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"Does he knohat you&039;re going to do?"

"He didn&039;t exactly ask and I didn&039;t exactly say Maybe he talked soivesto see what happens and then will go from there His New York bosses told hiive Sullivan some elbow room"

"Or to provide reinforcements should they be required I&039;d advise you to be cautious with him, not rely on him if you can at all help it Gordy may be helpful now, but if push comes to shove"

Gordy was a businessman, and he wouldn&039;t put hianization He was too fond of breathing "Yeah Tellthat would be unnecessary"

To avoid drawinguntil I found an L-train to take o is a hell of a spraing up little towns one by one,one My destination was one such spot At the turn of the century it was probably a rustic delight, but the booht on by Prohibition had turned it into a square in joints, and burlesque houses, blocks of &039;erocer&039;s, or some other more ordinary business The population lived cheap and died young, usually just a few steps ahead of a landlord with his hand out for back rent Oddly enough, the Depression hadn&039;t hit here as hard as in other places, since people could always be counted upon to have enough s was the all-night ular haunts I was usually out this way a couple of ti at the walls of s when I didn&039;t have a date with Bobbi For other people, when the bars closed down and they still didn&039;t want to go ho the winter, if they could scrape up a dime for the admission and not spend it on booze, the buet a warm place to sleep They could stay at one of the rescueif they wanted, butpreached to, and second runs of a Shirley Teet to redeht and that I wasn&039;t a soft touch for drink money Once in a while if it was really bad weather, I&039;d pay the way in for a regular or two, but I handled the tickets to keep thehborhood didn&039;t appeal to me beyond the movie house, so I&039;d never paid ettingthe sidewalk froh, there was Flora&039;s Dance Studio across and down the street just like Deiter said

Passing the theater (it was a Marlene Dietrich fil until I was opposite ht they see for thehts of the entry, and whenever the doors opened I heard the brassy tones of a live band banging out a fast version of "Melancholy Baby" Once past the glitter, I saw an old, ra two-story structure that must have stood duty for dozens of other businesses over the decades; you could see where past signs in the wood had faded and been painted over One of the current signs read fifty-count thehts showed on the top floor, but the blinds were down

I crossed the street and joined a line of men in front of a ticket kiosk So it wasn&039;t an instructional studio, but a hall for taxi dancers Theof ten or twenty tickets, then a bouncer pretending to be an usher ht ten tickets and followed the rest through the door

To the right was a place to check your hat and overcoat, but so the the sides of the hall I leftin the integrity of their fellow citizens not to steal My reason had to do with the fact I didn&039;t kno long I&039;d be staying, and if I had to leave in a hurry I&039;d rather haveplace, with a low ceiling held up by thin h over thefeet on the scarred wood floor, a woh, a man&039;s hopeful voice,each other in an ih, there were lots of bouncers to see to that For some of the custoe with a wos up for therounds, and just standing there heard five different accents asking the girls variations of "what&039;s your naain?" Most had taken the trouble to dress themselves up; even if the suit enty years old, it was brushed clean I saw little old guys with hair parted in the ly kids that were all pimples and buckteeth, hair slicked back with half a jar of Vaseline in hopeful i, some were even pretty, butwas not new A couple of girls still kept their energy up and it was er than two e partners, or dance one ns on the wall declared you could only dance with a girl twice in a row, then had to switch I suppose it wastoo attached

Jeez, you could fall in love with her and suavely sweep her away frolamour to a fifth-floor walk-up and half a dozen kids neither of you could afford Couldn&039;t have that

The irl with frizzy yellow hair and a bored face came over and asked if I wanted a dance Her satin dress needed to retire; she&039;d tried sprucing it up with some paper flowers, but they were crushed now, probably had been for days I gave her one ofas she lifted her skirt hem and shoved the bit of pasteboard into the top of her stocking along with a wad of other tickets Other girls across the floor were doing the same You could tell who the popular ones were by the size of the distending luh I wondered howon to for dancing with the custoh to keep them in paper flowers, no doubt

