by Pelzer,Lissa
He opened it up and took out the bills, flicked through them as if it were a small fortune that he resented parting with, but there was no way of seeing what denomination they were. It could have been fifty ones or a fifty hundreds. He went over and placed the stack on the mantelpiece like it was some kind of trophy.
‘This here…’ He patted the stack. ‘If you take this money, we’ll both accept that what’s done is done. Let bygones be bygones. Is that agreed?’
Lilly looked up at the bills. Sometime in the last hour she had got the figure of five thousand stuck in her head. She wanted more, she had made more, but this was Bobby she was dealing with. In his time, he’d taken money for all sorts, for running Coke to Canada, for protecting businessmen in the city and for getting rid of a man who looked at another man the wrong way.
This was the story that had thrilled and scared them when they were fifteen. Bobby had shot a man for no other reason than someone gave him money to do it. The first time he told them, it made them gasp, but as more details came out, it made them cringe. The man had been making a phone call in one of those old telephone boxes. I had been nighttime. Bobby shot him out the side of a car window and drove away. He got arrested because he was too slow to get rid of the car. It was a nice car.
The details made the story less attractive, instead of more. The man was from Cuba, he had just got out of jail two months before. Bobby had said that he had no style. He wore a shirt that was too long for him, it looked like a dress. When he walked, it was as if he’d only just started wearing shoes on a daily basis, he would trip up pavements because he didn’t lift his feet high enough. Lilly didn’t like the story anymore. The man sounded like a child. But right now what she remembered was the money. Bobby had done it for a thousand dollars. If shooting a child-man in cold blood was worth a thousand, what was what she had done worth?
Bobby cleared his throat. ‘Do we have a deal, Miss Lilly?’
She looked up towards the mantelpiece. ‘How much is there?’
‘That’s the million dollar question,’ Bobby said and he reached up to the pile, took a couple off the top, folded them in half and put them in his back pocket.
Lilly stood up. ‘And I need my ID,’ she said, ‘I should have told you before. I forgot. But you said you would get it cleaned up, get the picture reprinted and get it back to me. But that didn’t happen and I’ve been a year now without my ID.’
‘Your ID?’
‘My driver’s license and my Social Security card. I need that too.’
‘Lilly.’ Bobby frowned. ‘You shouldn’t be using that name. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Then why are you still calling me it?’ She pulled down on her dress. ‘You didn’t give it to some other girl?’
‘No. Of course, I didn’t give it to anyone else. I destroyed it.’
‘Why the hell would you do that?’
He reached up, snatched more bills off the top of the pile. ‘Language!’
‘I need my ID, Bobby.’
‘Then go get your own from the DMV.’ He hastily took a couple more bills off the pile. It was half gone already. ‘You only had that one so you could get rooms in hotels, and get checked in. You’re an adult woman now. You don’t need it anymore.’
She pointed to the mantelpiece. ‘What are you doing that for?’
‘It’s the stubbornness tax. The sooner you take the money, the more you get.’
‘But I don’t know how much is there.’
‘You think you’re in a position to bargain?’ God damn it. Why can’t you just take the money like any other woman would?’ And he reached up and took the remainder off the mantelpiece and thumbed it down into his pocket.
She looked up into his watery, blue eyes, the pupils like pencil marks and the lashes sticking out like thin prickles on a nettle. ‘I need my ID, Bobby. The high school diploma I bought, says Lilly Lessard. I took a class at ITT… People know me as Lilly. My credit card, the friends I’ve made in the last two years. That’s who I am.’
‘Your credit card?’ His eyes flickered. ‘What credit card?’
‘The pre-paid card. The one you gave me to book rooms under.’
His eyes bulged. ‘You don’t still have that do you? You’re not still using it?’
‘Don’t worry, there’s was hardly any of your money left on it and I haven’t even used it except to come up here.’
Bobby took a step towards her. It was fast and she cowered back.
