A Savage Place Read Online Free Page A

Hard fat.” I looked at Candy.
    “Sound familiar?”
    “Maybe,” she said.
    Rafferty looked back and forth between us. “What did I miss?” he said.
    “You were out in the kitchen looking at the sink,” I said. “It sounds like the guy that poured it on Candy last night.”
    “Him?” Rafferty’s eyes widened and his mouth thinned. “That fat fuck?” He opened his mouth to say something else, realized he had nothing to say, breathed in instead, and shut his mouth.
    “We’ll file that information,” I said. “Who’s Sam Felton?”
    “Producer. Studio is Summit.”
    “And you saw him talking to a fat man?”
    “Yeah and the fat guy said, `Here I am.‘ And Felton says, `Here’s your money. Same as last week?’ And the fat guy says, `Absolutely.‘ He says, `I don’t jack up the price. I don’t do business that way. You make a deal, you stick with it.’ And Felton hands him an envelope, and the fat guy takes it and folds it over and puts it in his hip pocket without looking. And Felton says nothing else. Just stands there. So the fat guy says, ‘See you next week. Same time, same station,’ and gives him a kind of little salute. You know, like this.” Rafferty touched his forehead and flipped his hand away. “Like, `ta-ta,‘ you know?”
    “Yeah. Did you see what he drove away in?”
    “No.”
    “Why do you think it’s a payoff?”
    “What else could it be?”
    “Did you say anything to Felton?”
    “No.”
    “So for all you know, Felton could be paying off his bookie.”
    “It wasn’t like that,” Rafferty said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it was a payoff. There was a threat there. The way the fat guy stood and talked. The way Felton was. There was something going on.”
    “And you’d heard rumors about payoffs already.”
    “Yeah, sure. I mean, Candy had mentioned she was looking into it.”
    “So you were keeping an eye out.”
    “Sure. But I didn’t read anything into it. I’m telling you, this is straight. Besides, look what happened to Candy. Doesn’t that prove it?”
    “It adds credence,” I said.
    “I went to see Felton,” Candy said. “He denied the entire incident. I talked to other people on the set. They didn’t know anything, but I had a sense Felton was covering up something. As if he were scared or guilty.”
    “Just a feeling, like Rafferty’s?”
    “Yes. But I’m a reporter; it’s a trained feeling. I think they used to call it a hunch in the old Bogart movies.”
    “And?”
    “And I had an appointment scheduled with the head of Summit Studios, Roger Hammond. It was scheduled for today.” She paused. “I missed it,” she said.
    “Did you tell Felton that Rafferty saw him?”
    “No. I just said I had an eyewitness.”
    “Anybody know that Rafferty is it?”
    Candy was quiet for a moment. “Just the police and the news director at the station.”
    “You tell anybody, Mick?”
    He shrugged. “Well I asked around a little. People on the crew. Some of the cast, like that.”
    “So a lot of people know you saw the payoff.”
    “Well, yeah. So what? I can handle what comes along.”
    “Be prepared to,” I said. “I can look out for her, but you’re on your own.”
    “Don’t worry about me,” Rafferty said.
    “Listen,” I said. “I can take you, and there’s guys can take me. Don’t be such a goddamn rooster all the time. Someone wants to kill you, it’s not hard.”
    “Just ‘cause I’d lose doesn’t mean I won’t fight you,” Rafferty said. “I don’t have to listen to a lot of cheap shit from you, win or lose.”
    I nodded. “That’s true. I’ll give it a rest. But you’ve got to know what you’re dealing with. These aren’t tough guys who are trying to prove their manliness, or guys who are interested in who can take who. These are people who will shoot you in the back while you. walk up to your door, or guys who will run you over when you’re crossing Melrose Avenue on your way to Lucy’s El Adobe.