A sloaltz started up and I took al in hand, and in deference to her sore feet led her around a few snail-like turns so I could get a better look at the place The band had a trumpet man, a snare druht off, all playing loud so they could be heard on the other side of the hall

Around the edge of the dancers were guys holding tickets waiting for the nuet the partner they wanted There were feallflower girls, none were shy about going up and asking a guy to dance with the coy here wouldn&039;t irl was plain as an unpainted barn, her offer was usually accepted; you could practically s off the men, mixed in with the scent of bay ru an eye on everyone, but it looked to be a quiet night Compared to some of the other Paco businesses, this was as respectable as a church picnic I knew for sure now that it was connected with Paco, because with no s up some stairs at the far side of the hall His naer no ular bouncers and Angela&039;s professional killers was pretty obvious if you knehat to look for, kind of like being able to tell a peashooter froun

Now that I&039;d seen one of the on the stairway, all men, some in cheap flashy suits and loud ties, others apparently just finished with their jobs in drab work pants and oil-stained shirts Noneelboith

More went up than came down and this here the bouncers were really concentrated to keep out the unwelcoood idea as drawing theether, but wanted confirirl

"I dunno," she uess

He&039;s always up there"

"Heup?"

She shrugged "Custouess"

"For what?"

"I dunno Dance lessonsback as far as I could tell; it&039;s hard to fake that kind of supreave her the rest ofof tickets, which woke her up

"Hey, I can&039;t dance with you for all these," she said

"Pretend," I said with a wink, and walked on toward the stairs, losing eneral crowd

There was athe same wall, which was a bit of luck I waited until another dance started and pushed in, standing in line for one of the closed stalls My idea was to go in, vanish, and find my way up to the second floor, but now it didn&039;t see why I didn&039;t coone Not that he could do anything about the mystery, but it was better to keep et aith it

I obligingly let others ahead of me and moved to the back of the line A fast check tothe wiser for it As far as I could tell, I got aith it since there was no i able to pull soh the porous resistance that was the ceiling to ee onto the floor above

Since I&039; to get s, it could be a real circus fora wall, found a corner, turned, and soon turned again, bouncing lightly against oddly placed surfaces There didn&039;t seeain and foundabout a foot off the floor in the stall of anothersurprise there, it was probably for the convenience of the water pipes I drifted down to the floor and went solid

Someone in the next stall flushed and left The rest of the place was happily clear, so I eased out to hear better Music and the drone of the crowd caht pick up I opened the door a crack and peered out into a hall Cheap wood panel gone dark with age halfway up the walls, the other half all peeling paint and waterby rusty chains I swear sos Lots of et into certain roon of Newton, at least fro my head out to check the other end of the hall

More doors and crowd Okay, so where was the big attraction?

Then I picked up the un worked and a roulette wheel spinning Great, I&039;d guessed right, give the ar

No one paid any mind to me as I stepped out for a better look around What conversation I picked up had to do with every conceivable sporting event going on that week and how much to lay out on which risk The nueneral poverty of the neighborhood and the times, but there were plenty of bettors tobusiness if I wanted to ood solid, tried-and-true gold-plated vice, then sit back and watch the dollars roll in until I had e Of course, there&039;d be the tough part of explaining it all to the tax man, but that&039;s where accountants like Opal co until it looks all clean and sweet But then there&039;s other guys in the sa to take the butter off your toast, so you either make a treaty or shoot &039;em, simple as that Then you hire lawyers to keep you out of court, or have enough dough to pay off the judge when they can&039;t, or buy off the whole goddamned jury when

I shook my head Too o back to my battered typewriter andspiders, and thenjust another face in di my way from one side of the hall to the other Everyone was et some free money than to notice a fake in the crowd The bouncers were another h As I worked ainst my memory on the theory that if I knew one, he&039;d know ain and the hell with the consequences

There were a few closed doors at the far end of the long hall, one held a sheet of pebbled glass that had a light showing through Maybe it was the ht as well start there I did the same as in the men&039;s roo ain

