‘I was thirsty,’ she said.
‘Sure, you were.’
She reached out with his glass. When he took it, she knocked her own glass against the side. ‘Good health.’
Rader sat down on a chair beside the couch where he had a view of the windows facing the lot, and the door. He glanced at both.
‘You worked over in the old place?’ he said.
She was still smiling, her foot bobbing every time he spoke. ‘You don’t waste time. I got all night. Why not come over beside me?’
‘Because this is professional.’
‘I can be very professional.’
‘Talk to me about Skylar.’
‘Whatcha wanna know?’
‘Anything you got,’ he said. ‘I’m John. What’s your name? We seem to have skipped that part.’
‘Blondie,’ she said, reaching out. Rader briefly clasped a hand that felt like it might come apart on the smallest squeeze. The hand all tiny bones and sinews. ‘Blondie,’ she said again, ‘and, yeah, I used to work there for a lot of years.’
‘He build it?’
‘He bought it. He wasn’t much then. He had no sheet—still has no sheet, ’cause he’s smart—and he had no career much to speak of either. He had drive, he had youth, he had energy—and he had connections.’ Blondie’s smile deepened, her blue eyes sparkling as she watched Rader. A few seconds passed, and Rader wondered how many years since that move wasn’t embarrassing. She said, ‘He was the front guy for somebody else, and then... let’s just say the situation became a problem, and the other man didn’t want anything to do with that hotel. So money changed hands, and then it was all Skylar’s. And he was on his way.’
‘Ten years ago?’
‘Oh, no. I go back a whole lot longer than that. Must be more like twenty, could be twenty-five years.’ Her glass was empty. ‘You can’t keep up,’ she said.
‘Who was the man?’
Raising her chin, she leaned over, taking his hand in both of hers. Slowly, breathing each word: ‘Your lady is sitting with an empty glass.’
‘How many of those will it take?’
She laughed. ‘That’d depend on what you had in mind.’
Rader walked back over to the bar and ordered two shots of Jack, ice, cola, both double. When he returned she was leaning back on the couch again in the same pose, arm across the back, her face resting on her finger, foot bobbing as she eyed him up and down. Rader glanced back to the entrance, and then to the windows.
He pushed one glass across the table towards her and she stretched out, holding his hand. ‘I like this,’ she said, reaching for the other glass, too. ‘You’re a good listener. Men don’t ask me much more than if size matters, or if I dig doing it with chicks. It’s like I’m just getting into sex after five years in a goddamn convent.’
Rader said, ‘Tell me about the man who sold him the hotel.’
‘I shouldn’t really. You promise not to talk.’
Rader nodded.
‘I should feel bad, ’cause Skylar didn’t do much more to me than kick me out of the Marquis the night it opened. Oh, and he raped me a coupla times as well.’ Her gaze hardened. ‘So I don’t feel bad at all.’
‘When?’ Rader said.
A shrug. ‘Down the years. Coulda gotten it for free, actually. Na. Not in the mood for anything that might be pleasurable to us both.’ Her eyes were suddenly moist. She lost the smile and made a snatch for her glass. Deep breath before she sipped. Another sip and she was smiling again. ‘I’m not the maudlin type, but if you talk about all that stuff, I’m gonna say something crazy, like how much would you take to kill him?’
Rader sipped his drink. ‘That’s another subject, for somebody else.’
‘That’s a more interesting subject,’ Blondie said, ‘than sitting here reminiscing. Did you know that shrinks these days don’t believe in raking over all the scars—did you really know that? Coulda saved a fortune.’
‘You didn’t tell me who he bought the hotel from,’ Rader said.
‘I don’t... I can’t talk that way, and if you were in my shoes you’d know why. You can put a gun at my head and you’re gonna have to pull the trigger too, but it still won’t do you any good. I’m not walking through the rest of my life wondering when they’re coming for me.’
‘Okay, but tell me one thing, and then we leave it. He was into some connected guys back then. What about now?’
Nodding, slowly, over and over. ‘You better believe it,’ she said.
‘Which city?’
‘You just don’t stop.’
‘Which city?’
‘Would you believe me if I said I really don’t know?’
Rader said nothing.
Blondie said, ‘Does it matter that much?’
Rader reached for his beer, took a sip. ‘I guess not.’
Blondie’s foot was bobbing again. ‘So who is it?’ she said.
He frowned. ‘What?’
‘Somebody put you up to this,’ she said, ‘and, boy, do you look like you mean business. But then maybe that’s just you all over. I’m still finding that out, and I study guys real quick. So maybe it was some girl, paid you. Or is it your brother he fucked up? This is family, it’s personal—a vendetta?’ Blondie tilted her head left, and slowly right, watching him. ‘It’s not family with you though, is it?’
Rader said nothing. He saw headlights sweep across the parking lot, and go dead. He watched a moment. Felt Blondie’s eyes on him, but kept watching. Darkness out there.
‘So how about it?’ she said.
Rader ignored her. He knew his gun was back in his motel room. His eyes scanned to the exit. No one came in.
Her foot jabbed his leg.
‘How about it?’ she said.
Rader looked at her now. Edge of his vision he could see a couple walk past the windows, then into the bar.
‘What would it cost for your undivided attention?’ she said. ‘Tonight. A lot of nights.’
‘You don’t want that,’ Rader said, ‘at any price.’
She leveled her eyes at him. ‘Twenty-five years. Can you imagine? Don’t even try. Just answer me: How much to kill him?’
‘Forget it.’
‘I don’t,’ she said, ‘that’s the trouble.’
Rader stood up, glancing at the darkened lot again. He edged past her, away from the couch and down along the windows to the door. Pulling at the handle he moved outside. Just across was the motel. Ahead were rows of cars. Rader walked down the row and then a door opened on a Merc and two large men stepped outside. The nearest man stood there in the light of the car’s interior. He was holding a gun. Rader only saw the darkened bulk of the other guy, but the first man, who might’ve had nylon over his face, said: ‘Get inside the fucking car or else I’ll kill you on the spot.’ The gun poked at Rader’s abdomen. ‘This close,’ the man said, ‘no one will hear a sound.’
Another jab from the gun, harder.
‘Arms away from your side,’ the man said, hands in Rader’s jacket now, slapping against his sides. ‘Nah, we’re good.’