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

him by you for the night.”
    “That’s it?”
    “That’s all.”
    Sally stared at the ceiling, her eyes narrowed in thought as she puffed away on her little cigar. “Okay, Kerry. You got yerself a deal. How long do I get to keep that piece of crap in my bed overnight?”
    “I’ll make sure you get a fair cut, even if I have to take it out of my own.”
    Sliding her fingers inside Kerry, Sally grinned wickedly. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll get mine, sweet girl.”
     
    *
     
    Teddy gave Kerry the word a week later. The gossip at Black’s said a big shipment was coming in. Kerry had convinced Jack that the scheme would work, and although he was reluctant he gave in to Kerry’s certainty. They would offer the Whitehall boatman a good price and tell him that Big Moe was indisposed for the evening. Jack looked hard at Kerry and asked, “What do you mean indisposed?”
    “He’ll be with Sally.”
    “Oh, Christ.”
    “She’s gonna give him a dose of laudanum just like we give the sailors. He won’t remember a thing. He’ll go to her thinking he can have her for a while and then be ready to meet the longboats when they come in. I know which one he’ll go for.”
    “You have it all worked out, I guess.”
    “I do, Jack. Just give me some money.”
    It worked perfectly. Jack got six able-bodied sailors for the captain of the Leeward On. Sally told Kerry that Big Moe was almost chivalrous to her when he came around, but after his one glass of whiskey, he went down like a buffalo that had been shot, and when he woke the next morning, she’d been kind to him and told him all sorts of lies about how wonderful he’d been. He left her with a pounding headache and not remembering a thing, which bothered him no end, seeing as how his not remembering included anything that happened to Sally. He went away puzzled and hung over.
    Kerry went around to Black’s and found Teddy where he could always be found when he wasn’t bellhopping.
    “Big Moe might not be as dumb as we thought,” he said, his voice fearful. “He’s been askin’ a lot of questions. No one says nothing, of course. They ain’t crazy.”
    That night, Kerry raced upstairs to Sally’s room to find out if Big Moe had come back around.
    Sally was sitting at her dressing table, brushing her hair. She looked up and met Kerry’s desperate eyes in the mirror. “What’s your hurry, girl?” she said, her tone dismissive. “It’s time for me to go to work. You can hear them all down there.” She tossed her head to indicate the noise from the saloon that filtered up through the floor.
    Kerry took a breath and forced herself to speak calmly. “Big Moe might come back around to talk to you. Just play dumb, will you?”
    “Don’t worry about me, lover. Look after yourself.”
    Kerry knelt and put her arms around Sally’s waist. “I just don’t want nothing to happen to you.” She buried her face in Sally’s side.
    Sally kept brushing her hair. “It’s fine, darling. It’s going to be fine. Now let me loose. I have to get ready.”
    Kerry reluctantly let her go, stood up, and bent to give her a long deep kiss. She wasn’t sure, but she thought Sally didn’t return the kiss as warmly as she usually did.
     
    *
     
    Leo shook Kerry awake roughly. She looked into his face. It was a stolid mask.
    “What time is it?” She rubbed her eyes.
    “Four a.m. Come on.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Get dressed quick. We need to go.”
    In a dank basement in police headquarters, Leo and Kerry stood with a policeman next to a grim-faced man in a heavy apron. At the sergeant’s nod, the morgue keeper pulled back the sheet. It was Jack, his head bashed in. Kerry stared for a long moment, then turned and buried her face in Leo’s waistcoat and wept.
    “I guess you got your answer then,” Leo told the sergeant. “Send the burial fee to me.”
    Back at the Grey Dog, Leo shoved a shot of whiskey across the bar to Kerry. “It was Big Moe. I guess you know that,”