. His life and his job depended on it.
What was needed, I thought, was a convincing red herring-but maybe a pink one would do. It was a crazy move, but that was a point in its favor, and my
luck was in. The kid with the pink satin dress and the nice little rear was still in sight at the revolving bar, and the stool beside her was vacant. She had the defensive look a pretty girl gets in public, waiting for her escort to return from the john. I marched over there, stepped aboard the carousel, sat down, and tossed some money on the bar.
"Martini," I said to the bartender. "Veddy, veddy dry, if you please. Better make it a double."
I threw a wry glance over my shoulder toward Olivia. She had a drink and was sipping it grimly, staring straight ahead, as if she thought everyone in the room was watching. Well, that was still in character. Maybe we'd get by without giving the show away. How we'd make contact again, more convincingly, was a matter I'd give thought to later.
I grinned at the girl beside me. "I have just escaped a fate worse than death," I said. "Heaven preserve me prom amorous lady schoolteachers on vacation."
She had black hair and slim bare shoulders and long white gloves. Her eyes were large and dark and framed by rather heavy black eyebrows. She was a nice-looking kid, but she didn't really belong in the bar of the ritzy Montclair, I realized, seeing her at close range. She wasn't exactly shabby, but the tight dress showed minute signs of strain and wear at the seams. The gloves and stockings were beyond reproach, but the pretty pink satin pumps had been walked in and danced in plenty of times before tonight. I wouldn't have been surprised to learn they were getting kind of thin underneath.
She was obviously a kid who had to count her pennies, squeezing just a little more wear out of last year's glamor. She'd got herself a well-heeled date, she'd promoted drinks at the Montclair, and maybe dinner at Antoine's was on the program, too. It would be if she had her way, I thought. She didn't like my butting in one little bit.
"Please," she said stiffly. "I'm sorry. This place is taken."
"Remember me?" I said. "Paul Corcoran, of Denver, Colorado. This is real great, doll! I checked into the hotel last night, knowing nobody in town, I thought. And tonight I drop in here for a drink and look who's sitting here! What about the creep you're with? Can you ditch him?"
She looked at me for a moment longer, long enough to know perfectly well she didn't remember me from anywhere. She looked quickly toward the door marked GENTLEMEN but it remained closed. She glanced toward the bartender.
"I wouldn't," I said softly. "Smile and look down, doll. Coy-like. Then look up again and laugh as if my being here was just about the funniest and nicest thing that ever happened in your young life."
She hesitated and glanced down. Her smile wavered terribly as she saw the little knife in my hand, open, concealed from everyone else by our bodies and the overhang of the bar. The barman put my Martini in front of me, picked up his money and went away, noticing nothing. I reached for the drink left-handed. The kid was still smiling fixedly at the knife.
"Look up at me and laugh now," I said over the rim of the glass. She looked up at me and laughed. Well, you could call it a laugh. "It's four inches long in the blade," I said. "It's very sharp. Take a drink and laugh." She took a drink and laughed. "Did you ever see anybody who'd been opened with a knife?" I asked. "It's very messy, doll. Somebody'll get me, sure, if you yell for help, but they'll be too late. You'll be sitting there holding your guts in place with those nice white gloves, feeling your life run out between your fingers, warm and wet and red. Like, you know, blood."
I was laying it on thick, real colorful stuff. The circular bar was still turning slowly. All around us people were talking and laughing. The kid touched her lips with the tip of her tongue.
"What… what do you want?"
"Look toward the john again and laugh. You're going to ditch your boy friend now and go with me. We're old friends, remember. Don't forget your purse. Pick it up now." She picked it up mechanically. I said, "The barman is coming this way. Give him the message. Say he's to tell the gentleman that you had to leave but you'll call him in the morning. First take my arm fondly and wink at me as you say it. Now."
It worked. It had happened too quickly for her to think up any tricks, and the barman dealt with drunks and oddballs all night long. He wasn't looking for nuances. Then we were moving out of there, chattering brightly- at least I was chattering brightly-while the slim girl in pink clung to my arm desperately and smiled and smiled with panic in her big dark eyes.
The bald man at the corner table didn't look at us once, all the way to the door. Neither did anyone else except perhaps Olivia Mariassy, and she'd naturally have some masochistic interest in watching the man who'd repulsed her awkward attempt at conversation leaving with a younger and prettier girl.
V
IT WAS a long way through the lobby to the street door, and my patter had lost a good deal of its spontaneous wit and sparkling originality by the time I got her out on the sidewalk. Then we were walking away from the hotel. It was the old part of New Orleans, with one-way streets barely wide enough for a horse and carriage, and sidewalks barely wide enough for a crinoline. The alley I found was even narrower, just a crack between two tall buildings.
