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Crying wo, but soh for them and weather it out It&039;s not too bad Adelle wasn&039;t one to casually lose control of herself, either, so it had to be soet her into this state Most likely to do with Gordy
She didn&039;tdown of her protective walls I&039;d never seen her like this Adelle was always cool-headed and even in the face of surprise, quick to land on her feet Like the night of the shooting Once she got through the initial shock and terror of seeing Gordy drop, she&039;d pulled together to help out as though she&039;d trained on a battlefield
That restraint was nearly gone; the only remnant was how hard she worked to so completely and howl That would have drawn attention, maybe prompted the curious to come in and interrupt She needed release, not talk, but a suppressed breakdoas better than none at all
Adelle knew nothing about what I&039;d been through with Hog Bristow, and for soer for her I felt better for the giving, like er than a few seconds I held her tight and , "It&039;s okay, everything&039;s going to be all right" at the top of her head
Damned if it didn&039;t work After a while, she pulled away Makeup running, eyes puffed, her whole face seemed bruised She sat on one of the cushioned chairs and scrounged in her purse for a handkerchief-no dinky lace thing, but a large practical one-and blew and dabbed and swiped I sat across fros I do for friends
"Most o into a dithering panic when a woman cries
They either want to run for the hills or instantly fix the problem so she stops Or they try to kiss her or slap her I&039;lad you&039;re the sensible type"
"Nah, I&039;m a fake I couldn&039;t led while trying to blow her nose again andanother handkerchief
I sat next to her "If I ran, the s here would shootwhat it is, so that wasn&039;t the right road If I tried kissing or hitting, I&039;d risk a sock in the chops fro shot by Bobbi when she found out, or all three"
Addle put a hand over her h "God, I wish you could stay with us I need the change"
"Maybe I can swing by later" Gordy had been staying at her place I&039;d heard
"It&039;s all right I know you&039;re busy with the business There&039;s no one I can talk to Gordy&039;s men are polite, but they&039;re not well"
"You can&039;t let &039;em see you cry"
"No You&039;re different froot a heart To you I&039;m a friend, not just the boss&039;s piece"
"Hey, you&039;re not-"
She waved it away "I overhear their talk, but it doesn&039;t matter They can only define me by the li disrespectful, and I&039;ll widen their experience Nohat&039;s the big probleht?" No way For all his rough side with the entle"
"It&039;s not that Oh, Jack, he&039;s ill"
"Ill? Pneu while he was still shaky fro hi everything in him and I can&039;t make him listen to reason"
She&039;d work herself into another bout of tears in another second Ito talk to hiht, and I couldn&039;t believe he was outta bed again"
"Gordy thinks if he doesn&039;t show a strong face, it&039;ll underot a point, but if he falls on his duff, it&039;ll undermine worse"
"It&039;shiray, and he hides it, but I know he&039;s weak He barely made it from the car into here, then Kroun ca It&039;s all a front and-"
"I get the picture"
"You&039;ll talk to him? Make him rest?"
"You bet your sweet ah tonsils I&039;ll do that"
"He looked awful yesterday and worse today That Kroun&039;s got him all stirred up Gordy doesn&039;t let on towith Lowrey"
"What stuff?"
"One of the things I heard the boys here said Kroun was going to kill you" She whispered the last part
I took her hand and gave it a squeeze "That&039;s old news We&039;re copacetic now"
"You&039;re sure?"
"Yeah Guaranteed Everything&039;s fine there, or I wouldn&039;t be here" Not strictly true If all the guys in the gang liked me, I wouldn&039;t have had slashed tires Then I wouldn&039;t have been around to help Jewel and Adelle Instead I&039;d have been inin its shadows and probably feeling very sorry for s can turn out
"I wish you could o back to wherever he came from"
"Same here" Maybe I could, if I felt up to it "Do you need anything?"
She blew her nose "A new head onwith this one?"
"Gordy ht to hear the sa Bobbi crazy in soot that&039;s doing this toto happen I&039;ve been able to ignore it until now At first dating a gangster see, but suddenly it turned different He&039;s not some kind of a misunderstood hero with a dark side, he&039;s a man with a lot of insane, vicious enemies ill cut him down at the first chance"
"The hard part for you is that Gordy accepts that"
"One of the hard parts There are a hundred other things"
"More like a couple thousand"
"To him it&039;s just part of the job You prepare as o on like you think it won&039;t happen But it does and it did"
"He&039;s still here, Adelle"
"And for how long? Oh-no, I&039; to say"
"You&039;re scared, honey No one blaster or a streetcar conductor, it&039;s all the saet to pick and choose when or where, it&039;s out of our hands"
"I know that But Gordy&039;s in a business where the chances are higher against hiet accidentally run over by a truck; it&039;s quite another to keep standing in the uments But if he did any other kind of work, he wouldn&039;t be Gordy Don&039;t kid yourself that you can change hiave that illusion up when I was married to Roland"
This was the first time she&039;d ever referred to hie that man, even when it was to save his life fro he&039;ll change for himself and quit theSo h"
"Al things now I&039;d have never dreaun thinking about co one, and it seemed like every corner of New York re and selling off or hocking stuff to save up the train fare Hard to do when I kept drinking a substantial part of the gleanings It took h cash to leave New York and find death in Chicago A slow, hard, and ugly dying
And if I had stayed in New York, what then? I&039;d be a thirty-seven-year-old reporter rapidly drinking my way to forty-seven, which was about when I could expect Bright&039;s disease or some liver proble at it that way made it almost seeraphy I had read a long tio A man who had indifferently squandered his all-too-finite life by spending it feeling sorry for himself
"Jack?" Adelle touched ht-have-been wreckage
"What is it?"
