The Big Enchilada

to my office. I couldn’t go to my apartment. And I had nothing to give the cops to buy myself some room to move.
    Somebody’d had a busy day. Three up and three down. Everybody I talked to seemed to get their contracts canceled. Maybe I should get new cards printed up: Sam Hunter—^Kiss of Death. I was left alone with only my smile and a worn-out line of patter which, along with a quarter, would get me a cup of coffee.
    ... Jesus Christ! I was really starting to get freaked. Faro and Stubby and Watkins and Maria. I was feeling responsible for them all, and that wasn’t right. Faro I didn’t care about. I might have helped prevent the deaths of Argyll and Watkins, but they never gave me the chance, and they supposedly knew what they were doing—whatever that was. It was Maria that was getting to me, and only Maria. She was on my head. Aw, fuck that shit. I didn’t kill her, but I was going to nail the assholes that did. Right! Fuck guilt and get moving, I told myself, and I believed it. I was still on the loose and that was enough.
    There was one avenue left that I hadn’t yet explored. Medco Pharmaceuticals. It looked like both Stubby and Watkins had been poking around there. The fact that they both bought it must mean they’d found something. Now I’d give it a try. It was either that or leave town. And I don’t run.
    Since I wasn’t about to go there during working hours, I had a lot of time to kill until it was late enough and dark enough to pay my visit. I picked up a bottle of gin and half a dozen chilli dogs and went back to the motel.
    By the time I had finished the dogs—which weren’t at all bad—and washed them down with the better part of the gin, I was feeling more myself. I had a long shower, drew the shades to darken the room, and lay down on the bed, The air conditioner in the window made a lot of noise, but it worked, and I felt pretty comfortable.
    I must have fallen asleep because I was awakened by something moving next to me on the bed. It was Anna Mae.
    “Oh, goody,” she chirped happily when she saw me open my eyes. “Papa tell me to come and play with the nice man.”
    Good old Papa. I told her I didn’t want to play. Her eyes got all puffy, like she was about to cry.
    “Oh, please play. Please play with me. I like to play.”
    She grabbed both my hands and placed them on her breasts. Yes, she was completely naked, an impossible combination of mounds and curves and fleshy dimples. Her skin felt smooth as custard and as resilient as marshmallows. At my touch her nipples expanded and grew hard and hot, red diamonds drilling into the palms of my hands. Her breath came in quick gasps as she arched her back to press her breasts more completely into my grip.
    Suddenly she took one of my hands and placed it at the juncture of her legs. Immediately she was steaming and moist. She moved her hips up and down several times and tensed for orgasm. “Goody,” she said. Twice more she pushed herself into my fingers and tensed. “Goody. Goody,” she said.
    She gently took my hard penis in both her hands. “Now I play with you,” she said.
    I felt like the traveling salesman with the farmer’s daughter. Fuck it. Who cared?
    Some time during the course of the evening, I vaguely wondered what my room service charges would be. The thought passed.

TWENTY-TWO

    It was about midnight when I approached the Medco building. I was tired, but I had that empty feeling I liked so much because it gave me a really hard edge. There was nothing left in me to get in the way. Everything was clear and clean and immediate.
    The first thing I noticed as I came up to the place was that lights were on in the ground level. Blackout curtains masked the windows high on the wall, but there was a tiny rim of light that showed in the darkness. Not enough to notice unless you were looking for something. Okay, somebody was home.
    I started to go around the building, looking for a way to get in. In an alley that ran along one side of the building, a giant black limousine was parked in such a way that it would not be seen from the street. Interesting.
    The- limo was unlocked and I checked the registration. It was made out to a leasing agency. I made a note of the name and also the car’s licence number in case I needed to check it out later.
    I went into the immense backseat area. It was big enough to hold a bridge table with room left over for kibitzers. I opened a walnut cabinet that was built into the back of the