Read Online Awake Unto Me by Kathleen Knowles - Free Book Online

find something else to do with her spare time besides hang around Meiggs’s Wharf. Teddy was at the Palace Hotel most of the time, still working as a bellhop. She hadn’t made any other friends, nor did she want to.
    Jack said, “That ugly monster Big Moe is getting the lion’s share now. He’s bribed all the captains and everyone’s scared to death of him.”
    “You ought to go back to gambling, Jack. It’s not quite as dirty a business.”
    “Nah. It’s no good without Dr. Addison. I never could get the hang of his system.”
    Leo shook his head again.
    Kerry caught the name, Big Moe, and it started a train of thought. She’d heard Sally talk about who she wouldn’t take on as customers—he was one of them. Kerry would’ve rather not had her doing any whore business, but she knew there was no chance of that. Rose would kick her out of the house if she didn’t pull her weight, and Sally, if nothing else, was a realist. Kerry could entreat all she wanted but Sally wouldn’t budge.
    “You’re a lovesick little fool, you are.” Sally had scoffed at her. “I thought you was tough. I was wrong.” She’d given Kerry’s hair a yank or her nipple a tweak.
    But listening to Leo and Jack talk, Kerry had a germ of an idea. She resolved to talk to Teddy about it.
     
    *
     
    Kerry had her time with Sally in the afternoons after she woke up. She would bring Sally her wake-up glass of beer and get in bed with her.
    “Ugh. You didn’t wash before you went to sleep?” Kerry asked. She’d started touching Sally right away, but the moisture on Sally’s thighs wasn’t Sally’s.
    Sally yawned. “I was too tired. Leave me be then.”
    Kerry rolled over and lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, grinning when Sally rolled out of bed a second later without saying a word and went to take a bath. Before she could talk to Jack, she had to get all her plans together. She didn’t want to fight with Sally since she was an important part of the plan.
    When she’d gone to him, Teddy had said, “It’s the truth. Big Moe’s got all the captains from every whaling ship and most of the others in his pocket. It’s the boatmen who do most of his dirty work. You have to bribe them better than he does.”
    “I can manage that if you lead me to the right ones,” Kerry said.
    “Oh, jeezus. You can’t be thinking of pulling one over on Big Moe, Kerry. That’s suicide.”
    “No, see, I got it worked out. Just listen.”
    Teddy was dubious but finally said yes, because he’d never known Kerry to be wrong about much.
    Now she had to convince Sal. For money, it shouldn’t be a problem.
    She lay in bed and thought out what she would say when Sally came back. Well. After we get a little fun.
    “Here I am, Kerry-o. All ready for you.” Sally jumped into bed and rolled over on Kerry and rubbed their breasts together and Kerry stopped thinking of anything. When Sally got her started, that was all she cared about, though, truthfully, Sally’s charms were getting a mite thin. Kerry was getting disgusted by the drinking and the men. When they were done and Sally was blowing smoke rings up at the ceiling from the little cigars she favored, Kerry kept up a light teasing touch all over her body to distract her and soften her up.
    “Sal. You feel like makin’ some money you don’t have to split with Rose?”
    Sally exhaled and said, “How you figure?”
    “I got a plan. I gotta get Jack some more crimping and I need your help.”
    “So what do you want me to do?”
    “You know that thug, Big Moe. Well, I want you—”
    “No. I ain’t fucking him.”
    “Easy. I think you can make him think you will, but you won’t have to.”
    Sally sat up then and looked at Kerry. “What are you talking about?”
    “I need you to entertain him for a while while we get his marks off the next big ship.”
    “You want me to do what?”
    “Just string him along. I’ll give you the laudanum to spike his whiskey. You just have to keep