[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.A.River won't hurt, though it's always dry."Even after twenty-one years Crane knew Ozzie's voice well enough to know that the old man wasscared taking risks he'd avoided even in the days of his prime, jumping out of his comfortable old man'sroutine with no time at all to prepare, without even spare clothes or personal possessions or books orany idea of where he would wind up sleeping tonight, or the night after but Crane could sense, too, thedisguised excitement.The old man was chasing the white line again.CHAPTER 13 Come Back Here on New Year's Day, You See Nothing but DirtAl Funo drove slowly past the old Spanish house that was 106 East Second Street.He had put therear window back into the Porsche, and the heater was keeping him warm in spite of the chilly windshaking the palm trees.He drove on past the house, and when he saw the old green Torino with its shot windows in theparking lot beyond the duplexes, he smiled.This was the guy all right.He had got the address from a friend who could run license plate numbers; it had taken more thantwenty-four hours, but Scarecrow Smith or, as his real name seemed to be, Scott Crane apparentlyhadn't gone anywhere.A blue van with tinted windows was parked on the other side of the street, and as Funo drove slowlypast it, he noticed a faint, powdery white mark on the front side of the rear tire; that implied that a metermaid had chalked the vehicle recently, so recently that the driver had moved only a few yards beforeparking again.Was someone watching Crane's house? Obstadt's man had warned him that thisassignment might be contested.He looked more closely at the other cars parked along the street under the carob tree boughs, andnoticed: an old pickup truck, empty; a Honda, empty; and a gray Jaguar, with a fat bald man sittinginside.Funo turned left onto Bush Street and then right onto Third.He drove for a block and then pulled intoa Chevron station that had a pay telephone at the edge of the asphalt apron, out by the self-serve air andwater hoses.He got out of his car, got Crane's telephone number from information, and punched it in.The phone rang twice at the other end, and then a young man's voice said, breathlessly, "ScottCrane's residence, can you hold a minute?""Sure, friend," said Funo easily, watching the sweep second-hand of his Rolex.He had at least threeminutes before anybody could possibly trace the call, even if they'd managed to get Pacific Bell securityto put a trap on the line."Sorry," said the voice after only ten seconds."Scott was in an accident, he's in the hospital."Nicked him after all, thought Funo."Jesus," he said in a shocked tone, "what happened! I wasplaying Poker with him Tuesday night!""You were? Listen, he keeps asking for two people he's semiconscious two people named Ozzieand Diana.Do you by any chance know who they are?""Sure I know Ozzie and Diana!" said Funo instantly."Listen, what hospital is he in? I'll bring themover."A car alarm in the Norm's parking lot started up, monotonously honking beep & beep & beep as acouple of shabbily dressed men walked hastily away down the sidewalk.Stupid bums, Funo thought."It's," said the voice at the other end, "shit & I can't remember the name.Jim's the one who knows it,and he's on his way back & right now, matter of fact.Why don't you pick up Ozzie and Diana and bringthem over to the house? Or just give me their numbers, sure.I ""I can't right now," said Funo."How about if I call back soon, when Jim'll be home?" He spokeloudly, for he could hear the car alarm both directly and, more faintly, over the telephone."Could you give me their numbers?" asked the agitated young man."Where do they live? Diana he'specially needs to see.""I don't know exactly, they're friends of friends.When can I call and catch Jim?""God, I don't know how long either of us is gonna be able to hang around here.Uh are you at a number where Jim can get hold of you?"Funo looked around at the gas station lot."For the next half hour anyway, sure.Got a pencil?" Heread off the number of the pay phone."Okay," said the voice on the other end, "got it.We'll get back to you quick.""Thanks," said Funo."I really appreciate it.I mean it."He hung up the phone.Something was bothering him, and he always paid attention to his hunches.What was it? That noise,the car horn honking on and on &He'd heard it over the telephone as well as directly.Therefore, the young man at the other end hadprobably heard it both ways, too, and would know that Funo was calling from a nearby outdoortelephone.Funo quickly folded himself into the Porsche and drove across Third and parked behind a PioneerChicken restaurant, then walked inside and sat at a table from which, through the tinted glass, he couldwatch the gas station.If nothing happened within half an hour, he would drive to another phone and callagain.Within five minutes the gray Jaguar had pulled into the Chevron station, and the fat man hauled hisstartling bulk out of the