33

“YOU’RE A GOOD girl, Pearl.” Sam gave the hound a final pat on the head as she and Jack turned to leave Bobby in the gym above Bubbles.

“I do trust you,” said Bobby, “but I don’t understand what makes you think it’s going to be safe for me to come down.”

“Later,” said Sam, meaning that’s when she’d explain. Right now, she needed to get moving.

“How much later? Pearl and I are going crazy up here.”

Owwwrhuuuuuu, said Pearl by way of reinforcement.

“We have to work a few things out,” said Jack.

“Do you know who killed Mamaw? You better not, and not tell me. I’m warning you,” said Bobby, shaking a finger in Jack’s face. Olive’s death had pushed him beyond politeness. This, Sam suspected, was more what the old Bobby was like, the Bobby who’d beaned Archie with his shooting trophy.

“No, we don’t,” lied Sam. “Don’t you think we’d tell you if we did?” She wasn’t sure exactly what she thought Bobby would do if he knew about Doc, but she didn’t want to find out. Bobby could just cool his heels a little longer, until Doc was safely behind bars.

“Okay, okay,” said Bobby. “I’m sure you’re doing the best you can to protect me here. Keep me out of trouble with the parole board.”

Oh, son, thought Sam, if you only knew. The parole board was small potatoes compared to the manhunt that Archie was amassing to find his young butt. The last they’d heard, Archie was inflaming the local boys and the state troopers with tales of grandmother-raping in addition to robbing and killing. There were no depths to which the man wouldn’t stoop. But just you wait, Archie Blackshears. Just you wait ’til this whole thing is over, and those old boys get an earful of you loving up to Bobby “Bobbie Sue” Adair.

Now Jack was tapping on his watch. “Come on, Sammy, we’d better scoot. We’ll be right back to you, Bobby, as soon as we can.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“You’ve got everything you need? You’re not about to starve to death?”

“No, sir. You’ve got yourself some wonderful cooks, I’ll tell you that. I’m pounding away four or five hours on the speedball, the bag, working it off.” He paused. “And it keeps my mind off Mamaw.”

Sam gave him a hug, a Keep the faith, and started out. Jack shut the gym door and locked it, then caught up with her on the landing. “Wait.” He took her by the arm and pulled her around. It was a small landing. “Sammy, I’ve been giving it some consideration, and I think you’ve been right all along. Look, we’ll just call the cops, tell them about Doc, hope for the best. Hell, I’m sure there’s some physical evidence at Olive’s place, they’ll be able to pin this on Doc without Mickey’s testimony.” He put both hands behind her waist and drew her closer. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

“The same thing you were doing day before yesterday, Jack. Serving great eats in Bubbles, ripping off the suckers downstairs in the casino.”

“Lady,” he said, “we don’t rip off anybody. Fools come in the casino, they know the odds are against ’em, want to have a little fun giving us their money, what can we do? Though, you know, it’s funny, since the second I met you, the take in the casino has doubled.” And that was the truth. Jack couldn’t explain it, unless Sam was some kind of good luck charm working for him, which was the kind of thing the suckers believed. Jack didn’t like to think of himself as a sucker. Then his voice grew tender. “Is this what they call love at first sight?”

“Lust, Jack. They call it lust. It’s the thing you’ve spent your whole life confusing with the other thing.”

“The other thing? You can’t even say the word.”

“I most certainly can, and furthermore, I’ve experienced it many times.”

“Experienced what?”

“Listen, I am not going to continue this ridiculous conversation with you another second. I’ve got to get out to the front and watch for Doc. Is your man in place?”

“He’s there, Sammy. He’s there. Now, look.”

“You’re sure he knows what he’s doing?”

“Jethro is the best in the business. He’s worked for Joey the Horse for years. I told you, I called Joey, he flew Jethro up in his own plane. He’s here, he’s ready, and he’s good. But I still think we ought to call it all off. I have a bad feeling about this thing. I really do.”

“Jack, this was your idea, and we’re doing it.”

He took a deep breath. “I’ll never understand as long as I live.”

“Understand what? Women? It’s easy, Jack. All you have to remember is we’re these inscrutable, yet cute, deerlike creatures who are motivated by whims and estrogen and flights of fancy that no man could ever begin to decipher.”

“God, give me strength,” he murmured.

“God has nothing to do with it. This is what you wanted to do, Jack. You.” She poked him twice in the chest. “And now you want to change your mind. Well, that’s the sort of thing they accuse women of, you know that, don’t you? Can’t trust them in positions of power because they’re always wishy-washing all over the place. Well, you’re the one wishy-washing here, my man.”

“Jesus H. Christ, Samantha! I’m trying to tell you I love you.”

“You do not love me. You don’t even know me.”

He gave her a look.

“One night in the sack does not constitute knowing even if it was a very nice night.” She paused. “A very very nice night. However”—and she held up one cautionary finger—“not only do you not know me, you do not want to know me. I am strong-willed, irreverent, mouthy, and independent as heck; whereas you are a traditional, macho Irish gangster who needs some bimbo on your arm for show and a sweet-faced little Bridget home in the kitchen. And I am neither of those.” She paused. “Though I must say that the fact that you’re not at all uptight about sex surprised me, given that Blessed Virgin/whore stuff you all carry around.”

Whereupon Jack placed one hand on each of her shoulders, pushed her against the wall, and kissed the bejesus out of her. Jack was one of the all-time world-class kissers, and he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her until she was actually seeing stars and thought she was going to faint.

When they finally came up for air, he said, “So, who’s the guy back in New Orleans, Sammy?”

She was going to say, Nobody. She was sure that’s what she was going to say, but her eyes slid, and she hesitated just a second too long.

“Oh, shit.” Jack turned his head, but not before she caught the pain in his eyes. It looked like the real thing.