Invisible now in a forest of feet, I slipped along, keeping the baseboard onthe end wall, then it was a ap where its door didn&039;t quite s out there, this was ela Paco&039;s I found an unused corner, took up post there, and waited and listened

"They should have called in by now," she snarled She see back and forth This was one gal who didn&039;t kno to hold still

"Every hour on the hour," added ato Doc, a joyfully inebriated crony she&039;d inherited from her father

Whether Doc was a real lieutenant with power in the organization or just a soured out Last night, when some morphine-laced blood I&039;d been forced to take to keep alive knocked me flat, he&039;d pronounced ela about dropping me in the lake It was no reflection on his medical abilities- not that I had much trust in them-but when I&039;m out for the count and unable to speak or s went tonight, Angela was in for a hell of a shock

"Where are they?" Another snarl fro that sa theative reply "If he&039;s pulling a double cross on&039;em both up by their balls"

So she definitely knew about Sullivan co into town and was obviously not happy about it

"No, you know your daddy doesn&039;t like such language"

"You and I both know&039; he hardly notices stuff like that any about hiood for busted bones, lancing boils, and patching up the odd bullet hole or two Frank needs a head doctor to fix him, not a quack like me"

"They&039;re all quacks with their hands out for cash and none of &039;eood as far as I can see I had him in that sanitariuot him so he could dress himself and eat okay"

"He&039;s like a kid, I don&039;t want a kid for a father, I want irl, but soet e-"

"For God&039;s sake, Doc, don&039;t give "

Doc subsided, and I heard Angela&039;s heels clacking on the floor as she walked back and forth

"Where the hell are they?" she repeated

This time Doc made no attempt at an answer I wished he&039;d take a trip to the John so I could do so to stay invisible

" Where?" A loud crash across the rooot the i

"I do want to remind you that this is not your office and that was not your property," said Doc

"Screw it With thetrophy I know he skiets herself set up I&039; to nail the whole pack of &039;em to the wall to dry out in the sun"

Soela ?" Another man&039;s voice

"That&039;s Miss Paco to you now"

"Uhh-yeah, Miss Paco What&039;s wrong? I heard-"

"Nothing, you heard nothing"

"Yes, Miss Paco Ahh, as long as I&039; as the owner of the voice and several others came into the room

"What is this, a convention?" she demanded

"We really need to talk to you, Miss Paco" He soundedhiht of the"

"Last I looked it was just peachy Those roulette wheels are still spinning and the slot h than a bakery You co?"

"I don&039;t mean what&039;s in here, it&039;s the rest of it"

"Which isn&039;t exactly your concern"

"We don&039;t think that way, Miss Paco"

"Oh, you&039;re thinking now Please enlighten me, Mr Dunbar"

"Well, it&039;s like this, we know that Big Frankie ain&039;t feeling so good lately an&039; that you been running things for hi on"

"Only until Big Frankie&039;s better"

"But how long?"

"As long as it takes I&039; you poor, aht for a girl to be doing this kinda thing"

"Says who?"

Dunbar hemmed and hawed, then finally came out with it

"We know that Sean Sullivan&039;s coht be trouble"

A long silence on Angela&039;s part; then: "And you boys don&039;t think I can handle hi Frankie was-"

"Answer irl, Miss Paco"

A very brief silence, then a gun went off Loud, but not too loud, like a balloon popping A 22 perhaps, great for indoor work I heard a thud as a body hit the floor, a runts and groans

"Any of you other bastards think I can&039;t handle myself?" she asked, her voice even, like she&039;d commented on the weather "Coly there were no takers

"All right, now I&039; into town, and yes, he&039;ll try to make some trouble, but you canhe throws at us, but doubled Anyone got any doubts, then have another look at Dunbar"

"You dah pain-clenched teeth

"You&039;re right about that," she said "I ah and you&039;re one lucky bastard You caught her and changed your voice the hard way As for the rest of you, if you plan to give rief, then you&039;d better put that out of your heads right here and now because I&039;ve got no belly for it This is a steady, profitable organization that&039;s made you a ton of s for Big Frankie Paco Nothing&039;s changed and nothing will change Got that?"

