Chapter 12 #2
So there I was, sitting alone in the dining room again, with Sally come and gone, and my pants wet from the spilled drink, and I had no idea what to do next.
I thought maybe I should mention it to Perkins, at least the part about Sally and McDougall, but I figured maybe he already knew.
That film clip we saw certainly suggested that something was going on between them.
Unless McDougall was just horsing around with her on the set, maybe trying to screw up Clete’s concentration.
I didn’t know what to do, but I wasn’t sleepy anymore. I was all jangly and tense. So I went next door to the bar to have another drink or two.
* * *
By now it was eleven at night, and the bar was pretty deserted. Most of the crew were in bed—there was a six-thirty call for tomorrow. I sat at the bar and had another double Scotch from Ben.
“You look tired,” Ben said.
“I am tired, Ben.”
“Boy, I tell you,” he said, “this bunch is all strange.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean your people—every one of them stranger than the next. Al wasn’t drinking tonight. He was acting like a priest or something. Why is that?”
“He has a difficult stunt tomorrow.”
“That right? What’s he doing?”
“He’s getting yanked on a wire,” I started to explain, and then gave up. “It’s dangerous.”
“Is it something like walking a tightrope?”
“Something like that.”
I was sipping the Scotch when a girl came into the bar.
For a moment I thought it was Sally, but it was Al’s girlfriend, whose name I didn’t know.
But I had seen her around. She was one of those blonds who have very good skin, good complexion, and are a little overweight but firm. Like girls that ski. The athletic sort.
She sat down next to me and ordered a glass of wine. “Hi, Harvey,” she said.
“Hi,” I said, feeling awkward because I didn’t know her name.
We sat around for a minute.
“Where’s Al?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Trying to sleep. Typical Aries. I’m staying away after the last time.”
“What was the last time?”
“Tuesday night. He was going to do that stunt Wednesday, until they canceled the day, and he was worried about it and couldn’t sleep all Tuesday night.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So tonight, I’m just staying away.” She sipped her wine. “Listen, you know that guy Perkins?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You know what sign he is?”
“No.”
“I bet he’s a Scorpio,” she said, frowning at her wineglass. “He has that Scorpio look to him around the eyes.”
“Why do you ask about Perkins?”
“Well, Claude said he wanted to see me for an interview for something. I just had the interview. It was pretty strange.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, what he asked me. He was asking about Tuesday night.”
“And . . .”
“And what happened, you know. Al’s room is right next to Mr. Mann’s. And Al couldn’t sleep, so I was awake too. I can’t sleep if the guy can’t sleep. And it was noisy, anyway. Al kept jumping up, real irritable, and looking out the window whenever there was any noise.”
“Did you look too?”
“That’s one of the questions he asked. Perkins. No, I stayed in bed. I was trying to sleep. But what a night, people coming and going, doors slamming. I’m a Libra. I like things a little calmer. And it was very tense.”
“What else did you talk about with Perkins?”
“Well, he was interested in Al and Mr. Mann. Now the funny thing is, Al and Mr. Mann never got along until yesterday or so. And all of a sudden, Mr. Mann is a good friend of Al’s. And Al won’t say anything bad about him either. Isn’t that strange?”
“What do you think it all means?” I asked.
“I think they’re up to something. But that Mr. Mann is a Taurus. You have to watch out for him. Also, I happen to know he’s Sagittarius rising.”
“Is that bad?”
“The worst,” she said.
On that note, we had a reflective silence to sip our drinks. She pulled out a cigarette and I lit it for her.
“Al taking many drugs these days?”
“Not before a stunt,” she said. “He wouldn’t even have wine tonight.”
“What about other times?”
“Boy,” she said, “you and Perkins are just the same. What’s going on, anyway? What are you?”
That stumped me for a moment.
“What sign are you?” she said.
“Oh. Aquarius.”
She seemed puzzled by that. “You don’t give Aquarius vibes,” she said. “You must have something in your moon like Gemini.”
“Maybe.”
“One thing I feel very bad about,” she said, “is that I didn’t tell him about the drugs.”
“Who?”
“Perkins. I didn’t tell him about the opium.”
Now, I can’t explain what that word opium did to me. For once, I was going to be one up on Harlow Perkins, and it gave me the best feeling in the world. I was suddenly wide awake and full of energy for the first time all day. For the first time in a couple of days.
“I don’t blame you,” I said.
“Well, I don’t want to get anybody into trouble,” she said. “Look, you know and I know that Al deals. He can always get stuff. He’s been getting Mr. Mann his coke for weeks now.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So naturally he went to Al for the opium.”
“Absolutely.”
“And it was hard to get too. There’s not a lot of opium around in September.” She frowned. “I don’t know why that man didn’t take care of it himself.”
“Who?”
“McDougall. If he was so fond of pipes, why didn’t he arrange his own supply?”
“Beats me.”
She finished her wine and pushed off from the bar. “Well,” she said, “I better go see if Al is asleep. Maybe I can give him a back rub if he’s still awake.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“You think it was wrong not to tell Perkins?”
“No,” I said. “You did the right thing.”
She seemed pleased to hear that. “Good night,” she said.
“Good night.”
I must have stayed in the bar another twenty minutes, sorting things out. The real question was whether I would say anything to Perkins. I finally decided that I had to, but it was something that could wait until the morning.
I paid Ben, wished him a good evening, and went off to bed.
* * *
Now here’s something I never mentioned to anybody. About an hour later, just as I was falling asleep, I heard a quiet knocking at my door. Just a soft little feminine tap-tap-tap. I listened, and after a moment it came again: tap-tap-tap. I hesitated, wondering who it was.
But anyway, I decided to pretend I was asleep, so I never found out who was knocking at the door. Maybe that matters and maybe not. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.