‘Did you buy a plane ticket up here with that credit card?’ The wheels were turning in his head. ‘You said you were here with a gentleman. Did you fly?’
She didn’t know what his angle was but why give him an excuse not to pay her what was owed.
‘I only used it to buy this dress. You like this dress don’t you?’
She saw him flex his fingers, trying to crack his knuckles. His joints must be playing up. He’d be on the Tylenol twos and threes. That explained things. She thought of Cassandra having to do the placating routine they’d done together as one person. She didn’t begrudge her the task.
‘And I didn’t fly up here. How could I without an ID? But she knew what he was thinking, that maybe she came in the back of a cruiser, maybe she’d already talked to the cops, maybe this was all a setup. He wouldn’t pay her if he thought he was already done for.
‘I took the bus,’ she said.
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Now that - I do not believe. Not you, not the Miss Lilly I know.’
She pulled out the print off with the barcode on and held it up. ‘See.’
Bobby leaned in. He studied the times and the connections as if she’d made them up, but now he was nodding. He got it. This is what he’d reduced her to. Like it or not, the bus ticket spelled it out.
‘And what about your gentlemen friend?’
‘There is no gentleman friend.’ She didn’t have to explain it to Bobby.
‘Where did you sleep last night?’
But there was a limit as to what she would tell him. ‘I met someone.’
‘Uh huh.’ His face softened. ‘The ID…’ he said. ‘By that you mean the driver’s license?’
‘What else?’
‘I misunderstood you.’ His hands came out palms up. ‘I still have it, but you understand I wouldn’t have it with me up here. Why would I? I didn’t expect to see you.’
‘But you have it still. And I can have it back?’
‘If you really want it.’ He shrugged and ran his hand along the mantelpiece as if checking for dust. ‘But it’s back at The Pelican Suites. I just locked everything up after…well, after I saw you last.’
‘So I can just go and get it? When I get back. You could give me the key.’
‘Sure you can. You could go tonight. I’ll call…Ray. I’ll get him to let you in. We could talk about all this after I get back.’
She watched him push the money further down into his back pocket. Maybe he didn’t even realize he was doing it. But it made her see, he wasn’t thinking of giving her money. He wasn’t thinking of giving her anything.
‘And the five thousand dollars?’ she asked.
His hand reached out to the doorframe. ‘Five thousand!’
‘If you can give me five thousand tonight then I’ll go, go down and see Ray I mean…’
‘Good God, five thousand? Where did you pull that figure from?’
‘It’s what I need…’ She didn’t want to make him feel cornered, she wouldn’t break it down as money owed from all the times she went out and he gave her a hundred bucks to see her through till next week, but she had to be straight. ‘When we started this, you said we’d have money out of it, enough to go to school, enough to get an education with. You said it was a sacrifice now, but we’d be glad we’d done it. I did it…’
‘But things went wrong.’ The muscles in his lean cheeks popped. ‘Sure, we had plans but…’ And he was looking her over, trying to see if he could get out if it. ‘The money we made had to get use
d.’
‘You mean it costs money to run from the cops all the time? That’s what you mean. Well, that’s not my fault.’
‘Who’s running? Do I look like I’m running? No. I mean it costs money to fix a reputation, a business’s reputation. Oh never mind. What does it matter to you?’ He cranked up his cheek muscles until he got an unconvincing smile out of his face. ‘You did the work right. You can’t punish the employees by holding back wages when they make a mistake.’ The words grated. They didn’t belong to him. ‘Let me see that credit card, will you.’
‘Why do you want it? I don’t have it with me,’ she lied.
He held out his hand. ‘Now, sure you do. You give me that thing and I do a transfer, put some cash on it for you.’
Lilly looked him over. Maybe he would. ‘Why don’t you just give me the money that was up there?’
‘These things are done electronically these days.’ He lifted his eyebrows like he was telling her something she didn’t know. ‘And that was peanuts. I don’t want to insult you, now that I know what your expectations are. I’ll put that five thousand on there. Half this month, half next month. How would that be?’
