Микки Спиллейн - Everybody's Watching Me

class="book">Helen said it for me. “Vetter gave him a warning note to hand to Renzo.”

Gerot smiled silently and you could see that he had the whole picture in his mind. He had our faces, he knew who she was and all about her, he was thinking of me and wanted to know all about me. He would. He was that kind of cop. You could tell.

We stood on the steps of the building and the cops coming in gave her the kind of look every man on the street gave her. Appreciative. It made me feel good just to be with her. I said, “He’s a smart cop.”

“They’re all smart. Some are just smarter than others.” A look of impatience crossed her face. “He said something…”

“Reams of copy?” I suggested.

I was easy for her to smile at. She didn’t have to look up or down. Just a turn of her head. “Bright boy.”

She took my hand and this time I led the way. I took her to the street I knew. It was off the main drag and the people on it had a look in their eyes you don’t see uptown. It was a place where the dames walked at night and followed you into bars if they thought you had an extra buck to pass out.

They’re little joints, most of them. They don’t have neon lights and padded stools, but when a guy talks he says something and doesn’t play games. There’s excitement there and always that feeling that something is going to happen.

One of those places was called The Clipper and the boys from the News made it their hangout. Cagey boys with the big think under their hats. Fast boys with a buck and always ready to pay off on something hot. Guys who took you like you were and didn’t ask too many questions.

My kind of people.

Bucky Edwards was at his usual stool getting a little bit potted because it was his day off. I got the big stare and the exaggerated wink when he saw the blonde which meant I’d finally made good about dragging one in with me. I didn’t feel like bragging, though. I brought Helen over, went to introduce her, but Bucky said, “Hi, Helen. Never thought I’d see you out in the daylight,” before I could pass on her name.

“Okay, so you caught a show at the Hideaway,” I said. “We have something to ask you.”

“Come on, Joe. Let the lady ask me alone.”

“Lay off. We want to know about Vetter.”

The long eyebrows settled down low. He looked at me, then Helen, then back at me again. “You’re making big sounds, boy.”

I didn’t want anyone else in on it. I leaned forward and said, “He’s in town, Bucky. He’s after Renzo.”

He let out a long whistle. “Who else knows about it?”

“Gerot. Renzo. Us.”

“There’s going to be trouble, sure.”

Helen said, “Only for Renzo,”

Bucky’s head made a slow negative. “You don’t know. The rackets boys’ll flip their lids at this. If Vetter moves in here there’s going to be some mighty big trouble.”

My face started working under the bandages. “Renzo’s top dog, isn’t he?”

Bucky’s tongue made a swipe at his lips. “One of ‘em. There’s a few more. They’re not going to like Renzo pulling in trouble like Vetter.” For the first time Bucky seemed to really look at us hard. “Vetter is poison. He’ll cut into everything and they’ll pay off. Sure as shooting, if he sticks around they’ll be piling the cabbage in his lap.”

“Then everybody’ll be after Vetter,” I said.

Bucky’s face furrowed in a frown. “Uh-uh. I wasn’t thinking that.” He polished off his drink and set the empty on the bar. “If Vetter’s here after Renzo they’ll do better nailing Renzo’s hide to the wall. Maybe they can stop it before it starts.”

It was trouble, all right. The kind I wasn’t feeling too bad about.

Bucky stared into his empty glass and said, “They’ll bury Renzo or he’ll come out of it bigger than ever.”

The bartender came down and filled his glass again. I shook my head when he wanted to know what we’d have. “Good story,” Bucky said, “if it happens.” Then he threw the drink down and Bucky was all finished. His eyes got frosty and he sat there grinning at himself in the mirror with his mind saying things to itself. I knew him too well to say anything else so I nudged Helen and we walked out.

Some days go fast and this was one of them. She was nice to be with and nice to talk to. I wasn’t important enough to hide anything from so for one day she opened her life up and fed me pieces of it. She seemed to grow younger as the day wore on and when we reached her apartment the sun was gilding her hair with golden reddish streaks and I was gone, all gone. For one day I was king and there wasn’t any trouble. The laughter poured out of us and people stopped to look and laugh back. It was a day to remember when all the days are done with and you’re on your last.

I was tired, dead tired. I didn’t try to refuse when she told me to come up and I didn’t want to. She let me open the door for her and I followed her inside. She had almost started for the kitchen to cook up the bacon and eggs we had talked about when she stopped by the arch leading to the living room.

The voice from the chair said, “Come on in, sugar pie. You too, kid.”

And there was Johnny, a nasty smile on his mouth, leering at us.

“How did you get in here?”

He laughed at her. “I do tricks with locks, remember?” His head moved with a short jerk. “Get in here!” There was a flat, nasal tone in his voice.

I moved in beside Helen. My hands kept opening and closing at my side and my breath was coming a little fast in my throat.

“You like kids now, Helen?”

“Shut up, you louse,” she said. His lips peeled back showing his teeth. “The mother type. Old fashioned type, you know.” He leered again like it was funny. My chest started to hurt from the breathing. “Too big for a bottle, so…”

I grabbed the lamp and let it fly and if the cord hadn’t caught in the wall it would have taken his head off. I was all set to go into him but all he had to do to stop me was bring his hand up. The rod was one of those Banker’s Specials that were deadly as hell at close range and Johnny looked too much like he wanted to use it for me to move.

He said, “The boss don’t like your little arrangement, Helen. It didn’t take him long to catch on. Come over here, kid.”

I took a half step.

“Closer.”

“Now listen carefully, kid. You go home, see. Go home and do what you feel like doing, but stay home and away from this place. You do that and you’ll pick up a few bucks from Mr. Renzo. Now after you had it so nice here, you might not want to go home, so just in case you don’t, I’m going to show you what’s going to happen to you.”

I heard Helen’s breath suck in with a harsh gasp and my own sounded the same way. You could see what Johnny was setting himself to do and he was letting me know all about it and there wasn’t a thing I could do. The gun was pointing right at my belly even while he jammed his elbows into the arms of the chair to get the leverage for the kick that was going to

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