driver's seat.He looked at the telephone, and then for several seconds lookedaround at the nearby cars and pedestrians.After a while he stumped over to the cashier window andtalked to whoever was inside.Funo's heart was thumping, and a twitchy grin bared his teeth.Pretty good, he thought.They couldtell I was within earshot to the north.I wonder what they had for south another car horn, in a differentpitch or cadence? A barking dog? A realistic-looking street lunatic chanting about Jesus?Through the tinted window Funo watched as the fat man got back into the idling Jaguar, and forseveral minutes just sat there behind the wheel; then the car moved off, turning left onto Third Street,back toward Crane's place.The Jaguar had a Nevada license plate.Funo wrote down the number.The Commerce Casino was the first one Crane saw, a gigantic cubical building that from the frontlooked like some ancient Mediterranean temple, with its arched entrance and gold pillars and expanses ofwindowless wall, and looked like a prison from around in the back lot, where they had to park.Therewas even a little guard tower back there.To the south side of the casino a dozen high-tension electricalcables hung from the skeletal silver shoulders of a line of tall towers that marched away to the north andsouth; on the long, narrow plot of land under the towers, as if nourished by the electromagnetic fields,knee-high pine trees grew in dense rows.Ozzie stared back at the cables and the trees as he and Crane and Mavranos slowly walked towardthe building, and he muttered something about evergreens under hydroelectric power.Mavranos told him that land under power lines wasn't good for much, and that a lot of such stretcheswere used as Christmas tree farms."Come back here on New Year's Day, you see nothing but dirt."Ozzie nodded, frowning.The inside of the casino was one vast room; when a person had walked in through one of the severalglass doors, street level became just the level of a wide, raised, railed walkway that ran all the wayaround the acre of playing floor five steps below.Tables and chairs and couches lined the rails, anddoors in the high walls opened onto a delicatessen, a bar, a banquet room, a gift shop, and even a hairsalon.Mirrored pillars, square in cross-section, rose to the high mirrored ceiling. Mavranos sat down to have a beer, and Crane and Ozzie split up.Crane hopped down the nearest set of steps to the playing floor and then limped through the maze oftables [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.A.River won't hurt, though it's always dry."Even after twenty-one years Crane knew Ozzie's voice well enough to know that the old man wasscared taking risks he'd avoided even in the days of his prime, jumping out of his comfortable old man'sroutine with no time at all to prepare, without even spare clothes or personal possessions or books orany idea of where he would wind up sleeping tonight, or the night after but Crane could sense, too, thedisguised excitement.The old man was chasing the white line again.CHAPTER 13 Come Back Here on New Year's Day, You See Nothing but DirtAl Funo drove slowly past the old Spanish house that was 106 East Second Street.He had put therear window back into the Porsche, and the heater was keeping him warm in spite of the chilly windshaking the palm trees.He drove on past the house, and when he saw the old green Torino with its shot windows in theparking lot beyond the duplexes, he smiled.This was the guy all right.He had got the address from a friend who could run license plate numbers; it had taken more thantwenty-four hours, but Scarecrow Smith or, as his real name seemed to be, Scott Crane apparentlyhadn't gone anywhere.A blue van with tinted windows was parked on the other side of the street, and as Funo drove slowlypast it, he noticed a faint, powdery white mark on the front side of the rear tire; that implied that a metermaid had chalked the vehicle recently, so recently that the driver had moved only a few yards beforeparking again.Was someone watching Crane's house? Obstadt's man had warned him that thisassignment might be contested.He looked more closely at the other cars parked along the street under the carob tree boughs, andnoticed: an old pickup truck, empty; a Honda, empty; and a gray Jaguar, with a fat bald man sittinginside.Funo turned left onto Bush Street and then right onto Third.He drove for a block and then pulled intoa Chevron station that had a pay telephone at the edge of the asphalt apron, out by the self-serve air andwater hoses.He got out of his car, got Crane's telephone number from information, and punched it in.The phone rang twice at the other end, and then a young man's voice said, breathlessly, "ScottCrane's residence, can you hold a minute?""Sure, friend," said Funo easily, watching the sweep second-hand of his Rolex.He had at least threeminutes before anybody could possibly trace the call, even if they'd managed to get Pacific Bell securityto put a trap on the line."Sorry," said