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A thin, weak smile spread on his face. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that you’ve complained for years about Eliot wasting his life as a painter and wasting your money studying in Paris and Rome where he was doing a lot more screwing and drinking than painting. So naturally you want to reward him with a big inheritance.”
“You don’t understand,” he said. “Eliot doesn’t stand a chance. The world would eat him alive. It’s the only way.”
“I know.” She put her hand on the rail of the hospital bed, touched his thin arm with a finger.
“I’m going to die now,” he said.
“I know.”
“Don’t leave, please.” He put a frail hand over hers. “I might fall asleep again, but don’t go. I don’t know why, but I hate the thought that I’d die and nobody would be here. The doctor gives me fifty-fifty on lasting the night. I’m full of narcotics.”
“I won’t go anywhere.”
“I’ll see your mother soon,” the general said.
“I like the pistols, Father. I’ll keep them. If I move somewhere with a fireplace, I’ll put them on the mantel.”
“Do you remember that dog we had in Virginia? What was it? When you were a teenager. Some kind of terrier.”
“It was a Jack Russell terrier,” Joellen told him.
“Yes, I remember. That was a damn fine dog.”
And five minutes later he was gone.
Joellen understood she was drunk, pushed the bottle away, and it tipped over, spilled the remainder of its contents across the table. She left the mess. To hell with it.
She pushed herself away from the table, stood on rubbery legs. She made it as far as the couch and fell asleep with her clothes on.
29
Co
Jerry had said the thing was insured for a hundred thousand. Co
Any collectible is really only worth what somebody is willing to pay.
There must be somebody else out there, a serious collector who didn’t mind throwing a lot of money around. If Co
Rocky Big. Rocky would know what to do. Rocky had known whom to call about the Dybek paintings.
But he couldn’t go to Rocky empty-handed. Co
He started the Plymouth, pointed it toward the Electric Je
Co
Co
Co
Sid tore his eyes from the television behind the bar. A baseball game. When he saw Co
Co
Sid put his hands together, bowed his head, and mumbled a prayer.
“What are you doing, Sid?”
“You’ve got cash,” Sid said. “That’s one of the signs of the apocalypse, ain’t it? I want to get right with God.”
“It’s too late for you. Fix the drink.”
“Uh-huh.” He threw ice and vodka into a shaker, splashed in some token vermouth. He shook it all up, poured it into a delicate glass with a long stem. Two olives. He shoved it in front of Co
“Kirk,” Co
“Whatever. There was a woman in here looking for you.”
Co
“Scout’s honor.”
“I thought you discouraged women from coming in here.” Co
“Sure I discourage them,” Sid said. “This ain’t no hoochie pickup bar. It’s a guys’ bar. Sports on the tube and cheap beer.”
“Uh-huh. What did she look like?” Co
Sid described the woman. Tyra
Co
Sid brought the drink. Co
“Hey, turn up the TV,” Co
Sid glanced at the screen. “It’s a commercial.”
Co
Co
“She wanted to see you.”
“I know that,” Co
“She didn’t say. Not exactly. I don’t think she’s happy with you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You know that wooden cricket bat hanging next to the door?” Sid asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, she just took it off the wall, and she’s coming at you fast.”
Co
He blinked the dancing colors from his eyes, climbed to his knees, reached for the bar, and pulled himself up. He looked side to side, thinking maybe another whack was coming.
“She left,” Sid said.
Dammit.
Co
She screeched the brakes, bumped Co
She rolled down the window, stuck her head out. “Dan has a black eye, you shit.”
“I can explain.”
“Explain in hell.” She revved the engine.
Co
She sat there a moment glaring at him. He looked back, projected puppy-dog sadness through the windshield. She stuck her head out again, still mad but not hysterical. “Get in.”
He slid off the hood, froze a moment watching her. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe she’d plow over him when his guard was down. No, she was cool. He got in the passenger side, and she peeled out of the lot. Co