Where I stopped her at last, the night sky was a distant violet-gray strip above us, and the lighted street was a narrow slice of life and hope left far behind, or so it must have seemed to her. When we stopped, she put her back to a blank wall defensively. Her dim face, framed by the midnight-black hair, looked as white as her long gloves.
"What do you think is going to happen to you, doll?" I asked.
She shook her head minutely. "Don't!" she whispered. "Whatever lousy thing you're going to do to me, do it. Get it over with. Don't tease me. That's dirty."
"I'm not teasing you," I said. "I just want you to know what's going to happen next so you won't go off half-cocked. As soon as I finish talking I'm going to put this knife in your hand. Then, while you're holding the knife, I'm going to kiss you for being a sweet kid and helping me out of a tough spot. Are you ready?"
She stared up at me, startled and confused. Well, that was what I was working for. Now that I'd used her, I had to keep her from telling the police all about it. Being hauled off to jail is one of the things we're not supposed to let happen to us. On the spur of the moment, the romantic mystery-man approach seemed the best bet for silence, short of killing her, which was neither necessary nor desirable.
She licked her lips. "But-"
"Conversation is not required," I said. "Hold out your hand."
I had to reach down and find it and close her fingers about the handle of the knife. I guided the point toward my chest.
"No," I said, "a little to my left, doll. It's tough work shoving a knife through a man's breastbone. That's better. Now make up your mind. All you have to do is push; it'll go in smooth and easy. You'll be surprised how little effort it takes to kill a man. Here comes the kiss."
Moving very deliberately, the way you'd reach for a frightened bird, I took her face in my hands and bent down briefly. Her face was cold and her lips were cold. I felt the knife move very slightly against me, but it never penetrated my coat. I stepped back. She let her hand fall to her side. After a moment I heard a shaky little laugh.
"Mister," she breathed. "Mister, I…" She stopped.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Antoinette," she whispered. "Antoinette Vail."
"Toni?"
"My friends call me Toni," she said. Her voice was coming in stronger now. "I'll let you know when you qualify. In the meantime… In the meantime, I think Miss Vail sounds very nice, don't you?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
We stood for a little while facing each other like that, hearing the sounds of the city all around us; but nothing moved in the dark, narrow alley where we were. She glanced down at the knife in her hand, and looked at me again.
"You scared me," she murmured. "You really scared me! I really thought you… Here, take it!" I took the knife, closed it, and dropped it into my pocket. She was watching me steadily. "What happens if I run?" she asked.
"In here?" I said. "Dark as
it is, you'll probably fall over something and ruin your stockings. You'd better walk carefully until you get out where there's some light. If you want to leave."
"If?" she breathed. "If? Are you crazy or something? Do you think I-" She stopped.
"Aren't you a wee bit curious? Aren't you intrigued? I must be losing my grip," I said. "Well, then, didn't you have some plans for tonight that I've just shot to hell? Wouldn't you like to have dinner on me-anywhere, any price.-and listen to a lot of lies about why I had to do what I did? I'm a fascinating liar, Miss Vail."
"That, I'll believe," she said tartly. "You fascinated me, you and that wicked-looking little slicker. Is your name really Corcoran like you said in there?"
"Hell, no," I said. "It isn't Paul, either. But what do you care? Paul will do for one evening, won't it?"
She said, "I'm not a tramp, Paul. I mean, if that's what you have in mind…"
I said, "Miss Vail, sex is certainly important to me, and you're a lovely girl, but I generally manage to satisfy my requirements without kidnapping young ladies at the point of a knife."
She hesitated, and said with a kind of compulsive honesty, "Of course, I'm not exactly a sheltered virgin, either. You've probably guessed that."
I said, "It's a fascinating subject, but it could be pursued in a warmer place. Did you have a wrap?"
"Yes. It was checked. It isn't the kind of coat you want to flash in a high-class bar. My date will probably take it home with him. God knows what kind of a story I'll have to tell to get it back. He's the jealous type." She hugged herself, shivering. "It is kind of chilly. You said anywhere?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"And any price?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She hesitated again. Then she laughed and took my arm. "Well, you asked for it. Antoine's is only a couple of blocks…
I'd had a hunch it would be Antoine's if she could take her pick. I guess it usually is in New Orleans, although there are supposed to be some newer places with equally good food and atmosphere. Actually, the atmosphere at Antoine's isn't really plush, for all the reputation the place has got. The customers are well-dressed, the waiters know their business and look it, but the dining room itself seems kind of bare and disappointing to anybody who arrives expecting to wallow in the lap of old-fashioned southern luxury. You're supposed to go there to eat, I guess, not to appraise the furnishings.
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