Read Online [Mike Hammer 03] - Vengeance Is Mine by Mickey Spillane - Free Book Online Page A

deal will get boring.”
    “So they’ll move on to something else.”
    “Exactly. Right now it’s almost a club. They’re fawned over and fought over. They make a big splash. Wait till it all catches up with them.”
    “And all this in the Bowery. Right in the middle of the Bowery! Pat would give his right arm for a peep at this. Maybe I’ll let him give me a left arm too.”
    I stopped and peered around again. Beauty. It was starting to get flat now. There were too many big bellies and bald heads in the way. They spoiled the picture. I spotted Homer and Andrew in the crowd having a big time at the crap table. Evidently Homer was winning because his babe was stuffing the chips he handed her into a bag that wouldn’t take too many. The ones she had left over got tied up in her handkerchief.
    We made a complete tour of the place before picking out a leather-covered comer spot to watch the shindig and drink at the same time. A waiter in a cowboy outfit brought us highballs and crackers and said it was on the house. As soon as he left Connie asked, “What do you think, Mike?”
    “I don’t know, sugar. I’m wondering if my pal would have gone for this.”
    “Wasn’t he like the rest?”
    “You mean, was he a man?”
    “Sort of.”
    “Hell, he probably would. What guy wouldn’t take in a hot spot with a babe. He’s alone in the city, no chaperon and bored stiff. His work is done for the day and he needs a little relaxation. We’ll leave it at that. If he did get persuaded to come it didn’t take much persuasion.”
    I lit a cigarette and picked up my drink. I had a long swallow and was following it with a drag on the butt when the crowd split apart for a second to let a waiter through and I had a clear view of the bar.
    Juno was sitting there laughing at something Anton Lipsek just said.
    The ice started to rattle against my glass and I had that feeling up my spine again. I said to Connie, “Get lost for a little while, will you?”
    “She’s truly beautiful, isn’t she, Mike?”
    I blushed for the first time since I wore long pants. “She’s different. She makes most of them look sick.”
    “Me too?”
    “I haven’t seen her with her clothes off. Until then you’re the best.”
    “Don’t lie, Mike.” Her eyes were laughing at me.
    I stood up and grinned back at her. “Just in case you really want to know, she’s the best-looking thing I ever saw. I get steamed up watching her from fifty feet away. Whatever a dame’s supposed to have on the ball, she’s got it. My tongue feels an inch thick when I talk to her and if she asked me to jump I’d say, ‘How high?’ and if she asked me to poop I’d say, ‘How much?’. But here’s something you can tuck away if it means anything to you. I don’t like her and I don’t know why I don’t.”
    Connie reached over and took a cigarette from my pack. When it was lit she said, “It means plenty to me. I’ll get lost, Mike. But just for a little while.”
    I patted her hand and walked over to where the queen of the gods and goddesses was holding court. When she saw me her smile made sunshine and the funny feeling started around my stomach.
    She held out her hand and I took it. “Mike, what are you doing here?”
    Juno guided me to a stool on Olympus, letting go my hand almost reluctantly. More eyes than Anton Lipsek’s watched me enviously. “I was sidetracked into a flirtation when I left your office.”
    Anton wiggled his beard with an “Ah hah!” He caught on fast.
    “I guess it pays to be physical,” Juno smiled. Her eyes drifted over the crowd. “There aren’t too many men here who are. You’re rather an attraction.”
    So was she. You might say she was over-clothed by comparison, but not overdressed. The front of the black gown came up to her neck and the sleeves came down to meet her gloves. The width of her shoulders, the regal taper of her waist was sheathed in a shimmering silk that reflected the lights and clung tenaciously to