Fat Tuesday(17)

"What about him?"

"He makes my skin crawl." She hugged her elbows and rubbed her bare arms."I loathe him. I can't stand to be in the same room with him." "Why not? Has he done something, said something to you?"

"No, no. Nothing like that." Obviously vexed, she expelled a deep breath and pushed her fingers through her hair."It's just a feeling I get. He gives off vibes, evil vibes. I was hoping that after his trial he wouldn't be hanging around so much. Tonight, I find him at our kitchen table."

Pinkie was on the verge of laughing with relief. Most women thought Wayne Bardo was attractive until they got to know him better. It pleased him that Bardo's Mediterranean good looks held no appeal for his young, beautiful wife. Her studious avoidance of him was due to repugnance, not attraction.

Hiding his relief, he said, "Bardo does odd jobs for me. He's working off part of his legal fee." "Well, from now on please conduct your business with him somewhere other than the house."

"Why do you dislike him so much?"

"Isn't it clear? He frightens me."

Pinkie did laugh then as he pulled her into his embrace."He frightens a lot of people. That's why he's so useful to me."

"You use him to frighten people?"

Above her head, he frowned. She rarely asked him even the most harmless questions about his business dealings. Lately she had expressed more than a passing interest, and that could be dangerous.

More than a few of his clients had been double-crossed by spiteful wives or girlfriends who knew too much."Why are you so curious about my association with Bardo?"

"I'm not, so long as he doesn't come to the house. I don't want him here."

"All right. If Bardo offends you, I'll try and keep you separated."

"Thank you."

"Now that's settled, I want your promise that you'll stop this irritating moping."

"I'll try."

He placed his thumb beneath her chin and tilted her head back.

"Do."

He spoke softly, but he didn't need to raise his voice for her to catch his drift."Have I given you any reason to be discontent, Remy?" She shook her head."Good." He ran his thumb across her lips."I'm glad to hear that. Because I want you to be happy. I'd hate for us to have another situation like Galveston."

"That was a long time ago."

"But not so long ago that we've forgotten it."

"No, I haven't forgotten it."

"So you're happy?"

"Of course."

He reached for her hand and guided it to his lap."Show me." Later, just as he was drifting off to sleep, she said, "A visit to Flarra will cheer me up. I'll go see her tomorrow."

"Good idea. I'll send Errol to drive you."

"Don't bother. I can drive myself."

Pinkie thought about it a moment. His uneasiness hadn't been entirely allayed either by their conversation or their lovemaking. She'd given him a plausible explanation for her recent melancholia, but he suspected there was more to it than her dislike for Bardo.

Doubts could cripple the thinking of a reasonable man. Mistrust and jealousy were weakening and destructive. On the other hand, Pinkie preferred erring on the side of caution to being a fool. Especially when dealing with a woman.

"Errol will drive you."

"Say, you're sure you're okay with this?"

The woman formed a pouty frown and toyed with the buttons of his shirt.

"Of course I'm okay with it. Would I have invited you to my place if I weren't?"

"But we only met an hour ago."

"Doesn't matter. It didn't take me even that long to know I wanted you tonight."

He grinned."Then what are we waiting for?"

Groping each other along the way, they stumbled up two flights of stairs. The old house had been converted into six apartments, two on each of the three floors. Her unit was small, but nice. The windows in the bedroom overlooked the private courtyard in the rear.

It was in front of these windows that she did a clumsy striptease for him."See anything you like?"

"Nice," he murmured, reaching for her."Very nice."

She had absolutely no sexual inhibitions. Either that, or she was too high to care what he did to her. But after a while her appetite was satisfied, and she became tired and cantankerous.

"I'm sleepy now." "So go to sleep," he said."It won't bother me."

"I can't sleep with you doing that."

"Sure you can."

That earned a giggle from her."You're sick, you know that?" "So it's been said."

"You sure you wore a rubber?" "I said I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't see. Come on now, really, stop. I'm tired.

We'll save it for another time, okay?"

"The night is young, sweetheart."

"Young, hell," she groaned."It'll soon be time to get up."

"You're just coming down off your high. What you need is a little pick-me-up."

"I can't do any more drugs tonight. I've got to be at work in a few hours. Let's give it a rest for tonight and hey! That hurt."