"I was thinking that once in a while life ood or bad is usually up to the el: Gordy has to do the kind of tough dealings you never want to know about, but where you&039;re concerned he&039;s a good man and alill be"
"I&039;ve felt that But I&039;ets back to work, the things he&039;s going to do They&039;re apart froh He says he wants to set ular headliner, the big star, Chicago&039;s favorite I like the life, but I don&039;t know if I like it asto hed a little "That sounds pretty good about now But it would driveas you know"
"But I do wish I just want a world that doesn&039;t have this in it" She land and all its grief
I could wish the sa to do for the both of us, we left the casino for the outer bar Adelle looked like she could use so to steady her down I could watch while she drank it
Jewel Caine was gone by now I checked with her waitress The lady had engulfed her ine why she&039;d talk to Caine unless she wanted to let hi to her as alimony Not smart He&039;d raise a stink and could find a different club to sing in, cutting her off I sent a bouncer to go find Jewel; he cairlfriends in the chorus She was nowhere near Caine, or there ht have been a ruckus
Adelle and I parked at the house&039;s best table and watched the place gradually fill up The band started earning their keep and couples made forays onto the dance floor A few people caraph, which lifted her ed from the back, saw laring game He would seriously borefor the front entry I wondered if he ever got tired of all the driving
"You ht want to leave," I told Adelle
"Should I? This is ht you had"
"Gordy likes one when there&039;s business to conduct"
"Why do you want to meet Kroun?"
"The face of the enemy," she murmured darkly She was all charm when Kroun stopped at the table
I stood up and started to introduce the deep into her eyes
"Miss Adelle Taylor," he said, h to confir went up a few thousand volts Adelle actually blinked froreat pleasure, Miss Taylor I knew you were in Chicago, but never expected to meet you Knock me over with a feather, I&039;ht he&039;d kiss her hand, but he settled for holding it just long enough to make his first impression on herasked, he was sitting at our table Thankfully, Mitchell re, but on the other side I wouldn&039;t have wanted hi over raciously
"Please, call h his hair, coenial, invitation-to-intimacy smile Special friends only
She didn&039;t fall for it, but did ask hi"
"Well I can&039;t exactly take credit for it"
"Really? I thought it was natural"
"Anything but I was shot there" His tone softened what should have been alarot too frisky and tried to take my head off, but he just missed The bullet cut this into rew back well, you can see what happened"
"How horrible for you"
"I didn&039;t feel a thing"
"What happened to the ure that one out," he said, which wasn&039;t really an answer
Adelle was savvy enough to knohen to stop
Kroun sreat admirer of yours Soon as your movies hit town I&039;d watch three and four tih of &039;em Why don&039;t you make some more? You&039;re terrific"
"Why, thank you!" She instantly warmed up He&039;d struck one of her favorite chords "Tell that to the producers in Hollywood The casting is quite out of ht They should have you starring in all kinds of things I&039;ve already said you&039;re terrific, now I have to let you know you&039;re wonderful"
Mitchell stopped glaring at h to spare a look at his boss and did a restrained rolling of eyes Iup that Kroun&039;s high regard for Adelle was absolutely sincere He seemed to be utterly smitten, but not pushy about it He held the personal char it out
"I&039;ll be around, Mr Kroun," Mitchell said, and drifted aithout waiting for a reply Good thing, since he didn&039;t get one
Adelle agreed with Kroun about Hollywood&039;s lack of judground: his veneration for her and her agreeing with hi to leave her alone with hi eyes onthat little favor I asked?"