She flipped open her purse and reached inside. Something made her pause. There wasn’t any cash left on it, but still she fingered it carefully. There was no reason he’d want it for himself. He had forgotten she even had it. But it had her name on it. Once that was gone there really wasn’t anything to say she was Lilly Lessard and not just Carol Ann Baker.
Bobby held his hand out like he was trying to feed a wild bird and when the card was sitting across his palm he closed it slowly.
‘And when will that transfer go through?’
‘I can do that right now, up in the room.’ He squeezed the card. ‘And I’ll come on down as soon as I can and give you the card back.’
‘I’ll wait here.’
Bobby blinked. ‘I mean Miami, down.’
‘But I need the card back.’
‘Darling.’ He pushed his shirtsleeve up to look at his expensive watch. ‘I’ve got to meet some guys in twenty minutes. Let’s deal with this back in Miami. How about that? I’ll give you the card down there. You don’t have to stick around all weekend.’ He was smiling wide. ‘And you’ve got a bus to catch in a few minutes.’
Lilly turned in place. As if Bobby knew how to do an online transfer. ‘I’ll wait here all the same. You go do that transfer and I’ll wait for a printout.’
‘I’ll call the guy on the phone. He’ll do it on the computer and we don’t have a printer up there.’
‘They have one in reception.’
‘Are you crazy. Do you want to tell the whole world what we’ve been up to? Haven’t you ever heard of a paper trail?’ He leaned his elbow against the doorframe trying to stay cool. ‘You’ve got a bus to catch. Don’t you have a bus to catch?’
‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’
Bobby laughed. ‘No darling, but tonight’s a big night for me, for us, for Cassandra and I. And it doesn’t make any sense you hanging around, missing a hundred and fifty dollar ride.’
‘But you could get me a new ticket for tomorrow.’
Bobby frowned, trying to look patient, but just looking pained. ‘But why would I do that? You’ve got to think logically.’ He held a finger to his temple. ‘I’ve got work to do here. I can’t be busy looking out for you.’ He corrected himself. ‘Looking after you… If I’m going to get you this money, I need my space to work. Darling, take the bus home tonight. And I’ll call you when I get in. I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.’
And Lilly thought about that. She’d waited on him to call her for a year already. Was that all he wanted, just to get rid of her so he and Cassandra could meet men and get contacts. Was he worried that she’d somehow step on his toes?
‘You know, we’re going up to the next level here, with the business I mean. You were very good at what we were doing before, but it got too much for you – and I understand. What we’re doing now, it’s legitimate, there’s no con. Everyone knows what’s going on and it’s all above board.’ He wound up his smile. ‘But it’s delicate. Very delicate. I can’t have you hanging around, attracting attention while we do it.’
‘All the same. It would be kind of dumb for me to just leave, empty handed.’
‘It would be dumb of you not to use your ticket home and be stuck here.’ He smiled, tried to make light of it. ‘And what are you going to do in this dump after the circus leaves town?’
He had a point. If she missed her bus, she’d need cash to get back down to Florida and if he didn’t pay, she’d end up hitching. She’d done it before. It hadn’t been pretty. She didn’t really want to have to do it again.
‘So what does that mean? We’re both kind of stuck, aren’t we?’
‘No. Ma’am. You’re stuck. I’ve got a car and a hotel room, a movie and an after-party with celebrities to attend. I’m just fine.’
And she wanted to say it. She wanted to tell him that Davis was here and she was just waiting for him to make a deal so she could pounce on him. She wanted to tell him she’d spoken with her, that Davis was bending over backward to get Lilly to stand up in court and tell the jury about his racket. But it would just be points scoring. It wouldn’t help her get her money. If he ran off, she wouldn’t get shit.
‘You don’t leave me much choice,’ she said. ‘I’m just a girl on her own in a strange city. I don’t know anyone. I don’t even have a room for the night. I guess I’ll just have to go see that guy Ray and hope you’re being straight with me.’
