The Long Nap - Part V

PART V .... Continued

I followed Gunter back down the hall.  When we reached the foyer, there leaning against the same arched doorway that Wendy stumbled through was Lucile, her hands behind her.  She was in a long silk dressing gown.   I was holding my hat at my waist again.  She looked at it and raised her eyebrows.

“Nice hat.”

Gunter turned toward her. “Oh, Miss Lucile, I was just showing Mr. Merlot the door.”

“I’m sure Mr. Merlot has seen a door before, Gunter.  I need a few words.”

Gunter bowed slightly.  “Yes, Ms. Lucile.”  

“Mr. Merlot if you would just follow me.”

I grunted “Do I have a choice?”

She turned looked at my hat again and asked, “Did you want one?” then started walking.

I scratched my head and laughed a little. “I guess I don’t.”

Lucile took me by surprise.  I had to take a second look when Gunter addressed her.  I had seen pictures of her and Wendy in the society section of the Times, but she looked different – about 100 pounds different. 

I followed Lucile into a long room with high ceilings and tall windows and curtains that looked like the kind of stuff they line coffins with.  A white divan was at one end, and a big bed on a dais at the other.  The wallpaper was silk.  There were bookcases and a small bar.  There was a big glass amphora of Chanel on a dresser.  The room stank of it.  There was an uptown expensive kind of ‘cheap’ to the place.  She went over to the bar took out some ice from a bucket, dropped a few cubes into a glass, poured herself some bourbon and added a shot of soda.  She put the glass down on the bar and looked at her reflection in the mirror behind it and combed her hands through her hair a few times. 

“I wanted to talk with you Mr. Merlot if you don’t mind.”

“Suppose I do?”

“Do what?”  She was oblivious.

I laughed and shook my head and said in a low voice “Never mind.”

She was still facing the mirror combing her hair.  I saw her look up.

“Tell, Mr. Merlot, do you usually talk to yourself?”

I leaned forward a little.

“Frequently.  You meet a better class of people that way.”

She turned to me.  “No doubt, something you learned in detective school.  You did go to school didn’t you?”

I was getting Ritzed, but I didn’t mind.  “Top of my class.” 

She turned back to the mirror and took out a cigarette from a silver case.  She caught me staring at her reflection.  She had a look on her face that seemed to not mind being stared at. We made eye contact then she turned directly to me and leaned against the bar resting on her arms.”  She gave me a look between a smile and a scowl.

“Are you sizing me up, Mr. Merlot?”

I looked down at my hat then up again.  “Forgive my manners it’s just that I’ve seen pictures of you before and well, you look different.”

“If it was that dreadful photo the Times ran at last year’s sailing regatta I can understand.”  She arched her upper body back like a cat in heat.  She looked me up and down like Wendy, except with a little more class.  She lowered her head then raised it again and asked:  “So, do you like what you see … now?  Everything look ship shape?

“You look pretty tight.  I'd guess you'd be quick enough under a full sheet.”  Or a twin for that matter.

She smiled “Oh, you have no idea. Mr. Merlot.”  

She took a gulp of her drink.  “So you’re a private dick.”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about my hat.”

She looked down “We’re not.  I already saw your hat in the foyer.  It’s nice but it’s no Borsolino.”

“So I understand.  Well then, what do you want to talk to me about?”  

She held out her cigarette.  If she was waiting for me to light it for her she was going to have a long wait.  I wasn’t willing to be her lap boy, at least not they way she was thinking.  After a minute or so she turned back to the bar picked up a lighter and lit her smoke herself.  She drew in, threw her head back and puffed out a cloud.  She picked up her drink and made a circular motion.

“This business of Daddy’s…Can you handle it?” 

Handle the General’s business?  I thought that was Gunter’s job, but I wasn’t going there.

“We talked.  I don’t think it’s all that hard.” I replied.  “And by the way, he offered me a drink.”

She ignored me “I just don’t want to see Daddy taken advantage of, that’s all.”

