"Yeah, to Bones. I wouldn"t do it to Leo."
She said, "Well ... I don"t know. I like Catlett as a character, if you could use him somehow. Doesn"t he fit into this at all?"
"He"s Harry"s problem."
"Isn"t Harry in it?"
"I left that part out, the shylock looking for him."
He thought of Catlett again. He thought of the Bear, the Bear falling down the restaurant stairs, but didn"t see how he could use that either.
Karen said, "I wouldn"t throw anything away just yet," as they reached the patio and she turned to him. She looked cold, hugging herself with her hands in the sweater sleeves. "What"re you going to call it, Chili"s Hollywood Adventure?"
"That"s a different story. I like it, though, so far."
She said, "What happens next?"
He said, "I"m ready if you are."
He"d open his eyes and she"d be watching him, the first time smiling, and he remembered her telling him Michael said funny things. Then she"d close her eyes and he"d close his, moving with her, all the time moving, and he"d open his eyes and she"d be looking at him again, face-to-face in the lamplight. She was feeling it, not just going through the motions, he could tell by her face, a certain look around her nose and mouth that was almost a snarl, but her eyes would still be looking: like she was riding a bike with no hands to look at something she was holding, doing two different things at once: her body turned on and having a good time, but her mind still working on its own, watching, until her eyes glazed over and it became more the way it usually was in those final moments of hanging on, no time to think or do anything but ride it out. She opened her eyes with kind of a dreamy look, thoughtful, and said it was like falling backwards ... a time you could let go knowing you were safe. He wondered if she a.n.a.lyzed everything she did and had been watching, before, to see her effect on him. When Karen left the bed, went into the bathroom and came back a few minutes later, he got to see all of her at once-a picture he now had for life-before she turned the lamp off and got back in bed.
Chili had his arm ready in case Karen wanted to snuggle in, as they usually did after, but she stayed on her side and was quiet. They were alone in a different kind of dark now that they"d made love, a dark for sleeping. He thought, Okay, fine. Though had expected there would be a little more to it. It surprised him when she said, lying there in the dark, "I"ve been watching you."
"I noticed that."
"I think you could be an actor. I know you"re acting sometimes, but you don"t show it."
"You thought I was faking?"
"No, I don"t meanthen ." ."
"What was I doing? I was auditioning?"
"We made love," Karen said, "because we wanted to. That was the only reason."
"Yeah, but you were watching."
"For a minute."
"Aminute- it was a lot longer"n that." it was a lot longer"n that."
"Why"re you getting mad? I say I think you could be an actor, you take it the wrong way."
"I don"t like being watched."
"That could be a problem."
"Why would it?"
"If you want to act."
"I never said I did."
"You don"t want to, then don"t."
It was quiet for a minute or so.
"You don"t mean become a movie star. More like a character actor."
"Let"s talk about it in the morning. I"m beat."
"I ever made a movie, you know who"d go set it? My mother and my two aunts. Tommy, he"d go, for a laugh."
Karen didn"t say anything, meaning that was the end of it.
He could see himself in different movies Robert De Niro had been in. He could maybe do an Al Pacino movie, play a hard-on ... He couldn"t see himself in ones, like say the one where the three guys get stuck with a baby. They don"t know how to take care of it and you see these big grownup a.s.sholes acting cute. Put on a surprised look and that was as far as they could take it. People liked that cute s.h.i.t, they went to see it. But, man, that would be hard, try and act cute.
What else could he play? Himself? The shylock?
No, he"d start trying to act like himself and it wouldn"t work, because acting wasn"t as easy as it looked. He knew that much. No, what he needed ...
He heard Karen"s voice in the dark say, "I forgot to tell you. The Bear called."
Chili said, "Yeah?" even though for some reason he wasn"t surprised. "He say what he wanted?"
"He left a number."
"I"ll call him in the morning."
The Bear could wait. What he needed to think about was an ending. And maybe a t.i.tle.Get Michael. Except that wasn"t the movie, that was real life. He kept getting the two mixed up, Except that wasn"t the movie, that was real life. He kept getting the two mixed up,Chili"s Hollywood Adventure and whatever the other one was ... and whatever the other one was ...