Bobby smiled. ‘You do that. That’s a good girl. That’s the ladylike way to behave.’
And she listened to him telling her when he would be back at his apartment in West Miami and how things would be easier down there, and how much stress he was under here. And she let him kiss her, on the mouth, because he would never kiss a woman on the cheek. He said it made it look like he was her grandfather. And she let him touch his hat to her at the door, playing out his imaginary game of ladies and cowboys.
Lilly sat back down and felt the air rush out of her. If she were going to get on that bus, she’d have to get her bag and change her clothes. She couldn’t get on a Greyhound dressed like this and she couldn’t walk down there in these shoes. But there was as much reason to go back to Miami empty-handed as there was to stay right here with nowhere to go. She cooked her head, thinking of how to get that money. She could hang around until they left for the movie and wait outside the room with one shoe on and the key to Gary’s in her hand. When a cleaner went past, she’d try to convince her to let her in, say she’d let the door shut behind her and the key didn’t work.
But that was a stupid idea, the money would be in the safe and she didn’t know the code. She could go to Gary’s room and call their room again, ask Bobby if he’d drive her to the station, surely he would and then she could wait for him to leave and call back, get Cassandra on the phone. This was her best bet, but it wasn’t a good one. Cassandra was probably getting ready, soaking in the tub and she could never be convinced to do anything, not even answer the phone while she was in the tub.
She just needed to persuade Bobby that it was best just to pay her like he said. He just needed to take her seriously.
Chapter 10
When her hand rose to knock she saw it tremble. Lilly clenched it tight until the nails dug in and tried again.
The door opened.
‘There’s my girl!’ he said through a mouthful of foam. ‘Where’ve you been?’ He came towards her.
She almost pulled the door closed, except he had his hand on it, was opening it, reaching for her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
‘Damn! You look fine. Get in here.’
It could be a setup. He could slam the door closed and beat the ever-loving hell out of her for slipping him a mickey, but he was still smiling.
‘I have got to tell you, last night was crazy.’ He took out the toothb
rush and clamped his mouth together. Shook it like he needed to say more and went off to the bathroom to spit it out. ‘I must have come across as a complete dick!’
Lilly heard the water running.
‘But you know what. I slept like a baby. You had an amazingly calming effect on me. Do people tell you that? Do people say you are a calming influence?’
She crossed to the other side of the brocade spread covered bed to keep an eye on him in the bathroom. She had the fear, she was suddenly shit scared that he had found her bag under the sink and looked inside and she’d be facing down the tiny pug gun in his angry hand. But he was just snarling at his own reflection, looking for spinach.
‘I’m glad you slept well,’ she said slowly, ‘I wanted to come by to apologize.’
‘Apologize for what?’ The faucet was on full blast for a moment and he gurgled.
‘For running out so soon.’ Lilly sat down on the bed, got up and sat down on the chair, just in case he got any ideas. ‘I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out again…’ She was thinking, he was in the business, he knew people. If she could go where he was going, maybe she’d see Bobby there too. That would unnerve him.
‘Where’d you go this morning anyway? You go out for lunch?’
‘Uh huh.’
He was looking at her, waiting on more. Did he really only remember last night as him being a ‘dick’?
‘Who with?’
‘What?’
‘A girlfriend?’
‘Yeah. With a friend… from around here.’
‘Oh yeah? Is she coming to the party tonight?’ He bent over and stepped into a pair of tighty-whities.
‘Which one?’
‘Honey. There is only one. Terence’s party in Pinewood.’
Lilly recognized the name of the place. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘She’ll be there.’ And she stood up again. If this girl already had a way into that party and that was where Bobby was going to be, she really didn’t need to put up with this asshole again.
‘Cool.’ He stood there looking at her. ‘You can introduce us. She can be my consolation prize.’ And he winked. ‘You do look hot by the way. I would like to do some really nasty things to you right now, but I know you’d get mad at me if I messed up your hair.’