the voice after only ten seconds."Scott was in an accident, he's in the hospital."Nicked him after all, thought Funo."Jesus," he said in a shocked tone, "what happened! I wasplaying Poker with him Tuesday night!""You were? Listen, he keeps asking for two people he's semiconscious two people named Ozzieand Diana.Do you by any chance know who they are?""Sure I know Ozzie and Diana!" said Funo instantly."Listen, what hospital is he in? I'll bring themover."A car alarm in the Norm's parking lot started up, monotonously honking beep & beep & beep as acouple of shabbily dressed men walked hastily away down the sidewalk.Stupid bums, Funo thought."It's," said the voice at the other end, "shit & I can't remember the name.Jim's the one who knows it,and he's on his way back & right now, matter of fact.Why don't you pick up Ozzie and Diana and bringthem over to the house? Or just give me their numbers, sure.I ""I can't right now," said Funo."How about if I call back soon, when Jim'll be home?" He spokeloudly, for he could hear the car alarm both directly and, more faintly, over the telephone."Could you give me their numbers?" asked the agitated young man."Where do they live? Diana he'specially needs to see.""I don't know exactly, they're friends of friends.When can I call and catch Jim?""God, I don't know how long either of us is gonna be able to hang around here.Uh are you at a number where Jim can get hold of you?"Funo looked around at the gas station lot."For the next half hour anyway, sure.Got a pencil?" Heread off the number of the pay phone."Okay," said the voice on the other end, "got it.We'll get back to you quick.""Thanks," said Funo."I really appreciate it.I mean it."He hung up the phone.Something was bothering him, and he always paid attention to his hunches.What was it? That noise,the car horn honking on and on &He'd heard it over the telephone as well as directly.Therefore, the young man at the other end hadprobably heard it both ways, too, and would know that Funo was calling from a nearby outdoortelephone.Funo quickly folded himself into the Porsche and drove across Third and parked behind a PioneerChicken restaurant, then walked inside and sat at a table from which, through the tinted glass, he couldwatch the gas station.If nothing happened within half an hour, he would drive to another phone and callagain.Within five minutes the gray Jaguar had pulled into the Chevron station, and the fat man hauled hisstartling bulk out of the driver's seat.He looked at the telephone, and then for several seconds lookedaround at the nearby cars and pedestrians.After a while he stumped over to the cashier window andtalked to whoever was inside.Funo's heart was thumping, and a twitchy grin bared his teeth.Pretty good, he thought.They couldtell I was within earshot to the north.I wonder what they had for south another car horn, in a differentpitch or cadence? A barking dog? A realistic-looking street lunatic chanting about Jesus?Through the tinted window Funo watched as the fat man got back into the idling Jaguar, and forseveral minutes just sat there behind the wheel; then the car moved off, turning left onto Third Street,back toward Crane's place.The Jaguar had a Nevada license plate.Funo wrote down the number.The Commerce Casino was the first one Crane saw, a gigantic cubical building that from the frontlooked like some ancient Mediterranean temple, with its arched entrance and gold pillars and expanses ofwindowless wall, and looked like a prison from around in the back lot, where they had to park.Therewas even a little guard tower back there.To the south side of the casino a dozen high-tension electricalcables hung from the skeletal silver shoulders of a line of tall towers that marched away to the north andsouth; on the long, narrow plot of land under the towers, as if nourished by the electromagnetic fields,knee-high pine trees grew in dense rows.Ozzie stared back at the cables and the trees as he and Crane and Mavranos slowly walked towardthe building, and he muttered something about evergreens under hydroelectric power.Mavranos told him that land under power lines wasn't good for much, and that a lot of such stretcheswere used as Christmas tree farms."Come back here on New Year's Day, you see nothing but dirt."Ozzie nodded, frowning.The inside of the casino was one vast room; when a person had walked in through one of the severalglass doors, street level became just the level of a wide, raised, railed walkway that ran all the wayaround the acre of playing floor five steps below.Tables and chairs and couches lined the rails, anddoors in the high walls opened onto a delicatessen, a bar, a banquet room, a gift shop, and even a hairsalon.Mirrored pillars, square in cross-section, rose to the high mirrored ceiling. Mavranos sat down to have a beer, and Crane and Ozzie split up.Crane hopped down the nearest set of steps to the playing floor and then limped through the maze oftables [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]