Dave Zeltserman - Fast Lane

She looked surprised that I was alone. “I thought you had a girl in here.” Standing in the middle of the room, she looked unsure of herself and it made her seem so small. “That was a rotten thing you did to me. Why did you do it, Johnny?”

I had turned away from her and had my forehead resting against the door, trying somehow to keep my head from spinning off my neck. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She laughed. I guess she had to laugh or cry, and she was probably sick of crying. “I waited at the restaurant for three hours. I had to wire my mom for money to pay the hotel bill and get a ticket home.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you,” she said. “Look at me!”

I faced her. “The hotel didn’t give you my message?”

She shook her head, confused. “What message?”

“I don’t believe this!” I said. “There was an emergency with a case I’m working on and I had to fly home. I left your plane ticket at the front desk. I also paid for the room for the rest of the week and left you spending money. The hotel clerk assured me you’d get my message.”

“No one told me anything. I-I thought-”

“I should’ve known better,” I said, compressing my lips into a tight frown. “I guess I should’ve went back to the restaurant but I had only twenty minutes to catch my plane, and a man’s life was at stake.”

It was a pretty sappy story and you would’ve needed rocks in your head to buy it. Marge certainly wasn’t lacking anything between her ears, but I guess if you want to believe something bad enough you’ll find a way.

“I-I didn’t realize, Johnny. I guess it’s all pretty funny if you think about it, huh?”

She tried smiling, and it was the saddest effort I’d ever seen. “We’ll look back and laugh someday,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to your office to see you, and I saw you leaving. I guess I followed you.”

“You just happened to be there when I was leaving?”

“Maybe not,” she smiled, guiltily. “I guess I was waiting across the street. I thought you dumped me in Mexico for another woman and I wanted to see who she was. Don’t be mad at me. I had a right to think like that after what I’d been through.”

“No, honey. I’m not mad and there’s no other woman.” I laughed, and kept it up until my stomach ached. She joined me.

“I stood outside this door for over ten minutes trying to decide what to do,” she said, her laughter giving way to tears. “I was about to walk away, but when I heard you start laughing I was sure you were in here with another woman. I had to open the door.”

“I’m glad you did, honey. It gave us the chance to clear the air.” I don’t know why I was kidding her. I had no choice about what I had to do. I had to take care of Bert Debbles today while he was still in Colorado. Once he was back in Nevada he’d be off-limits. I couldn’t risk going back home to Carson City to deal with him.

I wished Marge had never followed me. I’d have given just about anything to have her still stranded in Mexico. At least she’d be safe. But I guess if she had to have followed me here, I should be thankful she’d opened the door instead of walking away. Otherwise she’d be able to make the connection between me and Bert Debbles when she read about him in the papers tomorrow. Now though, she was not going to have that chance.

Marge took an awkward step towards me. “I’ve been feeling so bad, Johnny. Please hold me.” She buried her head into my chest and started bawling like a baby.

I lifted her head and gave her a long hard kiss. A kiss goodbye. During it she sobbed and laughed and held me as tight as she could.

“I love you, Johnny.”

“I know you do, baby.”

“It probably sounds crazy after all the grief you gave me in Mexico, but I’m miserable without you.”

“It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”

“I don’t want to live without you, Johnny. Let me spend the rest of my life with you. Promise me that, please.”

“You’ve got a promise, baby.”

She buried her head hard into my chest again, and I stood silently holding her, feeling the warmth of her small body. She pulled away from me weakly, and gave me a sad smile. “Let’s get out of here and go someplace nice. Okay, Johnny?”

“Soon. Not right now, baby. Let’s just hold each other a little bit longer.”

She pushed herself back into me. “Johnny, this might sound funny, but when I first came into this room you had such a strange look on your face. Like you were going to kill someone. It scared me.”

“You’re right, baby. It does sound funny.

She chewed on that for a minute. “Johnny?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Is anything wrong?”

“Now why should anything be wrong?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that when I was following you here, you seemed kind of odd. Are you sure you’re not in any trouble?”

“No trouble at all.”

“Why are you wearing those gloves?”

“Well you see, darling,” I said, “I put them on before entering the building so I wouldn’t leave any fingerprints.”

“Come on,” she sort of laughed. “What are you doing here?”

“I have to kill someone. I’m going to bash his brains out with that gin bottle.”

“Quit kidding me. Really, why are you here?”

“Okay, baby,” I said, stepping back. “It’s kind of like this.” I cocked my arm and threw my weight forward, catching her smack in the middle of her face. Her head snapped back and she hit the floor hard. She sat there blinking her eyes stupidly. Somehow she got to her feet and stood wobbling in front of me.

“Sorry, baby,” I said. “But I got to do what I got to do.”

“Joddy,” she said-and I’m not trying to make fun of her. Anyone with a flattened nose and a mouthful of blood would sound like that, and well, that’s the way she sounded and that’s the way I’m telling it. “Please Joddy, I g-gluv you. Dod J-Joddy.”

She took a step towards me. “Oh baby,” I said. “I love you too, honey.” I reached back and gave her an uppercut to the chin, lifting her feet off the ground. Before they came down, I followed up with a one-two combination, catching one eye with a left jab and the other with a haymaker. The haymaker drove her to the floor.

She was lying on her stomach. Somehow she lifted her head. Both her eyes, almost swollen shut, were open to cracks and pleading with me. Her mouth was moving, as if she were trying to say something. I knew what it was-”love you always.” Something inside me must’ve snapped because I started laughing like a crazy man.

“Don’t you never stop.” I bent down over her. “Remember our first night how your neck got so stiff? Let me fix it for you.” I grabbed her head with both hands and twisted, putting my shoulder into it.

CR-RACK

“Sorry darling,” I said, falling down beside her. “Must’ve twisted a little too hard.”

I sat there laughing until I was empty inside, until there was nothing more to let out. Marge didn’t look too good anymore. Her head resembled a battered pumpkin more than anything else. And even though she was on her stomach, she was nearly facing the ceiling.

“You can see them coming and going, can’t you baby?” I stood up and sat on the bed. “I kept my promise. You can’t say you didn’t get to spend the rest of your life with me.”

I talked with her a little longer, explaining how I did the only thing I could to keep my promise. She couldn’t hear me but I was sure she understood. I closed my eyes and tried to think things through.

It was supposed to be just an old gin rummy who got rolled a little too hard for his pocket change. In flophouses like this, broken-down drunks like Bert Debbles regularly get conked over the head for nothing more than a bottle of cheap hooch. The cops wouldn’t be too concerned about it. Just another body for the pauper’s grave, and another drunk off the streets. Bert Debbles wouldn’t be worth their effort.