Out of the Easy (13 page)

“I’ll call Willie about the medicine.”

Patrick pointed to the telephone on the floor near the hallway. Willie would be furious that I was bothering her when the Cubans were there. I said I was calling about Charlie and was surprised how quickly Willie came to the phone. I told her everything.

“Poor sack.” Willie sighed. “I’ll handle the meds. It might take a couple hours because it’s so late, but I’ll send Cokie by.”

I hung up the phone and started to clean the kitchen. Patrick’s voice came from over my shoulder.

“It’s my fault, Jo. I left him.”

“You leave him every day. Generally he’s okay when he’s locked in his room.”

“But I left him at night.”

“You left him on New Year’s Eve, and he was fine.”

“No, I left him for longer than usual.”

“Where were you?” I asked, rinsing a plate.

Patrick glanced down at his feet. “I had some business.”

“Buying dead people’s books? Well, now you know that you can’t be away that long. So stop feeling bad about it.” I sounded like Willie.

Patrick looked up at me, serious. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Jo, you know that?”

I laughed. “You’d survive.”

“No, I don’t know if I would.” He took a step closer. “Jo, we can tell each other anything, right?”

I looked at him. “What do you mean?”

He moved in close. “Just what I said. If I were to tell you something, I wouldn’t want it to scare you away.”

My pulse began to jog. I looked from Patrick to the sink. “I can’t believe you’re saying that. Think about the things I tell you about Willie’s. That doesn’t scare you away. Oh, and talk about scary, before I left for Shady Grove, I ran into John Lockwell leaving the house after a date with Evangeline. She was in pigtails and her schoolgirl outfit.”

“No!” said Patrick. He stepped back from me.

“Yep.”

“Did you hide?” he asked.

“Hide? No, I told him I had a book delivery for Willie. I asked if he came to Willie’s often. At first he was rude and tried to brush me off. So I chased him down the driveway to Conti, told him I was applying to Smith and that I wanted a written recommendation from him.”

“You what?”

“Yep, and I told him I’d call or come by his house to get the letter if that was more convenient. He put two and two together real quick. He doesn’t want me telling his wife or creepy kids that I ran into him at a brothel, now, does he?”

Patrick looked elated. “Jo, you’re a genius! Do you think he’ll give you the letter?”

“He told me to call him at his office. I think I’ll just stop by.” I wiped my hands on the dish towel and turned to face him. “So, see? I tell you everything.” I took a breath. “What did you want to tell me?”

Patrick paused, taking in my face. He smiled gently. “I think that’s enough for one day. You never cease to amaze me, Jo.”

Patrick was sound asleep on the couch when Cokie arrived with the medicine.

“Oooeee, smells like dead muskrat in here,” whispered Cokie, pinching up his face.

“Not as bad as it did smell. I just opened the windows.” I wiped the kitchen counter clean and hung the damp dishrag over the faucet.

“Willie had Sadie package up some groceries, too,” said Cokie. He handed me the bag.

“Have you been workin’ dominoes?” I asked him. I always knew when Cokie was gambling because his dark fingertips were dusted with chalk.

“Yeah, me and Cornbread been playin’. How bad off is Mr. Charlie?” asked Cokie.

“Pretty bad. He needs this medicine.”

“Dr. Sully sent two kinds. One is only to use if he gets real
real
bad.”

I walked into the living room, looking at the two bottles. Patrick was snoring, but not like Charlie upstairs. Charlie was sawing, pulling loud rips with each breath. Patrick’s breathing purred, his upper lip puffing out when he exhaled. I set the two medicine bottles in front of him on the coffee table and pulled a quilt up to his shoulders. I started to leave, but suddenly looked at him, bent down, and kissed him on the forehead.

TWENTY

The contents of Charlotte’s package lay neatly arranged on my desk—the Smith catalog, brochures, and application. Charlotte had included a tattered copy of Candace Kinkaid’s sequel,
Rogue Betrayal,
with an inscription that teased,
To my dear friend Jo. May your heart ever swell with rogue desire. Fondly, Charlotte.
She also sent the Smith College photograph that she had mentioned at the party. I propped the small picture up on my desk.

