Research & Design building without encountering anyone else.
CHAPTER 23
T INY LITTLE BLONDE GIRLS were walking around the room. A dozen of them, pink-cheeked and curly-haired, dressed in crisp polkadot pinafores. After every six steps each one would halt and say, “Hello, I love you!” and then commence walking again. All except one little mechanical doll. She kept walking and didn’t speak at all.
Goffman lunged from the black leather armchair he was hunched in. He gave the silent doll a kick which sent it up to crack against the ceiling. “Talk, you little bitch.”
Easy pushed the door of the apartment all the way open. “Let’s you and me talk Goffman.” He held his revolver in his hand.
Goffman sat back down. “I’ve got nothing much to say to you, Easy,” he said. “Better haul your ass out of here before I have you arrested for trespassing. How’d you get by the night staff anyhow?”
“Same way I got by Ennis and Mullin.”
“Hello, I love you!” said one of the dolls he’d been testing.
“What is it you want?” Goffman asked Easy.
“I came to get you.”
“You’re not the law.”
“I’ll turn you over to the cops. I could have done that with a couple of phone calls, but I want to see this through to the end.”
“Hello, I love you!”
Snorting, Goffman jumped up. He went around the room slapping the dolls off their feet. When they were all down he said, “What the hell would the cops want me for?”
“Three counts of murder.”
“You know how many attorneys I employ, Easy? I can rack your ass good for talking to me like this.”
“I’ve got Danny,” said Easy. “She’s not out at the park anymore. She’s in a motel with my secretary looking after her. And she’s agreed to talk to the police.”
“Talk about what? All the guys she’s screwed since we got married?”
“About what she saw at the Thorpe Ranch,” said Easy. “A long time ago, Goffman, when you cut your son’s throat. When you took the million dollars Marquetti buried there. Things like that she’ll talk about.”
“Who’ll believe her?”
“The cops,” said Easy. “Especially after I tie you in with the Feller killings for them.”
The old man sat down again. “How much?”
“You got me mixed up with Sandy Feller. I’ve got nothing to sell.”
“A nice kid Sandy used to be, not a punk like most of them nowadays,” said the old man. “Then he tells me he wants $250,000. A quarter of a million he wants to get the bones he dug up. I wasn’t about to get held up like that, Easy.”
“So you killed him instead.”
“Sure, I’d get rid of ten like him to keep hold of a quarter of a million bucks,” Goffman said. “You ever kill anybody, Easy?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not so very hard. And it never bothers me afterwards,” the thickset old man told him. “Danny, though, she never got over what … the thing about Bill. She can’t forget it.”
Easy said, “Feller didn’t have the skeleton with him.”
“No, the simple bastard had it hidden up at his place. After I got rid of him I went over his car. Nothing there.”
“Did his wife hear you when you broke in to look for it in his house?”
“No, she was sound asleep. I got rid of her to be sure I was safe. So nobody would bother me while I was searching around. Turned out Sandy stashed the bones out in his garage, in one of those big plastic garbage bags. I didn’t even need to go into the damn house at all if I’d looked there first.”
Easy said, “We can go now.”
“You don’t look as greedy as Sandy,” said the old man. “Suppose I was to offer you …”
The floor bounced.
“Hello, I love you!” said one of the golden-haired dolls.
The walls swayed.
Books began hopping out of the tall thin bookcase. The glass in the windows rattled, rattled harder and harder. Then two of the windows exploded inward. Broken glass sprayed the room.
“It’s a quake,” roared the old man.
The whole building was
CHAPTER 23
T INY LITTLE BLONDE GIRLS were walking around the room. A dozen of them, pink-cheeked and curly-haired, dressed in crisp polkadot pinafores. After every six steps each one would halt and say, “Hello, I love you!” and then commence walking again. All except one little mechanical doll. She kept walking and didn’t speak at all.
Goffman lunged from the black leather armchair he was hunched in. He gave the silent doll a kick which sent it up to crack against the ceiling. “Talk, you little bitch.”
Easy pushed the door of the apartment all the way open. “Let’s you and me talk Goffman.” He held his revolver in his hand.
Goffman sat back down. “I’ve got nothing much to say to you, Easy,” he said. “Better haul your ass out of here before I have you arrested for trespassing. How’d you get by the night staff anyhow?”
“Same way I got by Ennis and Mullin.”
“Hello, I love you!” said one of the dolls he’d been testing.
“What is it you want?” Goffman asked Easy.
“I came to get you.”
“You’re not the law.”
“I’ll turn you over to the cops. I could have done that with a couple of phone calls, but I want to see this through to the end.”
“Hello, I love you!”
Snorting, Goffman jumped up. He went around the room slapping the dolls off their feet. When they were all down he said, “What the hell would the cops want me for?”
“Three counts of murder.”
“You know how many attorneys I employ, Easy? I can rack your ass good for talking to me like this.”
“I’ve got Danny,” said Easy. “She’s not out at the park anymore. She’s in a motel with my secretary looking after her. And she’s agreed to talk to the police.”
“Talk about what? All the guys she’s screwed since we got married?”
“About what she saw at the Thorpe Ranch,” said Easy. “A long time ago, Goffman, when you cut your son’s throat. When you took the million dollars Marquetti buried there. Things like that she’ll talk about.”
“Who’ll believe her?”
“The cops,” said Easy. “Especially after I tie you in with the Feller killings for them.”
The old man sat down again. “How much?”
“You got me mixed up with Sandy Feller. I’ve got nothing to sell.”
“A nice kid Sandy used to be, not a punk like most of them nowadays,” said the old man. “Then he tells me he wants $250,000. A quarter of a million he wants to get the bones he dug up. I wasn’t about to get held up like that, Easy.”
“So you killed him instead.”
“Sure, I’d get rid of ten like him to keep hold of a quarter of a million bucks,” Goffman said. “You ever kill anybody, Easy?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not so very hard. And it never bothers me afterwards,” the thickset old man told him. “Danny, though, she never got over what … the thing about Bill. She can’t forget it.”
Easy said, “Feller didn’t have the skeleton with him.”
“No, the simple bastard had it hidden up at his place. After I got rid of him I went over his car. Nothing there.”
“Did his wife hear you when you broke in to look for it in his house?”
“No, she was sound asleep. I got rid of her to be sure I was safe. So nobody would bother me while I was searching around. Turned out Sandy stashed the bones out in his garage, in one of those big plastic garbage bags. I didn’t even need to go into the damn house at all if I’d looked there first.”
Easy said, “We can go now.”
“You don’t look as greedy as Sandy,” said the old man. “Suppose I was to offer you …”
The floor bounced.
“Hello, I love you!” said one of the golden-haired dolls.
The walls swayed.
Books began hopping out of the tall thin bookcase. The glass in the windows rattled, rattled harder and harder. Then two of the windows exploded inward. Broken glass sprayed the room.
“It’s a quake,” roared the old man.
The whole building was
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