the Hot Kid (2005) Read Online Free
Author: Elmore - Carl Webster 0 Leonard
never win."
"Who told you all this?"
"One of the bellboys."
Chapter 18
"The one gets whiskey for you?" Jack hesitated. "A different one. I told him to keep an eye out and call me when she comes in the hotel. I've seen her in the lobby and recognized her right away."
"What's all this information cost you?"
"Couple of bucks. Dollar for her name and address, how she registers. A girl in the office told the bellboy you pay the bill whenever she stays, usually every other Friday through the weekend. I know you met her when you were living in Sapulpa those years we never saw you."
The dad said, "You're sure of that, huh?"
"I know you bought her a house, set her up."
The dad's droopy mustache gave him a tired look staring across the desk, the way Jack saw the dad whenever he thought of him. The big mustache, the suit and tie, and that tired look, rich as he was.
"Let's see," the dad said, "you were five when I came out here to work."
"You left us I was four years old."
"Well, I know you were ten when I bought this house. Fifteen in 1921, the time you took my pistol and shot that colored boy."
Jack looked at him surprised. "Everybody was shooting niggers, the race riot was going on. I didn't kill him, did I?"
"That whole neighborhood of Greenwood burned down--"
"Niggerville," Jack said. "Was the Knights of Liberty started the fires. I know I told you back then I never struck a match."
"What I'm trying to recall," the dad said, "the first time you were arrested."
"For shooting out streetlights."
"And assault. You got picked up for getting that little girl drunk and raping her. Carmel Rossi?"
Jack started shaking his head saying she wasn't any little girl. "You' d seen the titties on her you'd of known she was grown up. She dropped the charge, didn't she?"
"I paid her daddy what he makes in a month."
"She had her panties hanging over a bush before I ever touched her. Was my word against hers."
"Her daddy still works for me," Oris said. "Builds storage tanks, the big ones, hold fifty-five and eighty thousand barrels of crude. How'd you like to work for him, clean out tanks? Get in there in the fumes and shovel out that bottom sludge. Start there and we work you up to your ten thousand a month."
"Everything I got into," Jack said, sitting low in the leather chair, comfortable, "either I didn't start it or it was a misunderstanding."
"How about getting caught with the Mexican reefer? What didn't the police understand about it?"
Jack grinned at the dad.
"You ever try it?"
See what the dad had to say to that.
Nothing. He said, "I don't know what's wrong with you. You're a nice-looking boy, wear a clean shirt every day, keep your hair combed . . . Where'd you get your ugly disposition? Your mama blames me for not being around, so then I feel guilty and give you things, a car, whatever you want. You get in trouble, I get you out. Well, now you've moved on to extortion in your life of crime. What're we talking about here? I pay what you want or you're telling everybody I have a girlfriend? Jesus Christ, you know how many girlfriends there are in Tulsa? Set up with their own place? Hell, I keep mine in Sapulpa. Is that the deal, you're threatening to tell on me?"
"I tell Mama," Jack said, "see how you like her knowing."
Now he was getting the cold stare again, Jack ready to pick up the metal derrick from the corner of the desk if Oris came at him. Be self-defense. But the dad didn't move. He said, "You think your mama doesn't know about her?"
Shit. Jack hadn't thought of that.
Still, Oris could be bluffing.
"All right," Jack said, "I'll tell her I know about it, too. And I'll see if I can get Emma to understand you're screwing this oil camp whore."
He thought it would set Oris off, get him yelling--the idea of his little Emma hearing such a thing, even though she had no sense of things. The dad stayed calm across the desk and it surprised Jack, the bugger staring, but holding on like that.
When Oris did speak
"Who told you all this?"
"One of the bellboys."
Chapter 18
"The one gets whiskey for you?" Jack hesitated. "A different one. I told him to keep an eye out and call me when she comes in the hotel. I've seen her in the lobby and recognized her right away."
"What's all this information cost you?"
"Couple of bucks. Dollar for her name and address, how she registers. A girl in the office told the bellboy you pay the bill whenever she stays, usually every other Friday through the weekend. I know you met her when you were living in Sapulpa those years we never saw you."
The dad said, "You're sure of that, huh?"
"I know you bought her a house, set her up."
The dad's droopy mustache gave him a tired look staring across the desk, the way Jack saw the dad whenever he thought of him. The big mustache, the suit and tie, and that tired look, rich as he was.
"Let's see," the dad said, "you were five when I came out here to work."
"You left us I was four years old."
"Well, I know you were ten when I bought this house. Fifteen in 1921, the time you took my pistol and shot that colored boy."
Jack looked at him surprised. "Everybody was shooting niggers, the race riot was going on. I didn't kill him, did I?"
"That whole neighborhood of Greenwood burned down--"
"Niggerville," Jack said. "Was the Knights of Liberty started the fires. I know I told you back then I never struck a match."
"What I'm trying to recall," the dad said, "the first time you were arrested."
"For shooting out streetlights."
"And assault. You got picked up for getting that little girl drunk and raping her. Carmel Rossi?"
Jack started shaking his head saying she wasn't any little girl. "You' d seen the titties on her you'd of known she was grown up. She dropped the charge, didn't she?"
"I paid her daddy what he makes in a month."
"She had her panties hanging over a bush before I ever touched her. Was my word against hers."
"Her daddy still works for me," Oris said. "Builds storage tanks, the big ones, hold fifty-five and eighty thousand barrels of crude. How'd you like to work for him, clean out tanks? Get in there in the fumes and shovel out that bottom sludge. Start there and we work you up to your ten thousand a month."
"Everything I got into," Jack said, sitting low in the leather chair, comfortable, "either I didn't start it or it was a misunderstanding."
"How about getting caught with the Mexican reefer? What didn't the police understand about it?"
Jack grinned at the dad.
"You ever try it?"
See what the dad had to say to that.
Nothing. He said, "I don't know what's wrong with you. You're a nice-looking boy, wear a clean shirt every day, keep your hair combed . . . Where'd you get your ugly disposition? Your mama blames me for not being around, so then I feel guilty and give you things, a car, whatever you want. You get in trouble, I get you out. Well, now you've moved on to extortion in your life of crime. What're we talking about here? I pay what you want or you're telling everybody I have a girlfriend? Jesus Christ, you know how many girlfriends there are in Tulsa? Set up with their own place? Hell, I keep mine in Sapulpa. Is that the deal, you're threatening to tell on me?"
"I tell Mama," Jack said, "see how you like her knowing."
Now he was getting the cold stare again, Jack ready to pick up the metal derrick from the corner of the desk if Oris came at him. Be self-defense. But the dad didn't move. He said, "You think your mama doesn't know about her?"
Shit. Jack hadn't thought of that.
Still, Oris could be bluffing.
"All right," Jack said, "I'll tell her I know about it, too. And I'll see if I can get Emma to understand you're screwing this oil camp whore."
He thought it would set Oris off, get him yelling--the idea of his little Emma hearing such a thing, even though she had no sense of things. The dad stayed calm across the desk and it surprised Jack, the bugger staring, but holding on like that.
When Oris did speak
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