"Goodis, David - Black Friday" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goodis David)

"Let me stay with him," Mattone said.
Charley looked at Mattone. "You come with me."
They went into the living room. Charley picked up the telephone book, found the number and made the call. When he got his party he said, "Did someone steal an overcoat from your place tonight?"
At the other end a voice said, "Just a minute--"
Charley hung up. He looked at Mattone. He said, "They want to trace the call. Is that good enough for you?"
"Look, Charley, I don't like that guy."
"And I don't like you," Charley said. "But I put up with you because you know your work. I like the way you work, but there's got to be satisfaction on both sides. Do you like the pay?"
"Look, Charley--"
"Do you like the pay?"
"I like the pay."
"All right, then, do as you're told. And don't do things I don't want you to do."
In the kitchen Hart was sitting up and tapping fingers against his jaw. Frieda was sitting at the table, leaning her face on a cupped hand and watching Hart and then turning as Charley came in. She looked at Charley's eyes.
Hart stood up and said, "Did you make the call?"
"Yes," Charley said. "If you want to go now you can go."
"What would you advise me to do?" Hart asked.
"Go back to New Orleans," Charley said. "You're already traced here, I mean as far as Phily, because of that Gladstone--that is, if you bought the Gladstone down south."
"I bought the Gladstone in Nashville after I threw away the other bag. But I was traced to Nashville."
"That means you're traced here, so your best move is to go back and do your hiding in New Orleans. Don't try little towns. Little towns are bad."
"I'm broke," Hart said.
Charley put a hand in a trousers pocket and took out some bills. He handed Hart a ten-dollar bill.
"Much obliged," Hart said. He pocketed the bill and put on his overcoat. He looked at the kitchen doorway. Then he looked at the back door.
Charley said, "Stay away from Tulpehocken until you get to Germantown Avenue. Then come back to Tulpehocken and get your trolley. If I were you I'd go to Frankford tonight and stay there a few weeks and try to pick up a little change. Then I'd go straight back to New Orleans and put it on a speculation basis for at least a month. Then I'd try the Gulf or I'd try the border from Texas."
Hart opened the back door and walked out. The cold air slammed into him like a sheet of stiff iced canvas. He went down the alley, and every few seconds he would turn around and look and listen carefully. Finally he decided that Charley probably wasn't following him after all. Hart knew what Charley would do instead. Charley was smart. Charley would know where to wait tor Hart--and the eleven thousand. Hart figured Charley would give him another five minutes, at the outside, before he took off to do what he would have to do when Hart didn't show up. It was cold, and Hart was no fool. He'd show, all right.
Some thirty yards down the alley he came to his garden and began digging away at the cold hard soil.
He rolled up the eleven thousand dollars, inserting the bills into an overcoat pocket. Then he walked along the alley and headed back to the house.
The door opened and Charley stood there, showing Hart the revolver.
"All right," Charley said. "Come on in."
Hart entered the kitchen. He saw Frieda sitting at the table and looking up from a movie magazine. He took the rolled bills from the overcoat pocket and extended the money to Charley.
Charley took the bills and counted them.
"All there?" Hart said.
"All there," Charley said.
Frieda frowned. "What goes on here?" Charley smiled mildly. "Al brought back the money."
Frieda pointed to the bills in Charley's hand. "That's the money Renner took."
Charley widened the smile. He said, "Frieda, you're right in there."
Hart said, "You knew there was nothing in the wallet. So all you did was send me out for the money."
Charley nodded slowly.
Hart said, "You were giving me around five minutes to get back here with the money, and if I wasn't back by then you were going to go out and wait at Germantown and Tulpehocken and get me there."
"Is that why you came back?"
"Not exactly," Hart said.
"All right," Charley said. "Let's have it complete. Why did you come back?"
"It's too cold out there."
"You mean it's too hot out there."
Hart grinned. "It's both. I don't need this weather. And I don't need all that Law running after me. Only thing I need is a place to hide. Only place I can hide is here."
"I thought you'd see it that way," Charley said.
They stood there grinning at each other. And then Charley said, "You owe me ten dollars."
Hart took out the ten and handed it to him. "That's for a week's room and board."
"You're getting a bargain," Charley said. He went to the doorway and called for Rizzio. He told Rizzio there was a folding-cot somewhere in the cellar and he wanted it brought upstairs. Without looking at Hart, he murmured, "I hope you'll be comfortable."
Frieda got up from the table and moved toward the sink. As she passed Hart, her hand drifted down and she touched him. She said, "I think he'll be comfortable."