The Peddler by Richard S Prather Read Free Book Online Page A

years, and he’d forgotten how brusque and businesslike the whores had been in their advances.
    As he watched, a new arrival came in and sat down; one of the women sat beside him and ran her hand boldly up his tliigh. It was a little too much like a set routine. Hell, everybody knew what the guys and gals were here for, but there wasn’t any reason why it couldn’t be handled with a little class. A little dough spent in the right places could turn this into one hell of a nice spot, too. The girls were all good-looking, a few of them actually beautiful, with full, soft bodies and striking faces. Tony watched the routine, and waited, with his mind busy.
    When Leo came back he said, “You mean to teU me you been sittin’ there since I left?”
    “Yeah. Have a good time?”
    Leo smacked his lips and rubbed his palms together. “Man, did I! What’s the matter, you queer or something?”
    Tony laughed. “Hell no. But I’m afraid I’m gonna be a disappointment to you, pal. I don’t mean to mess with none of these women. I—” he paused for a moment, not wanting to get on the wrong side of Leo by saying he figured a guy was a sucker for messing with the whores he bossed; and that the fact that he was boss was just about the same as paying them the ten clams. The girls could hardly object, even if you made them sick, and Tony simply didn’t care for sex on a platter.
    Leo said, “You afraid of gettin’ a dose?”

    “No, that’s not it exactly. Partly, maybe. But—I got me a girl takes good care of me, Leo. Maria Casino. She’s out in your Fillmore spot.”
    “Oh, yeah. That sweet little chick.” He shrugged. “Well, it’s your business, kid. Sure nice stuff in here, though. Come on, then, let’s go.”
    A little after two in the morning, Tony was talking to Maria in her apartment. She’d mixed a couple drinks for them and he’d just finished telling her about going around with Leo.
    She frowned slightly. “Tony, I wish you’d stay out of it. What you want in this lousy racket for?”
    “What’s lousy about it? There’s big dough in it, honey. And I mean to get me some of it. A lot of it.”
    “Tony … I do pretty good, you know it. I make enough for both of us. I wouldn’t mind—”
    He interrupted her. “Baby, I don’t want no peanuts. I want the big dough. You got any idea how much is in this racket? Must be at least ten, twenty million a year.”
    “I know, but Sharkey and Angelo get the most. You can’t get nothin’ except what they give you. And, honey, I don’t like the guys in the racket. They’re all sort of shmy guys. I don’t want you to get like them. I like you just like you are, Tony.”
    “Come off it, Maria, What you want me to do? Go into business with you muggin’ guys in alleys? I got to get in someplace where I can move up, really make it. Well, this is it.”
    “Please, Tony, I—”
    “Look,” he said, “I don’t want to hear no more about it. I got my mind made up.”
    She stared at him for a while, then said, “All right, Tony. I don’t want to fight with you.”
    In the next few weeks Tony’s life was pretty much the new routine. He slept late, then got up and saw Maria, usually, and at night went around to the houses with Leo. Often he and Leo lunched together or had a few drinks at one of the clubs, and Tony got to know the business well. He learned that the gross from the houses was about eighteen million a year, and from the half that didn’t stay with the girls, Leo and Hamlin and Alterie were paid fifteen hundred a month.
    After Tony had been working with Leo for about a month, he met Frank Alterie for the first time. It was a Saturday night, a busy night, and Leo was making his fifth pickup, this one at the big house on Fillmore. When they went in, Frank Alterie was sitting in the parlor.
    To Tony, who hadn’t seen him before, he was just another guy talking to one of the gals. But as they went in Leo stopped suddenly and swore beneath his breath.