My Adventures, Part 2

I stuck to the shadows. In my line of work you get used to the dark. I guess we’re not much for ice cream parlours and picnics, you know? And I was tailing, which was a little tricky on account of my stiletto heels, but they come with the job. I had my shooter tucked into my garter, but on a night like tonight I was hoping I wouldn’t be using it.

The mark was coasting, so I could tell that I was unobserved. He dropped in through a little door which I happened to know led to the nearest speak easy so I thought ‘what the hell?’ I doubled back to his office and took a look.

It was a traditional kind of a place – nicotine walls, blinds down, and a hat stand that makes you think what a blunt instrument can do. And one fat cigar still smouldering in its tray on the table. I should have sussed then I was in trouble, but I noticed the filing cabinet and headed over. That schmuk had left his files where anyone with a skeleton key could find them. I found the one I wanted – the Portos file. I’d got it out and half way to my handbag when I felt the cold metal on my neck.

“OK, Casey, why don’t you just give that over?”

I hate when he uses my Christian name.

I turned around, real slow, and let him take in the scene. I’d worn the scarlet dress he always liked best as a precaution against this eventuality. I put the paper down on the desk, flat, and reached for my cigarettes.

“Mind if I smoke?”

He was just looking at me, so I took that as a yes and lit up. He picked up his fat cigar – it suited him so well I almost laughed – and went back to staring.

“So Casey”, that guy always talks like his mouth’s full, “how you been?”

“Oh, just fine,” I told him. “You been anywhere nice lately?”

“You should know.”

He kinda had me there, but I guessed he was bluffing. OK, it was midnight and I was in his office in a cocktail dress, but I figured he didn’t know I was onto him. I led him a dance.

“OK, Carter. You got me. I’m your shadow. But I’ll level with you. I got nothing. You think I’d be here alone if I did?”

He was buying it, so I kept up the tale. “All alone like this? You know me, Carter, I don’t go rifling through cabinets. It’s not my style.”

“You’re a classy lady, I’ll give you that. Beats me why you never worked as one of my girls.”

I swallowed my sneer and kept my mouth shut.

“But you don’t think I’m gonna let you walk?”

I knew he wouldn’t. But by now I’d opened the window lock behind my back. Two metres to the fire escape.

“You want a drink?”

“Sure.”

He turned away and bent down, totally eclipsing the filing cabinet with his sizeable derriere.

I picked up the paper, pulled off my shoes and jumped. I was half way down the fire escape before I heard him roaring. I didn’t get the time to feel too smug because I heard a voice I knew.

I walked round a corner to see the guy from yesterday. Now, you gotta understand that there is nothing strange in this. The same faces, the same people, they turn up everywhere, and the circumstances change around them. A bad egg in one place is no better if she’s a cocktail waitress or a chicken farmer. But this guy captured my attention because he knew me. It was just a flicker, and then he got back to what he was doing, which was trying to persuade a gang of heavies that they did not want to rough him up, although it seemed to me self-evident that they wanted to do exactly this.

“Now fellas,” he began. This is not a good way to begin. A bunch of guys armed with what the investigators will call “assorted weapons” do not like to be patronised.

“Now fellas, I am convinced that we can come to some kind of amicable understanding. You are all men of reason…”

At this point I thought it best to intervene because I did not want to see such a handsome face being scraped off the sidewalk.

“Hello, boys”, I said. For some reason when a chic says this, no-one is offended. “Looks like you’re causing some kind of a disturbance.”

“No ma’am”, says the nearest guy.

“Well, that is good.” I shifted a little so the holster of my gun was on show. Henchmen always fear a femme fatale, because they know only an ex-lover can kill her. They backed off.
“I guess you’ll be heading down to Joe’s place, boys.”

They scurried off.

The guy I knew looked at me hard.

“Thanks, doll. I was stumped. Now, I don’t wanna break the walls, but would you let me take you for ice cream?”