He must have heard the sounds coming from downstairs, because something woke him up before he heard Karen say, "Not again." He turned over on his back and was looking at a faint square of light from the window reflected on the ceiling. Karen said, "It"s Harry, downstairs." He could hear the sounds as faint voices now, a movie playing on the TV in the study. "Harry pulling the same stunt on you," Karen said. "He was drinking, I"m sure of it, and got this wonderful idea." He saw Karen sitting up, her face and b.r.e.a.s.t.s in profile. Another picture to keep. The clock on her side of the bed-seeing it behind her-said 4:36.
"If he was drinking all night ..." Chili let the words trail off before saying, "he"d be out of it, wouldn"t he? How could he drive?"
"Ask him," Karen said, "he"s waiting for you."
She turned to fix her pillows, puff them up, and sunk back in the bed.
"If I know Harry he"ll act surprised to see you. "Oh, did I wake you up? Gee, I"m sorry." What happened at dinner, well, not forgotten, but put aside. This is Harry the survivor. Sometime during the past five hours or so he realized that if his project is dead, he"d better quick get a piece of yours. He"ll offer to take over as producer ..."
"I don"t know," Chili said, wanting to listen for sounds, different ones than the TV.
But Karen kept talking.
"He"ll get a writer, probably Murray, and handle all negotiations. He"ll already have a plot idea and that"s why he"s here at four-thirty in the morning. He"ll say he couldn"t wait to tell you. But the real reason is he wants to be annoying. He still resents what he thinks you pulled on him, stealing Michael, and I know he doesn"t like the idea of us being together ..."
Telling him all that until he said, "I don"t think it"s Harry."
And that stopped Karen long enough for him to hear the TV again and what sounded like gunshots and that sharp whining sound of ricochets, bullets singing off rocks.
Karen said, "If it isn"t Harry ..."
"I don"t know for sure," Chili said, "and I hope I"m wrong and you"re right." It was a western. He heard John Wayne"s voice now. John Wayne talking to the West"s most unlikely cowboy, Dean Martin. Getting out of bed he said to Karen, "I think it"sRio Bravo. " "
Catlett sat in the dark with the big-screen TV on loud the way Harry said Chili Palmer had done it; the difference was a movie instead of David Letterman and Ronnie"s Hardballer .45 in his hand resting on the desk and pointed at the door part open. He believed the John Wayne movie wasEl Dorado, the big gunfight going on now with the sound turned up so high it was making him deaf, but he wanted Chili Palmer to hear it and come down thinking it was Harry paying him back. He"d checked to make sure Harry was home and not here and after so many rings he almost hung up, got Harry on the line slurring his words bad, the man almost all the way gone. He told Harry to go to bed before he fell down and hurt himself. All there was to do now was do it. Chili Palmer walks in the door-let him say something if he wanted, but don"t say nothing back. Do him once, twice, whatever it took and leave the way he had come in, through the door on the patio he found unlocked. the big gunfight going on now with the sound turned up so high it was making him deaf, but he wanted Chili Palmer to hear it and come down thinking it was Harry paying him back. He"d checked to make sure Harry was home and not here and after so many rings he almost hung up, got Harry on the line slurring his words bad, the man almost all the way gone. He told Harry to go to bed before he fell down and hurt himself. All there was to do now was do it. Chili Palmer walks in the door-let him say something if he wanted, but don"t say nothing back. Do him once, twice, whatever it took and leave the way he had come in, through the door on the patio he found unlocked.
He had waited this long so as not to be seen or run into by other cars on the street. Most went to bed early in this town, but some stayed out to party and drove home drunk when the bars closed or in a nod. Four a.m. was the quietest time. He had been here now since four-twenty. s.h.i.t. If Chili Palmer didn"t come down in the next two minutes he"d have to go upstairs and find him.
Chili put on his pants and shoes, Karen watching him, and got out the Lakers T-shirt he"d bought at the airport to go with Karen"s Lakers T-shirt if he got lucky. But when he did, when they came upstairs earlier and jumped in bed, he wasn"t thinking of T-shirts. This one fit pretty well. Karen probably couldn"t see what it was. He walked over to the bedroom door and stood listening. He was pretty sure the movie wasRio Bravo.
After about a minute Karen said, "Are you going down?"
He turned to look at her.
"I don"t know."
She said, "Then I will," getting out of bed.
"You"re as bad as Harry."
He watched her pull on the bulky sweater and a pair of jeans. She looked about twenty. When she came over to the door he raised his hand and then laid it on her shoulder.
"What if it isn"t Harry?"
"Someone else comes in and pulls exactly the same stunt?"
She was calm about it. He liked that.
"I think Harry might"ve told Catlett, and that"s who it is."
