Read Online Tough Baby (Martin Fender Novel) by Jesse Sublett - Free Book Online Page B

you. What about all those other nights?”
    “I was faithful. For eighteen weeks I was faithful. I called you every few days, I sent you flowers. Last night I was tired and frustrated and a little drunk. You didn’t have time for me so I went to a party with a girl. Something happened to her. I’m trying to find out what.”
    She didn’t say anything.
    “I won’t give you up without a fight. If you don’t want to try to work this out, if you don’t think it’s worth it . . .”
    A big tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes were all squinched shut, crow’s feet forming in her smooth skin. She shook, all of her. I wouldn’t have been human if I hadn’t taken her then and put my arms around her and not let go. If I wouldn’t have squeezed her tight, nestling her cheek next to mine, letting her bury her protests in the collar of my shirt. And I’m human.
    We stayed together until my clothes were damp with sweat, her body warm and tender and still trembling just a bit, but yielding. She sighed.
    “I’m sorry, Martin. I know I’ve been beating you up with this, holding it over your head, treating you like a suspect just because you were hanging around with her. I’m not worried that you would have hurt her. But I am jealous and angry and generally sickened that you’re in this situation, and I just can’t forgive you for it yet.”
    “I kind of figured that.”
    “It’s been a long hot day, Martin,” she said finally. “I’m going to take a shower. You’d better hang those clothes up or you’ll never get the wrinkles out of them. I think you picked up all the clothes you had over here before you went on the road. Let me get you a couple of coat hangers.”
“But that means I’ll have to take them off.”
“Uh-huh,” she said.
She got in the shower and I undressed. I toyed with my cigarette pack for a while, thinking. Then the phone rang. I answered it.
“Martin?” said a tentatively aggressive voice. “This is Vick. Vick Travis.”
“What do you want? Who gave you this number?”
“Your pal the cop.”
“Even pals make mistakes. Good-bye.”
    “Now hold on. Hear me out. I figured he owed me since you tried to sick him on me this afternoon. Yeah, you hear right. I know you told him that gal was asking around about me. But I’m innocent as the goddamn pope. My blood type is A negative.”
“OK. So maybe you didn’t do it. Is that why you called?”
“Nope. I wanna hire you. Your boss at the collection agency tells me you got a nose for trouble.”
“It usually seems to find me. I’ve had mixed results when I go looking for it.”
“Come on, man, I’m serious. Dead serious. I got trouble and I can’t afford a detective. Blackmail. Interested?”
“I’ll call you back. I’m busy.”
“Well . . .”
I hung up on him.
    And then Ladonna came in the room and turned off the lamp. Her body was coolly damp. But warm. She trembled under my touch. We kissed. It was nice, but it didn’t last long enough. “Who called?” she asked softly.
“Vick Travis.”
She pulled away. I kept our legs locked together.
“What did he want?”
“He wants me to do some work for him. He’s being blackmailed.”
“Blackmail?” She shivered. I could feel the bed shake. “He’s gross, Martin. He’s weird. Why doesn’t he go to the police?”
“Why don’t most people who get blackmailed go to the police? I don’t know what it’s about. I hung up on him.”
“Sounds like you talked for a bit, though.”
    “Long enough,” I said. I got on top of her. We kissed some more. She was quiet again, making soft low sounds, trembling a bit more under my touch, especially when I touched her breasts or her flat belly, and then she stiffened again.
“What are you going to do, Martin?” she said.
“What do you mean? Am I going to meet him, see what’s up? I don’t know.”
“Martin. He’s weird.”
“I know. Can we forget about him?”
“No. And still, I keep thinking about the other thing.”
“The