"You sure?" This didn&039;t seem to be the best time, but Gordy would be free She&039;d keep Kroun well distracted, too
"Certainly"
I took that to mean she kne to deal with him, and she had to like the flattery Who wouldn&039;t? "I&039;ll be back shortly, then," I said, leaving My money was on Adelle, that she&039;d learn more about Kroun in five lad she and I were on the same side
Upstairs I bumped into Derner in the hall "Gordy wants to see you," he said
"Mutual, I&039; stride Evidently this would be a private , since Derner went on to clatter down the stairs Suitedthe sa chair at the desk What was unusual was hi asleep His eyes were fast shut, his head down on his chest He didn&039;t look so good
As I drew closer I chanced to take in a whiff of air In this place with the fas I was startled to pick up a very out-of-place hospital taint Heavy, sweet, but with an odd acidic tang to it
Certain ser memories This one stripped away half a lifetime and hauled me back to the casualty wards from when I&039;d been in the War I&039;d lost too many friends there
My heart sank Adelle&039;s assessht
In addition to the sickrooh that only I could have noticed-I picked up bloodsered another da Gordy wasn&039;t the only one who had to li him vulnerable He didn&039;t needto a , I eased it open, lifting high The curtains ih off the street for it to be fresh After a , but much of the sh since waking, this cold got to ly violent shivers until it hurt Enough was tooit short a couple inches, and turned toward the desk, trying to rub war That was for people with circulating blood, and mine well, "
If ht not have heard him
Gordy&039;s eyelids cracked, and he took a deep breath "That&039;s good I tell &039;em to leave aopen, but Derner&039;s afraid of pneuht and whatever rest he&039;d had failed to clear away the circles under his eyes and the weary droop around his mouth He looked a lot older and e body took up just as th had been scraped out
My heart went into my throat, and I hoped Gordy didn&039;t see the fear I n to him and felt like a co?" I asked, taking a chair by hiot what air&039;s like Adelle keeps ?"
Gordy shut his eyes and opened them, slow He looked steadily at one of the landscapes on the opposite wall It was a good one and must have been his favorite since it faced his desk I wondered what he liked best about it "Doc Clarson says the holes are healing clean No fever I&039; better every day"
Yeah, sure you are God, but he looked tired
"He kept me pretty doped at first I say I want to lay off except at night so I can sleep I seen what toowrong? Kroun givin&039; you grief?"
"Not really" Gordy was throwing out distractions I knew all about that angle "You&039;re the probleot Adelle scared half out of her mind"
"What d&039;ya mean?"
I tapped my shoulder where Adelle had cried "This ain&039;t rainwater ed edge because of you not taking care of yourself"
"I can do that after Kroun leaves town"
If you last that long "Hey, you put ht? Let me do my job and run interference You&039;ve impressed everyone already Take some time off Go home and rest"
"Can&039;t Kroun" He licked his lips, seeain
It hitcertainty that Gordy was afraid of Kroun Impossible Gordy was a rock People were afraid of him, not the other way around But Kroun had that personal electricity going, ot him all behaved and put in the word for you while I was at it This is still your organization when you&039;re better, but first you have to get better Even Kroun will see that"
"There&039;s other things going on you don&039;t know Only I can deal with &039;eet to so yourself?" That was the way of the ot cut down, quick as thought
"Like Hoyle? Derner told uys are looking for hi out for the day, I could have rief
"Nope He&039;s no probleht, then But for now, you need a quiet spot, away fros Someplace outside your normal haunts"
"Maybe"
That&039;s all I needed, a "s in
Of course, this was suy&039;s own good whether he liked it or not
I didn&039;t have the right to impose this, the ultimate manipulation, on hio back and look Adelle in the eye and tell her I turned chicken
"Kroun andAbout you," he said
"Oh, yeah?" IKroun the idea ere friends, should have told hio back to New York instead Kroun had had plenty of opportunity to talk with Gordy about all kinds of interesting details relating to o Not that I could blame him If Kroun asked, Gordy would have to answer Given the circue is power, especially with this bunch
"He wants to know if you&039;ll be taking over for good"
"Of course not-"
"Le over if I don&039;t make it after all"
I couldn&039;t believe he&039;d said that Gordy dying was just not in the cards He washis work-and he had to go on breathing "What the hell?"
"You have to think about these things," he continued "If you don&039;t want the operation, it goes to Mitchell"
"Screw that"
"It&039;s hiain, then shut it down It would be less upsetting to hiet it out of his syste this stuff over
"But you don&039;t want it Derner, then With you helping hiot et better"
Before he could respond, Ias soft and easy as I&039;d ever done on anyone before with an to hurt from even this eon, speaking low and with infinite confidence "You&039;re going to heal up just fine, Gordy You listen to et well There&039;s a pretty gal waiting for you Can&039;t disappoint her You hearhe wasn&039;t doped with painkillers just now I could use soh I&039;d barely started when the thunderstor at record speed I pressed through it
In the War I&039;d seen a lot of guys talk theot worse I had to get Gordy to talk hi that&039;s just going to happen You&039;re going to listen to Adelle and listen to your doctor and to er and better with each passing hour, with each day You will get well"
The pain rolled in harsh as a fury; I winced and couldn&039;tdesk to keep o stay with Shoe Coldfield You two get along, and he won&039;tstay with hiain You understand?"
Couldn&039;t hear any reply The worsth nore it Gordy was more important than
"You&039;ll do this You hear et well"