She said, "Oh."
Maybe accepting it, he wasn"t sure. "Or it could be somebody Catlett sent. You don"t have a gun, do you? Any kind would be fine."
Karen shook her head. "I could call the police."
"Maybe you better. Or call Harry first, see if he"s home."
She moved past him to the bed, sat on the edge as she picked up the phone from the night table, punched Harry"s number and waited. And waited. Karen shook her head. "He"s not home."
"He could be asleep, pa.s.sed out."
"It"s Harry," Karen said, coming away from the bed. "I"m sure. Paying you back."
Maybe, though it wasn"t Chili"s idea of a payback, the kind that kept you looking over your shoulder waiting to happen. He wanted to believe Karen was right. It was Harry trying to be funny. She knew Harry a lot better than he did. He wanted so much to believe her that he said, "Okay, I"ll go. I"ll sneak down the stairs." He looked through the doorway to the big open area that reached from the foyer below at a high domed ceiling above the curved staircase and the upstairs landing. "You stand over there by the railing, okay? You can see the door to the study. I don"t want any surprises. You see anything at all, let me know."
"How?" Karen said.
"I don"t know, but I"ll be watching you."
Time to do it. Catlett got up from the desk with the big Hardballer ready to fire. He moved past the lit-up noisy screen where John Wayne and Dean Martin were shooting bad guys and ducking bullets singing off walls, the bad guys falling through those rickety porch railings.El Dorado was the name of it. Fine sound effects to go with what he was about to do. Loud, but not as loud as the Hardballer would be once he had it pointed at Chili Palmer. Catlett moved through the doorway into the front hall, heard his heels click on the tile and turned enough to face the stairway. He bent his head back to look at the upstairs railing that curved around the open part of the second floor and looked back at the stairway: did it quick to catch something dark there partway down, a shape against the light-colored wall. There was that moment he had to decide was it Chili Palmer or the woman and said Chili Palmer, though right then didn"t care if he had to do them both, he was this far. Catlett raised the Hardballer to put it on the shape, got it almost aimed and a scream came at him out of the dark-a scream that filled the house and was all over him and he started firing before he was ready, firing as that scream kept screaming, firing at that shape dropping flat on the stairs, firing till that f.u.c.king scream turned him around without thinking and he ran down a hall to the back of the house and got out of there. was the name of it. Fine sound effects to go with what he was about to do. Loud, but not as loud as the Hardballer would be once he had it pointed at Chili Palmer. Catlett moved through the doorway into the front hall, heard his heels click on the tile and turned enough to face the stairway. He bent his head back to look at the upstairs railing that curved around the open part of the second floor and looked back at the stairway: did it quick to catch something dark there partway down, a shape against the light-colored wall. There was that moment he had to decide was it Chili Palmer or the woman and said Chili Palmer, though right then didn"t care if he had to do them both, he was this far. Catlett raised the Hardballer to put it on the shape, got it almost aimed and a scream came at him out of the dark-a scream that filled the house and was all over him and he started firing before he was ready, firing as that scream kept screaming, firing at that shape dropping flat on the stairs, firing till that f.u.c.king scream turned him around without thinking and he ran down a hall to the back of the house and got out of there.
The first thing Karen said was, "I haven"t screamed in ten years," amazed that she could still belt one out. Chili told her it was a terrific scream, she ought to be in the movies. The second thing she said was, "We"d better call the police." And he said, not yet, okay? But didn"t say why.
Now they were downstairs: Karen waiting in the kitchen, lights on, the television off, Chili looking around outside. She watched him come in shaking his head and noticed his purple and gold T-shirt for the first time.
"You said last night the Bear called?"
She nodded toward the counter saying, "The number"s by the phone," and watched him walk over and look at the notepad next to it. "I have a T-shirt like that only it"s white."
He said, "I know you do."
"Is that why you got one?"
She watched him with the phone in his hand now punching numbers. He waited and said, "Bear? Chili Palmer." She watched him listen for several moments before he said, "Yeah, well he tried. Tell me where he lives." He listened and said, "I"ll find it." Then listened again, longer, for at least a minute, and said, "It"s up to you," and hung up.
"You didn"t answer my question," Karen said. "Is that why you bought it?"
He said, "I guess so," and turned to walk out.
"You"re going to Catlett"s house-why?"
"I"m not gonna spend another twelve years waiting for something to fall on me."
"What did the Bear want?"