Ed Lacy - Blonde Bait

Blonde Bait

Ed Lacy

This page formatted 2007 Munsey's.

http://www.munseys.com

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As this is a novel, a work of fiction am imagination, all characters, names and incidents are fictional and not intended to represent any real persons—past present.

for

Frankie and Andy Simpson, the bridge sharps

I

Telling Hal Anderson about Rose was a mistake. I knew it even as the words spilled out. But this was one time I couldn't keep my fool mouth shut.

It was ten years since I had seen him, and I was still sore about the double-cross he'd pulled on me. So now I wanted to rub his nose in it, but good.

I was sitting in a little bar near the waterfront in Port-au-Prince, waiting while my boat, the Sea Princess, was taking on stores. I almost dropped my drink when the familiar, tall, white-uniformed figure appeared in front of me. “Mickey!” he shouted and began to pump my hand. “For a second I thought I was seeing things. Damn, boy, you haven't changed a bit. Still a tub of muscles, same old hat—even smell the same. Great to see you!”

“Sure. Sit down, Hal, and have a drink on me.”

“You bet.”

He sat down, first carefully creasing his drill trousers, and I ordered two more rums.

Hal grinned as he said, “Funny, we should be drinking together again, after all these years.”

“Yeah,” I said, wondering if I'd be as well off now if Hal was still my partner. Of course I wouldn't have Rose.

“What are you doing in Haiti, Mickey?”

“Man, you can see what I'm doing; drinking rum. Lazying around.”

“You haven't changed.”

“Nope. At least I haven't tried to. You have. Why the monkey suit?”

“I'm on the purser's staff of the American Spirit.” He nodded at the liner down in the harbor.

“What do you do, hold hands with the seasick?”

“Cut it out, Mickey.”

“I figured by this time you'd have long finished college, be a free wheeling executive.”

“Stop it, Mickey,” he said calmly. “I did go to college for two years. One summer I signed on as an A.B. I met a girl in Nice and married her on the next trip. Colette and I live in New York City, got us a house there, and two fine kids. She's something, a wonderful girl, an artist, and a...”

“So you got hooked.”

“You're nuts. I'm a very happy guy. What the hell have I to regret? I eat regularly, don't work hard, send my salary home, and see my family every five weeks. Like a honeymoon each time. It isn't a bad deal. My having been an ensign helps and some day I'll...”

“Some day, will you ever be able to stop saying 'sir' to the clucks?”

He fanned his face with his hat and laughed. “My God, still the same old Mickey. Hell, sir is only a word. You used to...”

“No, that was your department.”

He finished his rum, then he said, “It wouldn't have worked, Mickey. Even with the new boat. I'm not made for that kind of life. You see I like having a wife, kids, a home, worrying and plugging for the future. I'm not built like a...”

“A bum,” I added. “Yeah, maybe that does take a kind of talent.” I finished my drink, motioned for another round.

“Still have the Sea Princess?”

I nodded.

“Lord, not with the same rusty converted Essex motor?”

“Nope. I have two turbo Diesels now.”

Hal gave a mock whistle. The rum was making him sweat and I could see how badly he wanted to open his tight collar. “Sea Princess,” he laughed. “What a name for that clumsy double-ender.”

“Yeah?” I winked at him. “You should see her now. Matter of fact, I'm going down to the dock, sailing with the tide. Want to come along?” I suppose it was then, his cracks about the first Sea Princess that made me show off. And I was a little high on rum, too.

I really enjoyed his pop-eyed look when we got to the Sea Princess. It gave me a bang to see her, too, for she's thirty-two feet of the sweetest flushdecked sloop you'll ever see. Mr. Bayard, who sold me supplies, was sitting atop the cabin, his linen suit stained under the armpits, fanning himself with a newspaper. His sun glasses seemed to be the same color as his dark brown face. He waved and came over and told me in French everything was loaded. I owed him a balance of forty bucks and casually handed him a fifty-dollar bill, told him to keep the change. He was so excited he began to sweat more. We shook hands and as he walked down the dock he shouted his thanks again.

Hal was running his eyes all over the Sea Princess as if she were a lush woman. “On the level, Mickey, is this your boat?”

“Want to see my papers?”

“My good Lord, what a job! Why she must have cost twenty-thousand. Or more.”

“More,” I lied.

“She's pure dream.”

“Yeah.”

“Fellow could sail around the world in this.”

“I may try it some day. Want a drink?”

Hal looked at his watch. “Okay. I have time.”

“I have a half hour,” I said, as he followed me down into the polished mahogany cabin. He came in stooped and I told him, “Straighten up, plenty of head room here,” and wondered why I'd asked him aboard. I had this desire to brag so strong, I couldn't help myself. And all the time I knew it was a mistake.

I broke out a bottle of Canadian rye, to impress him, and some ice. The cabin was jammed with crates—tins of fancy food, books, magazines, a new hi-fi set, and many other things.

Hal inspected the galley, the head, the shower, the bunks, even opened the refrigerator. Then he took inventory of all the boxes and crates. He glanced at me with a slow smile, his eyes asking what was my racket. Then he said it: “Smuggling?”

“Come off it. What's there to smuggle these days?” I gave him his drink and glanced at the wall clock. Actually, catching the tide didn't mean much to me except a little saving in fuel.

“Heading back to Miami?” His eyes were still racing around the cabin. They finally found the snap of Rose over my bunk. The camera had caught her running toward the waves in a bikini. It was my favorite picture.

“Nope,” I said, waiting; a kind of inner voice telling me to let it go, shut up.

He bent forward a bit to see the snap better. “Havana?”

I shook my head. “I bum around, do a lot of island hopping.”

“Mickey the beachcomber!” There was sarcasm in his voice.

“That's me.” Maybe it was the snotty sarcasm that made me forget caution. “And that's my wife.”

“No? I can't believe that!” Hal stepped across the cabin and took a close look at the snap, as he'd wanted to do. “Wow!”

Hal turned to stare at me, his face bewildered. He yanked his collar open. “Are you snowing me?”

“Want to see our papers?”

“Aw Mickey, why in hell would a beauty like that marry a guy with your puss!”

“She's in love with my character.”

“She must be after your money.”

I chuckled. “She has the money.”

“A boat like this and a woman like... How long has this been going on?”

“How come you're so full of questions?”

“Mickey, you know I didn't mean it that way.”

“Guess you don't,” I said, thinking it wouldn't do any harm telling him a little about Rose... and a voice in the back of my noggin screaming at me to keep my trap shut.

I refilled our glasses. I still had a good twenty minutes before full tide. I opened a box of cigars, Havana's best.