Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis Read Free Book Online

there the yellow-green glow from a street lamp came dripping off the tops of the parked cars. It formed a faintly lit, yellow-green pooi on the cobblestones, a shimmering screen for all moving shadows. He saw two shadows moving on the screen, two creepers crouched down there behind one of the parked cars.
"They're waiting," he said. "They're waiting for us to move."
"If we're gonna move, we'd better do it fast." She spoke technically. "Come on, we'll hafta run--"
"No," he said. "There's no rush. We'll just keep walking."
Again she gave him the searching look. "You been through this sorta thing before?"
He didn't answer. He was concentrating on the distance between here and the street corner ahead. They were walking slowly toward the corner. He estimated the distance was some twenty yards. As they went on walking slowly he looked at her and smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. There's nothing to be nervous about."
Not much there ain't, he thought.

4
They came to the street corner and turned onto a narrow street that had only one lamp. His eyes probed the darkness and found a splintered wooden door, the entrance to an alleyway. He tried the door and it gave, and he went through and she followed him, closing the door behind her. As they stood there, waiting for the sound of approaching footsteps, he heard a rustling noise, as though she was searching for something under her coat.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Getting my hatpin," she said. "They come in here, they'll have a five-inch hatpin all ready for them."
"You think it'll bother them?"
"It won't make them happy, that's for sure."
"I guess you're right. That thing goes in deep, it hurts."
"Let them try something." She spoke in a tight whisper, "Just let them try something, and see what happens."
They waited there in the pitch-black darkness behind the alley door. Moments passed, and then they heard the footsteps coming. The footsteps arrived, hesitated, went on and then stopped. Then the footsteps came back toward the alley door. He could feel the rigid stillness of the waitress, close beside him. Then he could hear the voices on the other side of the door.
"Where'd they go?" one of the voices said.
"Maybe into one of these houses."
"We shoulda moved faster."
"We played it right. It's just that they were close to home. They went into one of these houses."
"Well, whaddya want to do?"
"We can't start ringing doorbells."
"You wanta keep walking? Maybe they're somewhere up the street."
"Let's go back to the car. I'm getting cold."
"You wanna call it a night?"
"A loused-up night."
"In spades. God damn it."
The footsteps went away. He said to her, "Let's wait a few minutes," and she said, "I guess I can put the hatpin away."
He grinned and murmured, "Be careful where you put it, I don't wanna get jabbed." They were standing there in the cramped space of the very narrow alley and as her arm moved, her elbow came lightly against his ribs. It wasn't more than a touch, but for some reason he quivered, as though the hatpin had jabbed him. He knew it wasn't the hatpin. And then, moving again, shifting her position in the cramped space, she touched him again and there was more quivering. He breathed in fast through his teeth, feeling something happening. It was happening suddenly and much too fast and he tried to stop it. He said to himself, You gotta stop it. But the thing of it is, it came on you too quick, you just weren't ready for it, you had no idea it was on its way. Well, one thing you know, you can't get rid of it standing here with her so close, too close, too damn close. You think she knows? Sure she knows, she's trying not to touch you again. And now she's moving back so you'll have more room. But it's still too crowded in here. I guess we can go out now. Come on, open the door. What are you waiting for?
He opened the alley door and stepped out onto the pavement. She followed him. They walked up the street, not talking, not looking at each other. He started to walk faster,