What's in It for Me? Read Online Free Page B

get you.”
    â€œNobody is going to get me, Harry,” he said. “Being your partner for a few months was a wonderful education. Now I know everything. Nobody’s going to get me.”
    â€œNo reason why they should,” I said. “And even though you stopped me from saying it before, Teddy, I want to say it now. I’m damn glad to hear that you’re in business for yourself and that things are going all right. I mean that, Teddy. Honestly, I do.”
    â€œYou have no idea how you move me,” he said calmly. “I’m just all cut up inside with gratitude. And what, if I’m not sticking my nose into affairs that I guess belong more properly in the hands of the police department; what, Harry, are you doing to keep body and soul together?”
    I laughed and spread my arms wide.
    â€œWell, Teddy,” I said, “do I look like I’m starving?”
    â€œNo,” he admitted, “you don’t look like you’re starving. You look like you been striking up friendship with the night watchmen in banks. Who’re you screwing? What’s your racket now, Bogen?”
    â€œI’m a resident buyer now,” I said, taking out my card case and handing him one.
    He glanced at the card and tossed it into the gutter deliberately.
    â€œOh,” he said with a sneer, “one of those whores, eh?”
    â€œDon’t be so sarcastic about whores,” I said. “They serve their purpose.”
    â€œMaybe they do,” he said, “but that’s still no reason to be seen standing on the street talking to them.”
    â€œIt isn’t going to hurt you to be seen talking to me, Teddy,” I said with a touch of hardness in my voice. “You know that.”
    â€œI don’t know anything,” he said.
    â€œAll right, then, I’ll teach you something. I’ll—”
    â€œI took a couple of your lessons when we were in Apex Modes together, Harry,” he said. “I had enough. Now come on and spit out what you want. I’ve got a business to take care of and dresses to sell. What do you want?”
    It would have been simpler, at that, just to tell him what I wanted and have him hand it over. But, of course, he was too short-sighted for that. He had to put up a fight.
    â€œWell, what the hell do you think you’re doing now?” I demanded. “I’m a resident buyer. I’ve got clients. And you’re a manufacturer with dresses to sell. How much brains does it take to figure out the answer to that, Teddy?”
    He took a cigarette from his mouth and cocked his head slightly to let the smoke pass his eye.
    â€œYou may be a buyer, Harry,” he said slowly, “but I’m not interested in selling you.”
    His interests were among the more minor of my worries.
    â€œNo?” I said.
    â€œNo,” he replied.
    â€œThen what are you gonna do with those velvets you’ve got collecting moths on your racks? What are you gonna do, put them in a tank with vinegar and preserve them?”
    His head straightened up and the skin around his eyes furrowed quickly.
    â€œStill the world’s smartest guy, eh, Harry?”
    â€œOh, I manage to keep my eyes and ears open.”
    â€œLook out somebody doesn’t come up from behind you one of these days and shove an umbrella up your ass.”
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    â€œNobody’s shoving anything up my ass, Teddy.”
    â€œMaybe,” he said. “But remember this, Harry. With guys like you, once they get it up there, they won’t be satisfied. They’re gonna make sure they open it, too.”
    I grinned at him.
    â€œI guess you’d like that little job, wouldn’t you, Teddy?”
    He grinned back at me.
    â€œI wouldn’t send anybody any bills for the time I’d waste doing it,” he said. “You can be sure of