One for the Money Page 0,73

shirt away from my sweaty body.

Jackie emerged from the Grand Hotel and lumbered down the street toward me, en route to her corner. "You look like heat stroke," she said, handing me a cold Coke.

I popped the tab, drank some soda, and held the cold can against my forehead. "Thanks. This is great."

"Don't think I'm getting soft on your skinny white ass," she said. "It's just you're gonna die sitting in that car, and you're gonna give Stark Street a bad name. People gonna say it a race murder, and my white trash pervert business'll get ruined."

"I'll try not to die. God forbid I should ruin your pervert business."

"Fucking A," she said. "Them little white perverts pay fine money for my big nasty ass."

"How's Lula?"

Jackie shrugged. "She's doing as good as she can. She appreciated that you sent flowers."

"Not much activity here today."

Jackie slid her eyes up to the gym windows. "Thank sweet Jesus for that," she said softly.

I followed her gaze to the second floor. "You better not be seen talking to me."

"Yeah," she said. "I gotta get back to work, anyway."

I stood there for a few minutes longer, enjoying the soda and the luxury of being fully vertical. I turned to get back in the car and gasped at the sight of Ramirez standing next to me.

"Been waiting all day for you to get out of this car," he said. "Bet you're surprised at how quiet I move. Didn't even hear me come up on you, did you? That's how it's always gonna be. You're never gonna hear me until I pounce. And then it's gonna be too late."

I took a slow breath to quiet my heart. I waited a moment longer to steady my voice. When I felt some control, I asked him about Carmen. "I want to know about Carmen," I said. "I want to know if she saw you coming."

"Carmen and me, we had a date. Carmen asked for what she got."

"Where is she now?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. She split after Ziggy got offed."

"What about the guy that was with Ziggy that night? Who was he? What happened to him?"

"Don't know nothing about that either."

"I thought they worked for you."

"Why don't we go upstairs and talk about this? Or we could go for a ride. I got a Porsche. I could take you for a ride in my Porsche."

"I don't think so."

"See, there you go again. Refusing the champ. You're always refusing the champ. He don't like that."

"Tell me about Ziggy and his friend . . . the guy with the smashed nose."

"Be more interesting to tell you about the champ. How he gonna teach you some respect. How he gonna punish you so you learn not to refuse him." He stepped closer, and the heat coming off his body made the air feel cool by comparison. "Think maybe I'll make you bleed before I fuck you. You like that? You want to get cut, bitch?"

That's it. I'm out of here. "You're not going to do anything to me," I said. "You don't scare me, and you don't excite me."

"You lie." He wrapped his hand around my upper arm and squeezed hard enough to make me cry out.

I kicked him hard in the shin, and he hit me. I never saw his hand move. The crack rang in my ears and my head snapped back. I tasted blood and blinked hard several times to clear the cobwebs. When most of the stars faded, I shot him square in the face with the Sure Guard.

He howled in pain and rage and reeled into the street with his hands to his eyes. The howling metamorphosed to choking and gasping, and he went down on all fours like some monstrous animal—a big, pissed-off, wounded buffalo.

Jimmy Alpha came running from across the street, followed by his secretary and a man I'd never seen before.

The man went down on the ground with Ramirez, trying to calm him, telling him he'd be okay in a minute, to take deep breaths.

Alpha and the secretary rushed over to me.

"Jesus," Jimmy Alpha said, pressing a clean handkerchief into my hand. "Are you okay? He didn't break anything, did he?"

I put the handkerchief to my mouth and held it there while I ran my tongue over my teeth to see if any were missing or loose. "I think I'm okay."

"I'm really sorry," Jimmy said. "I don't know what's the matter with him, the way he treats women. I apologize for him. I don't know what