would I pick up and spit her little
bloody gobs into in a most feminine manner, that is, through taut,
narrow lips. She was the only witness to my conversation with Jack,
and her presence and periodic spitting were the only intrusions on
our conversation, apart from the splash of the sea, as we talked and
walked, up and then back, in our desolated section of deck. We talked
only of Jack's rejection by England until he decided to get to the
point. "Marcus, I want you to do me a favor."
"A legal one?"
"No."
"I thought as much. The jewels. I told you I
want no part of it, Jack."
"Listen to me. This is a lot of money. Do you
believe in money?"
"I do."
"So do I. "
"But I don't want to go to jail to get it."
"How many lawyers you know ever went to jail?"
"A few, and you'd have a point if we were back
in Albany."
"I told you a long time ago you were a thief in
your heart."
"No, we're still not talking about thievery."
"Right. This is just a proposition. You don't
have to take it."
Jack then took from his inside coat pocket a long
slender box, and we paused under one of the wall lights so I could
view its contents: an array of gems, rings, and necklaces. Some jewel
thief had stolen them, fenced them, and they'd found their way to
Jack, the internationalist, who would refence them in Europe. I knew
he hadn't stolen them. He wasn't above such activity, just afield of
it. No longer a burglar. He'd failed at that as a teen-ager and
graduated to the activity that conformed to his talent, which was not
stealth but menace.
"They don't take up much space," Jack said,
and I nodded and made no answer.
"I planned to get rid of them in Brussels, but
they're too hot to carry. I mean look at that"—and he held up
a ruby for me to admire. "It's kind of famous, I'm told, and
where it came from is even more famous."
"I don't think I'm interested."
"My suitcase has special bindings for this
stuff. You could get it off the boat and through customs. But not me,
not now."
I toyed with it. NOTED UPSTATE LAWYER CAUGHT WITH
MRS. ASTOR'S FAVORITE RUBY, Or was it Mrs. Carnegie's? Or that
tobacco-chewing lady aristocrat behind us, whoever she might be?
"If you don't handle them, I dump them. Now."
"Dump them?"
"Overboard."
"' Christ, why do that'? Why not hide them in a
chandelier and come back later for them? Isn't that how it's done?"
"Fuck 'em," Jack said. "I don't want
anything to do with this goddamn boat again once I get off it. It's a
jinx."
"A jinx? You don't really believe in jinxes."
"I'd be fucking well dead if I didn't. Are you
game? Yes or no. "
"No."
He walked to the railing and I trailed him, expecting
the next ploy in the act. A final appeal to my greed.
"You wanna watch?"
he said, and so I moved alongside him in time to see him tip the box
and see, yes, jewels falling, a few, and disappearing in shadow long
before they hit the water. He tipped the box further and a few more
plummeted toward the deep, then he shook it empty, looked at me, and,
while looking, let the box flutter toward the water. It flipped a few
times, made a silent plop we could see because it was white, and was
then glommed by the blackness.
* * *
Jack was in shirtsleeves, sitting alone at the card
table where Classy Willie fleeced the suckers, when I came up for
brunch one day. I ate and then watched Jack playing solitaire and
losing. I sat across from him and said, "I was planning to get
off this tub and go home, but I think I'll stay on for the full
treatment. "
"Good. What changed your mind?"
"I don't know. Maybe the jewels. But I think I
decided to trust you. Is that a mistake'?"
"Trust me with anything but women and money."
"I also want a straight answer on Charlie
Northrup. Is that asking too much?"
Jack mused, then with high seriousness said, "I
think he's dead. But I'm not sure. If he's dead, it wasn't murder.
That I am sure of."
"That's straight?"
"That's as straight as I can say it."
"Then I guess I have to believe it. Deal
bloody gobs into in a most feminine manner, that is, through taut,
narrow lips. She was the only witness to my conversation with Jack,
and her presence and periodic spitting were the only intrusions on
our conversation, apart from the splash of the sea, as we talked and
walked, up and then back, in our desolated section of deck. We talked
only of Jack's rejection by England until he decided to get to the
point. "Marcus, I want you to do me a favor."
"A legal one?"
"No."
"I thought as much. The jewels. I told you I
want no part of it, Jack."
"Listen to me. This is a lot of money. Do you
believe in money?"
"I do."
"So do I. "
"But I don't want to go to jail to get it."
"How many lawyers you know ever went to jail?"
"A few, and you'd have a point if we were back
in Albany."
"I told you a long time ago you were a thief in
your heart."
"No, we're still not talking about thievery."
"Right. This is just a proposition. You don't
have to take it."
Jack then took from his inside coat pocket a long
slender box, and we paused under one of the wall lights so I could
view its contents: an array of gems, rings, and necklaces. Some jewel
thief had stolen them, fenced them, and they'd found their way to
Jack, the internationalist, who would refence them in Europe. I knew
he hadn't stolen them. He wasn't above such activity, just afield of
it. No longer a burglar. He'd failed at that as a teen-ager and
graduated to the activity that conformed to his talent, which was not
stealth but menace.
"They don't take up much space," Jack said,
and I nodded and made no answer.
"I planned to get rid of them in Brussels, but
they're too hot to carry. I mean look at that"—and he held up
a ruby for me to admire. "It's kind of famous, I'm told, and
where it came from is even more famous."
"I don't think I'm interested."
"My suitcase has special bindings for this
stuff. You could get it off the boat and through customs. But not me,
not now."
I toyed with it. NOTED UPSTATE LAWYER CAUGHT WITH
MRS. ASTOR'S FAVORITE RUBY, Or was it Mrs. Carnegie's? Or that
tobacco-chewing lady aristocrat behind us, whoever she might be?
"If you don't handle them, I dump them. Now."
"Dump them?"
"Overboard."
"' Christ, why do that'? Why not hide them in a
chandelier and come back later for them? Isn't that how it's done?"
"Fuck 'em," Jack said. "I don't want
anything to do with this goddamn boat again once I get off it. It's a
jinx."
"A jinx? You don't really believe in jinxes."
"I'd be fucking well dead if I didn't. Are you
game? Yes or no. "
"No."
He walked to the railing and I trailed him, expecting
the next ploy in the act. A final appeal to my greed.
"You wanna watch?"
he said, and so I moved alongside him in time to see him tip the box
and see, yes, jewels falling, a few, and disappearing in shadow long
before they hit the water. He tipped the box further and a few more
plummeted toward the deep, then he shook it empty, looked at me, and,
while looking, let the box flutter toward the water. It flipped a few
times, made a silent plop we could see because it was white, and was
then glommed by the blackness.
* * *
Jack was in shirtsleeves, sitting alone at the card
table where Classy Willie fleeced the suckers, when I came up for
brunch one day. I ate and then watched Jack playing solitaire and
losing. I sat across from him and said, "I was planning to get
off this tub and go home, but I think I'll stay on for the full
treatment. "
"Good. What changed your mind?"
"I don't know. Maybe the jewels. But I think I
decided to trust you. Is that a mistake'?"
"Trust me with anything but women and money."
"I also want a straight answer on Charlie
Northrup. Is that asking too much?"
Jack mused, then with high seriousness said, "I
think he's dead. But I'm not sure. If he's dead, it wasn't murder.
That I am sure of."
"That's straight?"
"That's as straight as I can say it."
"Then I guess I have to believe it. Deal
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