Ed McBain - Downtown by Ed McBain Read Free Book Online Page B

time Michael's initial ten
    bucks had grown to six hundred and forty
    75 dollars. He looked at his watch again--9:45 --and decided to let all of it ride on Harry's phenomenal luck. He wondered if he was risking the money just so he could stay here by Connie's side. All at once, the plane to Boston didn't seem too very important. Missing a plane to Boston wasn't the end of the world. On the television screen, Andy Williams began singing "Silent Night."
    Harry rolled a ten, a tough point to make. Then Harry rolled a four ... And a nine ... And a six ... And an eight ...
    And Michael began wondering how many numbers he could roll before a seven came up and killed them both dead? Michael had never in his life won a nickel in a Saigon gambling house, but he'd kept rolling number after number out there in the jungle, never sevening out while everywhere around him brief good friends were dying. "Tough point," he said. "Very," Connie said, and smiled. He smiled back. Harry was whispering to the dice again. This time I buy the farm, Michael thought. "Sugah, we need a six and a four," Harry whispered. It was almost ten o'clock.
    On the television set, Andy Williams was saying good night to everyone, wishing everyone in America a Merry Christmas. Michael paid no attention to him. His eyes were on Connie and his six hundred and forty bucks were on the blanket.
    "Two fives, baby," Harry whispered to the dice, and shook them gently in his fist, and opened his hand and said, "Ten the hard way, sugah," and the dice rolled out and away toward the wall.
    On the television screen, the news came on. The headline story was a bombing in Dublin, but no one was listening to it. One of the dice bounced off the wall. A three. The second die hit the wall. Bounced off it. A four.
    Shit, Michael thought, there goes my taxi.
    "In downtown Manhattan tonight," the male anchor said, "motion-picture director Arthur
    Crandall ..."
    77 Michael looked up at the screen. "... was found shot to death in a rented automobile. Police report finding a wallet in the car, possibly dropped by Crandall's murderer. It contained ..." Everyone around the blanket was looking up at the screen.
    "... sixty-three dollars in cash, several credit cards, and a driver's license identifying ..."
    "Good night," Michael said, "thank you," and began walking toward the door across the room.
    "... a man named Michael Barnes, who the Hertz company confirms rented the car at Kennedy last Fri ..." Michael closed the door behind him. The same man was still behind the stainless steel table, stuffing fortune cookies. "Have a nice holiday," Michael said.
    "The down of white geese shall float upon your dreams," the man said. The door opened again. "Wait for me," Connie said.
    4 It had stopped snowing.
    She was wearing a short black coat over the green dress. The red rose was still in her hair. Black coat, black hair, green dress and shoes, red rose--all against a background of white on white. The silent night Andy Williams had promised. Still and white, except for the flatness of the black and the sheen of the green and the shriek of the red in her hair. "You've got trouble, huh?" she said. He debated lying. "Yes," he said, "I've got trouble." Their breaths pluming on the frosty air.
    "Come on," she said, "I've got a limo around the corner."
    He thought that was pretty fortunate, a rich Chinese girl with a chauffeured limo to take her hither and yon in the city. He didn't want to go anywhere in this city but out of it. Straight to Kennedy, where he would catch his plane to Boston and Mama, or else try to get a plane to Florida. Get out of this rotten apple as
    soon as possible, call his lawyer the
    79 minute he landed someplace. Dave, they are saying I murdered somebody in New York, Dave. What should I do? Hushed footfalls on the fresh snow. Everything looking so goddamn beautiful. But they were saying he'd killed somebody.
    The limousine was parked outside a Chinese restaurant on Elizabeth Street.