My head felt heavy and I longed for a nap. I had gone to Willie’s an hour early in order to check on Charlie by breakfast. Charlie had calmed down and agreed to take his medicine. He no longer spoke and just sat in the chair by the window, clinging to the pink heart-shaped box. I worked in the bookshop all day until Patrick arrived in the afternoon. We had agreed he would work for just a short time while I saw to my business, the business with Mr. Lockwell.

I looked at myself in the broken mirror hanging on my wall and sighed at the girl staring back at me. I had chosen a dress I felt was my most professional for an office visit and wished I had appropriate gloves to match. But I didn’t have gloves. The color had faded from the dress after years of washing and wear. My shoes were scuffed. Hopefully no one would notice. I blotted my lips with a tissue.

812 Gravier Street. Everyone knew the address. It was the massive white-domed Hibernia Bank Building. Mr. Lockwell’s office was on the eighth floor. As the elevator climbed, my stomach fell. I replayed Mr. Lockwell’s condescending tone in my head, the little scoffing sound he made through his nose in Willie’s driveway. I thought of Willie’s shotgun in my arms, fierce and strong. Holes in the fence, I told myself. Salted peanuts.

The elevator doors parted, revealing polished hardwoods and a well-dressed woman at a reception desk flanked by potted ferns. I had expected a hallway with offices. Mr. Lockwell had the entire floor. The woman inspected me thoroughly as I stood a foot outside the elevator doors clutching my purse.

“This is the eighth floor,” she said.

“Yes.” I nodded, taking a step closer. “I’m here to see Mr. Lockwell.”

Her thin eyebrows rose. “Do you have an appointment?”

“I’m a friend of the family. He’s expecting me. Josephine Moraine,” I said, realizing I was speaking louder and faster than intended.

The woman picked up the phone. “Hello, Dottie. I have a Josephine Moraine here for Mr. Lockwell.” She paused and stared at me while speaking. “She says she’s a friend of the family and that he’s expecting her.”

Ten minutes passed, then twenty, an hour. I flipped through a
LIFE
magazine on the table, pretending I was interested in the article on President Truman. The receptionist alternated filing her fingernails and answering the telephone, throwing glances my way occasionally and shaking her head. I sat stiffly on a chair, becoming angrier with each minute. I approached the desk. “Perhaps I’ll just visit Mr. Lockwell at his house this evening. Could you ring back and see if that might be more convenient for him?”

She called back, and within an instant, the doors swung open and Mr. Lockwell appeared in a starched shirt and tie. “Josephine, so sorry to keep you waiting. Charlotte will have my head. Come on back.”

Mr. Lockwell guided me into a large corner office. The room was five times the size of my entire apartment, with tall gleaming windows overlooking the city. He closed the door and walked behind his broad mahogany desk. “I was just about to have a drink. Join me.” He gestured to a long sideboard filled with decanters, glasses, and an ice bucket.

“No, thank you.”

“Oh, come on, now. I’ll call Dottie in to mix us up a couple of martinis.”

I set my purse on the chair and walked to the table. “Shaken or stirred?”

He seemed amused. “Stirred. Dirty.”

I mixed his cocktail, feeling his eyes searing through my back.

“Whoa, now that’s a drink!” he exclaimed, taking a sip and sitting down at his desk. “How long have you been making martinis?”

“I just learned,” I told him.

“I wish you could teach Lilly to make a real drink. Sure you won’t join me?”

I shook my head and took one of the chairs in front of his desk. “I know you’re extremely busy.” I pulled a piece of paper from my purse with the address of the Smith registrar on it and pushed it toward him on the desk. “The letter can be brief. Just a recommendation to include with my application.”

Mr. Lockwell leaned back in his chair, not even glancing at the paper. “Oh, so you’re serious about this, are you?”

“Quite.”

He took another sip of his martini and loosened his tie a bit. “Did you tell my niece that you ran into me the other day?”

