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"Not todown half an inch in one draw "He got to eous eyes and sweet talk like it was going out of style I went nuts over him It&039;s the only reason I can think of, that I was out of ing lessons, then jobs I wanted us to work up a duet routine, but he said he got ured out it ot more women that way He was vile about it Shoved it in my face like it was my fault"

I listened and nodded as she touched on the low points She had a long list of bitter grievances, the usual for when life and love goes bad for a couple Caine had gone out of his way to be a jerk, though Jewel struck ot, but he&039;d worn her down, then moved on

She wore a kind of choker necklace made of blue beads, and when she held still the beads ht the scent of blood under her sallow skin

Not good I shouldn&039;t be noticing those kinds of things I&039;d fed ry tonight, and human blood was offit the way I used to want a drink back when I lived in New York Except for weekend binges when I could afford it, I had that under control I did it then, I could do it now Really

"If you got any brains, you&039;ll never have Alan perforotten what I&039;d said before This sounded like so she repeated often to many people

"I&039;ll hire a special bouncer just to keep him out"

She broke into a sht, Jack"

Past her shoulder I caught sight of Mitchell, returned from someplace or other so he could watch lanced where I was looking, snorting again Her eyes sharpened into a glare, an odd look on her face, then she sain This time it took away from her looks "There&039;s another one to keep clear of Used to run with the Morelli gang before Gordy took over You don&039;t want to knohy he had to leave town" She gave a short, unpleasant laugh

"Of course I do You can&039;t do a fanfare like that and leave "

"No It&039;s vile, too, and I&039;ve had enough for one night Besides, Alan just came in"

True Alan Caine, with Evie Montana in close and adoring tow, sauntered in on the other side of the rooh, and , disarot a problem, Mitch?" Caine acted puzzled

Mitchell kept shut, but clearly they had so, probably carried all the way froiven their personalities What was co out from behind Mitchell&039;s eyes would have ed on Caine&039;s arm to move on

"I feel sorry for her," said Jewel "There&039;s no point trying to wise up her type about Alan, though She&039;ll have to learn the hard way"

"He&039;s gonna break her heart?"

"Yeah, but only after he&039;s gaot, up to and including her step-ins"

Evie see much in the way of underclothes Her satin skirt was pretty tight, and I couldn&039;t see lines showing through Bobbi did the sa herself a lot of the ti about about anything

Caine resisted Evie&039;s efforts to ht his talentwho doesn&039;t worry about consequences Mitchell ht be one of the or worse He could sing sitting down, but wouldn&039;t be happy about it

Not liking Caine, I wouldn&039;t havematters take their natural course; but as caretaker for Gordy&039;s investment, it was up to me to keep the peace A week or so back I&039;d have involved ht react if either of thenaled to some of the club&039;s muscle to make themselves visible to Mitchell

He saw, if Caine didn&039;t, and strolled off, Caine laughing at his back Even from here I could pick up on the booze tone in his voice This ti hih "Alan&039;s a dauy who drinks and pretends he doesn&039;t"

"If he&039;s too drunk, you could have a job here tonight," I said, half-joking

"He&039;s sh to never ot bills and this" She lifted her glass of water Sipped

"Thatmarried to him if I stayed drunk all the ti drunk Thought I should warn you in case you want your h?"

"I&039; to Alcoholics Anonyood I&039;ve been sober teeks Teeks and six hours"

"Congratulations"

"Thanks Though when I look in a mirror and see what the sauce has done to o back to it so I don&039;t care anymore"

"You look just fine"

She smiled and patted my hand "Sweet of you to say so, kid I used to stop traffic in fog at ht Don&039;t mind me This is how I feel sorry for myself when I&039;h"

By this tiry?" I asked "The kitchen&039;ll do you up a steak on the house"

She hesitated before giving an answer, but finally nodded and suy to be in this joint"

"No, I&039;ed a waitress, and she wrote doel&039;s order, then whisked off to the barely opened kitchen

"You got a girl, don&039;t you?" asked Jewel

"How&039;s that?"

"A guy as nice as you has a girl soht"

I feltred "Far better than I deserve"

Stro to coe of subject I waved hi the car until mine was fixed

"No problem," he said "Except Kroun wants a ride back to his hotel when he&039;s done here I can get you another car"

"I&039;ll wait" Stros of interest from Kroun and Mitchell he could pass on They&039;d likely be too smart to talk openly in front of hi around?"

"More business with Gordy They&039;re talking now"

What? "Gordy&039;s here?"

"In the casino"

"He&039;s supposed to be resting, da boss says juot y

She took it in stride "Men," she said, lighting another cigarette

I went into the not-quite-opened casino, but Gordy wasn&039;t there after all

Stroed "Means they&039;re up in the office You ht wanna steer clear"

"Why?"

"The er it takes to finish"

That bordered on the genius "Yeah, okay But have someone tell me when they&039;re done I want a ith Gordy, too"

"Sure"

"Anything new on Hoyle?"

"He ain&039;t left town yet Donno why"

"Where is he?"

"Donno that, either Dropped outtawhat?"

He lifted his hands "Sayin&039; good-bye?"