"But-but what about Sullivan?" asked one brave soul

"We treat hi to muscle in on Paco territory Kyler tried and failed, this won&039;t be any different, because I&039; Frankie, which ot all the account books, and you know they ot the world by the short hairs I&039;ive &039;eh of approval for that one

"Whenthe whole caboose back to him, and you can bet that I&039;ll have a list in hand of anyone who turned chicken and let him down You want to face that? I didn&039;t think so"

I heard ree with her

"All right I&039; to be s out before the dust settles, but when it does, you won&039;t finda hundred-dollar bonus for each and a couple of free nights at the Satchel with all the booze you can handle ht cheer you up All I ask is that you don&039;t break the girls, &039;cause I&039;ll need &039;earnered the start of a general laugh "Sure, Miss Paco," so Frankie&039;d be proud Now, a couple of you get Dunbar out of here, he&039;s ht h, followed by ain as he was carried away

"Doc?" she said when they were gone

"Don&039;t worry, girl, I&039;ll getI swear, you keep this up and I&039;ll run out of bandaging"

"I do whatever it takes"

"That you do, that you do You put this fire out well enough You i sure Dunbar ain&039;t gonna be bowling again for the rest of his life, but what about Sullivan? You won&039;t sweet-talk the likes of him out of toith a promise of free booze and broads"

"I told you: whatever it takes"

"Huh I&039;d warn you not to get carried away, but what&039;s the point?"

"That&039;s right A dozen down, three to go"

"What?"

"Deiter, Tinny, and Chick Finding out what the hell happened to them If I don&039;t hear fro over "

Invisible and for to find her es

"Be better if you send someone else"

"You think I can&039;t-"

"You can handle it fine, girl, I was thinking it o yourself Don&039;t want the others to get the idea that you&039;re worried about a routine hit on soht of hiht

Angela didn&039;t care much for Doc&039;s recommendation and told him so

"Like it or not, your best course is to always ask what your daddy would do in the sauess is he&039;d send someone else to check on the problem for hi and busy as he was, too big and busy to be bothering yourself with small-fry stuff"

"I&039;ll think about it"

"Good Nohere&039;d I leave ?" His voice faded as he left

She called after hiet a chance and send her in"

He gruone I heard the door shut

Alone at last But I hesitated at re-forave me time to think

My lover Maureen, the woave ain, had talked to erous a thing it could be if it got away from her control Back then it had only been a distant concept for ht not ever happen since neither of us knehether or not the exchange would work If I did become like her and returned, I fully expected her to be there forand keep me out of trouble, but life never hands you what you expect Five years later I returned froht, but was very much on my own, and soon discovered firsthand what could happen when my unnatural concentration locked hard onto a vulnerable hu e of Frank Paco&039;s sanity I saw it in his eyes, watched the devastating change take place when h him like a train

It didn&039;t mean much to me at the time, even seemed to be a kind of justice for what he&039;d done tomore than that because ofme I still hated him, but now more for what he represented than what he&039;d done He was a re reproach

The second incident hen I found myself alone with that woman I needed to question It started the saet the information, then leave was the plan, but it didn&039;t work out that way She was tery Even as I hypnotized her I got caught up and lost in her total vulnerability toI wanted to her and get aith it Then I gave in to that te her throat

It was like so and did nothing about it until it was alan taking her blood into me Seductive, irresistible, and entirely illicit, it was the best I&039;d ever had, and in reed I wanted all of it-even if it killed her

My conscience tardily kicked in, waking me out of the fever in time to stop She eakened, but never knehat really happened, of how close she&039;d cousted withthe experience

And here I was, alone with another attractive, te another&039;s life away to feedas ephemeral as appetite and desire I&039;d come close, too dah to live with, I didn&039;t want this hovering over my shoulder as well

But what else could I do? I had to hypnotize Angela and make her call off the hit on Escott An easy job-unless I killed her

The assurance I&039;d given hi careful now seemed like so much hopeful bullshit