“Neither do I.  I like the old gent, but in case you’re forgetting he called me.”

She turned in a huff.

I’m aware of that, Mr. Merlot!  That is the very point of this conversation.  Why are you being so difficult?”

I did my best to fake sincerity. “Sorry, I wasn’t aware I was being difficult.”

She turned back again. “You know my family is very rich. Daddy made his money with the trains.”

“So I hear.  He should have spent more time at Union Station.  He would have learned something.”

She squinted a little. “Whatever do you mean?”

“They always pull out on time.” I said.  ”And about that drink?”

She got caught off guard. “Look here Merlot, I don’t need a comedian.  And this isn’t the fountain at Woolworth’s.  I’m not the counter girl.  Get your own damn drink!”

I tossed my hat on the bar.  “No, thanks.”

She did a double take. “What the hell?”   

I have to admit I liked the way she sparked and I was willing to bet with the right kindling she could start a fire. I also was willing to bet that she had jerked more than a couple sodas.  She tried to shift strategies.  She pushed her chest out a little and spoke and in a more demure tone:

“There’s no need to play cat and mouse, Mr. Merlot.  I’m not going to eat you.”

I thought to myself “I bet Wendy would!”

“I just don’t want to see him hurt, that’s all.”

She lowered her big brown eyes. “Is this business of Daddy’s some kind of state secret?”

“No, just business between me and him” I said. 

She pulled back and looked at me, hard then snuffed her cigarette into an ashtray. “You’re not going to tell me a damn thing? Are you?” She was getting annoyed again.

I shook my head.  “Nope, and those Maybelline lashes aren’t going to help you.  Of course you can always try Gunter, but I hear he’s only into Hessians and visa versa.”

“If you’re insinuating that I’m trying to seduce you, don’t flatter yourself.  I’m not in that kind of business.”

I thought “Too bad. I had 10 bucks and she smelled good.”

“Besides, we were talking about my father’s business.”

She was starting again, but I cut her off.  “And it’s still your father’s business and still between me and him.” I was forceful, but tried to be polite like.

She turned to the bar and then spun back toward me with a look in her eyes that seemed to say “Aunt Flo was packing her bags, on her way and I had better watch out.”  She slammed down her drink splashing the liquid onto the bar.  ”Are you usually so insolent?”

“I am!  It’s one of my better traits.  It comes in handy in my trade.”  I pulled myself up to the bar.  She turned toward me.  I looked her right in her beautiful pouting face which was going through several shades of red at the moment.

“Look sister, I don’t mind you flashing your gamms and beeping your honkers like that neon sign at the Bug-In-The- Rug’ burlesque.  I don’t care if the only vitamins you get are in the olives at the bottom of a martini glass, or if you’re colder than ice in that drink.  It doesn’t bother me if you don’t like my hat.  I don’t like it myself some times, but save your self the trouble and don’t try to grill me some piece of meat!” 

She looked at me with the General’s intense stare.  “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

I stepped back.  “That’s whom.” I teased. “See I did go to school.”

I caught her off guard again.  She finally relaxed a little and gave up a quiet laugh.  I watched her as she walked over to the divan and sat stretching her legs out.  I tried not to look at the sheerness of the silk that was clinging to her legs and bust.  Wendy may sizzle, but Lucile looked like she could make a man come to a slow boil in his own sweat.  She cradled her drink and looked up at me.

“You amuse me Merlot.”

“That’s not the best thing to say to a man in your bedroom.”

She laughed. “Like I said, you amuse me.”  She took her drink and walked over to the divan and sat down, stretching out her legs a little.  

“I’m pleased to be of service.”  I picked up my hat and started to walk out.

She looked up.  “You haven’t been yet.  What are you going to do next?”

I paused and turned.  “I like to get a lay of the land.”

She looked up from her drink. “I bet you would, Merlot.  I bet you would.”

I smiled.  “Good day, Ms. Stoner.”

to be continued.........