"See if you can find out uy"

Strome&039;s face almost twitched, and hefor the office to watch for theto break up

I found a phone and called Crymsyn&039;s lobby to check in

Instead of Wilton, Bobbi answered "You&039;re not backstage?" I asked

She sounded a little breathless "I just ca toldYou need to put a phone behind the bar"

The place already had one official phone in my office; I didn&039;t see e needed more, but this wasn&039;t the tiot sidetracked"

"I know, &039;business&039; We&039;re fine here, Jack, there&039;s no need to worry Take a vacation why don&039;t you?"

"At another nightclub?"

"Sure, see different faces for a change Charles is helping me open, everyone&039;s in on time We&039;re fine here"

"Okay" I tried not to read anything into soin Gordy&039;s ht What&039;s going on?"

"Just keep an eye out for hie on forin thesome muscle over to play bouncer in case he shows, but-"

"Jack ?"

"But-I think I&039;y lately and this will make me feel better The muscle is only insurance; if they&039;re there, chances are they won&039;t be needed"

"For this I&039;ll want to know the whole story"

"Right now?" Not so I wanted to talk about over the phone, especially with Nightcrawler staff within hearing There were enough ruot a show to get ready for, you&039;ll tell , totally different subject: you know a torch singer called Jewel Caine?"

"Sure, she&039;s not been around ot to her Why?"

"She needs a break I told her to come by to see you tomorrow at three if that&039;s okay Can you work a short set for her into the show?"

"I think so, but are you sure?"

"She&039;s trying to sober up and needs renta soft touch, quite the opposite If Bobbi had been here, she&039;d have kissed lad she was ht off a shiver inside uy named Alan Caine?"

"That&039;s Jewel&039;s ex-husband I don&039;t like hi to hire hiht, forgot to tell you"

"How&039;d you h Bobbi usually kept up as playing where in Chicago, she&039;d lately not had much time to read papers or talk with others in the business My fault

"Poor Gordy," she said "He&039;s all grabbing hands-Alan Caine, that is I&039;ve done some shoith him way back when He&039;s one of those jerks who thinks he owns a place, lock, stock, and chorus line The awful thing iswith it because he&039;s so handsome"

"Except you"

"Back then I i well, never nized the avoidance That mention of him still made her uncoht thing not bringing up Mitchell&039;s naone near Caine He&039;s a big jackass, and-did you just laugh?"

I&039;d not been doing much of it lately I had to be careful or my face would break "Sounded like it I think you ht the sa at Cryuy Jewel seeh froile" I should talk

"I&039;ll look after her, don&039;t worry We&039;re out of dressing rooet it Roland and Faustine weren&039;t the top billing act-that was Bobbi&039;s spot But he&039;d had soe, and Faustine was a full-blown Russian-trained ballerina The Depression and life in general had not been kind, but they were still higher up the status ladder than Bobbi As a diplo roo a couple, they didn&039;tthe shower and toilet in between For soure out, Faustine&039;s wardrobe filled up the whole space

Bobbi had the nuested buher number than four"

"This is nuts, you know"

"Well, I can&039;t put her in the base areas had been roughed out months back, but so far there&039;d been little need to finish things It rese o down there if I could help it Some years back someone had died in that basehts to blot out that horror

"We can rig a curtain across one of the corners"

"Impossible I couldn&039;t put her there nostar around here, it&039;d be terribly insulting to foist her off in a cellar like so used to the shifting rules of its pecking order "Well, just don&039;t use my office"

"Actually, that roons on, I&039;llroom There, that&039;s all worked out"

Bobbi did have a flair for proble club stuff Not for me so much Which was no one&039;s fault but htfully, " that upstairs washrooh"

"Hey, I&039; for the other ones Let&039;s turn soht"

Sounding cheerful, she gave in a little too easy I knew daotten the idea it would be executed into reality sooner or later

And I suddenly realized ere talking norain I even felt normal-until I realized it, and that spoiled the moment

Damnation If I could just quit when I was ahead and not overthink, Iout for whole minutes instead of just a few seconds

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to go get ready for the show You okay?"

"I&039;ht not be able to pick up on it "I&039;ll see you when I get there Break a leg" I didn&039;t know if civilians to the stage were allowed to wish good luck to the talent with that phrase, but what the hell She thankedup I stood very ht off another shiver All the cold in the city was outside these fancy walls; as it that I had to be picked out to carry a piece of it around in my flayed skin?

Distraction I called over one of the bouncers and s at Lady Crymsyn They all had to know Hoyle, which wasn&039;t a proble practice with ly, his reputation was in a hole andunpopular Everyone&039;s favorite part wasthe revolver in his face I hoped they wouldn&039;t ask for an encore as a party trick

No sign of Stro tih to the private area of the club where everyone in Chicago with money to lose was made welco up extra cash when I wanted Thinking he ht open early for me, I looked around for ave ahen he had a good hand Instead, I saw Adelle Taylor co between the tables She showed off her elegant figure in a clingy dark dress with ahat and purse that were clearly worth hborhood Adelle seemed to be a woman on a mission; she moved n that an eely fixed

When Adelle got close enough, I saas for her, figured what to do fast, and led her to one of the se alcoves, one with a curtain Soon as ere inside I swept the curtain shut then put my arms around her so she could collapse and soak my overcoat shoulder