Elmore Leonard - Maximum Bob

But, if a TAC guy was still around and happened to be out in the yard, he wouldn’t have heard the doorbell. She walked back past the attached garage to the north end of the house, looking out at scrub growth and a line of Australian pines in the distance. The canal curved off in that direction toward the lake.

Kathy stopped.

She heard voices. Or thought she did.

Another few steps would take her around the corner to the screened porch and the backyard, the judge’s gardens, his orchids hanging in trees. She stood listening before moving again, from coarse grass to the edge of the brick patio in sunlight, looking at the screened porch now, dim inside. Kathy stood motionless.

In the silence a woman’s voice, coming from the porch, said, “I told them, I refuse to only work dry. Stand around being a hostess or have to do that awful bird show.”

Another voice, much higher, a child’s, said, “Wasn’ the reason atall.”

“It was too.”

“You lef’ account of your thighs lookin’ how they do. Be with those young girls and everybody see how chubby you is now? No, ma’am .”

“I am not chubby.”

“You is too.”

“I am not.”

There was a silence.

The woman’s voice said, “Is someone there?”

Kathy moved toward the screen door. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

“No, please, come in out of the sun.”

Kathy said, “Thank you,” opening the door and stepping inside.

The woman was alone on the porch.

Pretty in a kind of old-fashioned way, a pleasant smile. Blond hair to her shoulders with a small blue velvet bow to one side. She did appear chubby in her flowery print dress. Nice legs though in a dark shade of hose and white sensible shoes. She stood waiting for Kathy.

“I thought I heard you talking to someone.”

“Oh, Wanda. Yes, she left.”

“You’re Mrs. Gibbs,” Kathy said.

“Leanne, please. And I bet I know why you’re here.”

They had porch furniture out here where you waited to get your hair done, a table of magazines, a counter full of hair products, and a white lattice fence separating this part of Betty’s Hair Studio from where they did the work.

Elvin stepped over to the fence and peeked through the crisscrossed slats. He saw four beauty parlor chairs in there, two on each side, mirrors on the walls behind them, everything the same turquoise color floor to ceiling and nobody in there. He no sooner straightened up he heard a woman talking.

Now when he looked through the fence again he saw the cop, Gary, coming out from the back with a turquoise cloth over him like a cape, his hair wet to his head and this woman leading him, a tiny woman with rouge on her cheeks. She had on a smock that same turquoise color and appeared to be Hispanic. She was. Elvin could hear her talking again as she got Gary in the beauty parlor chair and spun him to face the mirror.

Seeing him sitting there, the cloth draped over him, made Elvin think of a book Sonny had read to him up at Starke. Not the whole book, part of it. It was a western where this guy is getting his hair cut, the good guy, and the guy who’s supposed to be the bad guy comes in, he’s in a hurry, and tells the good guy to get out of the chair. The barber’s done with the guy, has slicked down his wavy hair, but now the fucker won’t move, acts like a girl and won’t get out of the goddamn chair. The guy in a hurry, Frank, has a rifle under his arm. The pissy good guy-Elvin couldn’t think of his name-you know doesn’t have his six-shooter on him, but Frank isn’t too sure. He doesn’t want to get shot by a gun hidden under that barber cloth.

Elvin stepped back from the latticework and squared his Ox Bow straw over his eyes thinking about that barbershop in the book. A real barbershop, not a beauty parlor. He touched his right-hand suit coat pocket where the Ruger Speed-Six rested heavy. Then unbuttoned the coat.

What happened in the book was Frank got so pissed off at the good guy he stepped up to yank him out of the chair and the guy hit Frank with this mirror he was holding the barber had given him to look at his haircut. Wouldn’t fight him like a man, hit him across the head with a mirror.

With the cop, if you got too close and weren’t minding, he’d pull your hair. There was no doubt in Elvin’s mind this cop had his gun on him. Except it was around on his hip and would be wedged down in there between him and the beauty parlor chair. Watch his right shoulder. If he lifted it he’d be going for the gun.

Elvin readjusted his hat, put it lower on his eyes. Now he brought the revolver out of the pocket and slipped it into the waist of his pants, a bit to the left side, and closed the suit coat over it. There. Ready?

He took another peek through the latticework. The beauty parlor woman was snipping away at the cop’s wet hair now.

Ready.

Elvin walked in. He saw the woman pause, holding her comb and scissors in the air. He saw the cop raise his head and saw his eyes in the mirror. Elvin said, “You do men in this place or just women and sissies?”

“I felt you in my energy field,” Leanne said to Kathy, “so I knew you were there. But it’s so bright out I didn’t see your aura good till you came inside.”

Kathy said, “You can see it?”

“Oh, my yes, it’s a soft blue. You’re acquainted with the judge-you should see his aura.”

“I think I have, almost.”

“You’d know if you did. Here, let’s sit down.” Leanne pulled a chair out from the metal table. “You came for a psychic reading, didn’t you? Not knowing I’ve moved. Well, I haven’t actually moved. I’ve left here but haven’t as yet relocated. There’ll be a notice in The Third Eye and some of the other papers when I do. I have to be going pretty soon, but sit down, please. I only stopped by to get something I forgot.”

Kathy took a chair next to her saying, “When you left here, you went up to Weeki Wachee?”

“I did,” Leanne said, “with the idea of picking up where I left off. But then after I thought about it a while I decided no, I have another life now.”

Kathy watched Leanne’s eyelids begin to flutter.

The other voice, the child’s, came out of her saying, “What you have is thighs shake when you walks.”

“They do not.”

The child’s voice said, “Try and zip up a mermaid tail, see how far you gets.”

“You hush up.”

Leanne closed her mouth, tight, Kathy watching. Now she closed her eyes for a moment, opened them and said, “Wanda’s been picking on me ever since I left Big.”

“You mind if I ask,” Kathy said, “how you do that?” Not sure what to call it.

“Communicate with my spirit guide? Oh, there’s different ways.” Leanne leaned toward Kathy, confiding now. “You can resonate by grounding yourself to the earth. See, that allows you to vibrate at a higher level, so you become a conduit for the other being. But now Wanda,” Leanne said, sitting back again, “she sneaks in on my energy level just about whenever she wants. I love her dearly, but she’s getting to be a pest. See, she’s upset ‘cause I left.”

Kathy said, “She wants you to stay here?” and saw the woman’s eyelids flutter.

“She ain’ finish her woik,” the child’s voice said.

Leanne’s eyes blinked. She said, “Now you stop that. When I want to hear from you I’ll get in touch.” Looking at Kathy again Leanne said, “Wanda gave me a time in the car, driving up to Weeki. Kept grabbing the steering wheel to turn us around. I don’t know why we didn’t have an accident.”

“There’s so much I’d like to ask you,” Kathy said, hunching over the table now. “You don’t mind?”