Read Online Mickey Spillane - [Mike Hammer 02] by My Gun Is Quick - Free Book Online Page A

you?”
    “A private dick. And I’m not hired by anybody, either.”
    “And you think she was murdered instead of being killed by a hit-run driver.”
    “Lola, I don’t know what to think. Everything’s going around in circles right now. Let’s say I didn’t like the way she died.”
    “Mike ... what if I said I thought she was murdered, too?”
    I jumped at that. “What makes you think so?”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Lots of things, maybe. If she wasn’t murdered, she was killed accidentally before she could be murdered. Let’s say that, Mike.”
    I turned on my side and my hand covered hers. The moonlight on the white V of the plunging neckline made it hard to concentrate. Her skin was white and smooth, in sharp contrast to the black satin. The only thing I could think of was the kind of a bra she could be wearing under a dress like that. It would have to be an engineering marvel.
    “How did you get to know her, Lola?”
    Her answer was simple enough. “We worked together.”
    “You?” It didn’t seem right.
    “Don’t I look the type?”
    “Maybe ... if a guy had dough and a convertible and was looking for an interesting side line in life. But not down in that section. What were you doing there?”
    “I worked in a house up the street.”
    “I thought all the girls were killed in the fire.”
    “They were, but I wasn’t there at the time. I was ... in a hospital. I had been there quite a while. I left today.”
    She looked at the sand and traced two letters in it. V. D.
    “That’s why I was in the hospital. That’s why I was working down there instead of playing for guys with dough and convertibles. I had that once and I lost it. I’m not very smart, am I, Mike?”
    “No,” I told her, “you’re not. Anybody can do what you’re doing and make a living at it. You never had to go in for that, neither did Nancy. There’s no excuse for it. No matter what happens, there’s only one way you wind up. No, Lola, there’s no excuse for it.”
    “Sometimes there is.”
    She ran her fingers through my hair, then dropped her hand to cover mine. “Maybe that’s why Nancy and I were so close ... because there was some excuse for it. I was in love, Mike... terribly in love with a guy who was no damn good. I could have had anybody I wanted, but no, I had to fall for a guy who was no damn good at all. We were going to get married when he ran away with a two-bit bum who hung around all the saloons in town. I was pretty disgusted, I guess. If that was all men wanted I figured on playing the game. I played it pretty good, too. After that I had everything, but I never fell for anybody.
    “At first I was bitter about it, but living became too easy. I had something men wanted, and they were willing to supply the overhead charges. It got so good that it wasn’t worth while playing one sucker at a time. Then one day I met a smart girl who introduced me to the right people, and after that the dates were supplied and I made plenty of money, and I had a lot of time to spend it in, too.
    “I had a name and a phone number, and if they had the dough all they had to do was call. That’s why they called us call girls. The suckers paid plenty, but they got what they wanted and were safe. Then one day I got drunk and slipped up. After that I wasn’t safe to be with any more and the suckers complained, and they took away my name and my phone number, so all I had left was to go on the town.
    “There’s always people looking for leftovers like me. One got me set with an outfit that had a house and a vacancy and I worked there, then they set me down a couple of notches until I wound up in the place where I met Nancy. Most of the girls in the racket just drifted into it, that’s why Nancy and I became friends. She had a reason for being there, too. It wasn’t the same reason, but it was a reason and it put us above the others.
    “One day I got smart. I pulled out of it and went to the hospital. When I was there Nancy