“No, I haven’t had the opportunity yet.”

“Well, young lady, I don’t really know you, and I can’t write a letter of recommendation for someone I don’t know.” He eyed me carefully. “Maybe you should consult your family about this recommendation. Perhaps your father?”

I feigned a sad expression. “Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us.”

“Oh, no?” He took a swig of his martini. “Well, where is he?”

“I believe you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean,” he said, leaning over the desk toward me, “but I don’t believe you. You’re trying to hustle me, kid. You’re slick witted. I smelled something wasn’t right when you and your fella came to my home. Richard and Betty are still arguing about your piano-playing friend. I’ve seen him before, sitting in the back of the cathedral in the middle of the day.”

“You’ve seen Patrick at the cathedral?” That was surprising.

“Yes, we sinners frequent the cathedral,” he said sarcastically. He stared across the desk at me. “So, are you proud, poor, or both? My niece, Charlotte, loves to feed strays, but generally they at least have a decent pair of shoes.”

A tight burning flamed within my chest. I shifted forward and folded my hands carefully on his desk. “Well, it was such a fortunate coincidence to run into you and your friend with the pigtails when I was delivering books. I had hoped to ask you—or Mrs. Lockwell—for a recommendation anyway,” I fired back.

He engaged, moving his bishop closer to my queen. “Oh, yes, delivering books. I stopped by your bookshop in the Quarter. Twice. It was closed.”

“Family illness.” I nodded. “But I know that Mrs. Lockwell loves to read. I’d be happy to bring some books by for her.” I put my hands back in my lap.

We sat in silence across from each other, me clutching my purse, Mr. Lockwell perspiring.

“If I write you a recommendation and for some reason you get in, next you’ll ask me for money. That’s how this works, right?”

Genuine shock pushed me back in my chair. I had never, ever intended to ask Mr. Lockwell for tuition money. “I assure you, Mr. Lockwell, I do not want your money.”

“Right. You think this is my first rodeo?”

“I simply want a strong recommendation from you, a name that the application board might recognize and respect.”

“Because your father’s no longer with us,” he said with mock pity. “I imagine your mother’s no longer with us either, huh? You’re taking this Cinderella story to Smith?”

“Really, this is not about money. I want to go to Smith. Charlotte has sent me all the application materials. I had excellent marks in school.”

A clock on the wall chimed. Mr. Lockwell drummed his fingers against the leather inlay on top of his desk. I looked past his hands to the bureau behind him. Silver frames. Family pictures.

“You know, I just might tell my wife about the whole thing. You see, a business associate asked me to meet him for a drink at Willie’s, and when I got there, I didn’t want to stay and insisted we move the meeting to a bar in the Quarter. I’ll tell Lilly. After all, that’s what happened.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “You can absolutely tell her that, Mr. Lockwell, if you like.”

“What I’d like is to never see you again.”

I had him. I could close it.

“Then this works well for both of us. Your glowing recommendation will get me into Smith—all the way across the country—and you’ll never hear from me again. Ever.”

He lit a stub of a cigar from a Waterford ashtray on his desk and drained the remaining liquid from the glass. “Ever, huh?” I could practically see the thought bubble above his head. It had Evangeline dancing around in her short plaid skirt. “Maybe I can put something together,” he said. He pulled the piece of paper with the registrar’s information toward him.

“I’ll wait for it. That’s Moraine,
M-o-r-a-i-n-e.
”

“What, do you expect me to type it up myself? I’ll come up with something and Dottie will prepare the letter.”

“Two copies, please. I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“No, I’ll have them sent by the bookshop when they’re ready. You won’t need to come back.” He raised his eyebrows and his glass. “And make me another one of these before you leave. Damn good.”

As I turned to leave Mr. Lockwell’s office, he stood near the window, fresh drink in hand. “Bye-bye, now, Josephine,” he said with what I thought might be a smile. He didn’t offer to walk me out. I made my way down the elevator to the lobby of the building, exhaling a mixture of relief and happiness as I walked through the door to the street.