Up in Honey's Room

  We can let the vodka be our tea, Vera said and looked at Jurgen. Why don't you go up and rest. I put magazines in your room I know Walter wouldn't have, or even know they exist. Have a nap, come down at six for cocktails and a supper Bo will prepare for us. She turned to him. What do you have in mind, or would you rather surprise us?

  Jurgen was watching Bo. For a moment Bo's expression said he was tired of this happy home life routine. But then he did come alive and seemed keen to answer Vera.

  I can't surprise you, Countess, the way you come in the kitchen sniffing. But let's see if I can stimulate Jurgen's appetite.

  I hope I didn't sound like I was flirting, Bo said, on the sofa now with Vera, her fingers feeling through his cap of Buster Brown hair, brushing his shoulder now with her hand.

  I think you have dandruff.

  I set my mind to play a goluboy and everything I say sounds provocative.

  You're very believable, Vera said, remembering the afternoon Fadey came home hours early and almost caught them in the bedroom naked. He called her name from downstairs, Vera? By the time he came in the bedroom Bo had become a drag queen in one of Vera's frocks, hands on his hips, looking at himself in the mirror. Vera, now in a skirt and sweater, stepped out of the closet to see Fadey staring at Bo.

  She said to Bo now, Do you remember what I said?

  Bo grinned. You said, 'He loves to wear women's clothes, but he's still the best fucking cook in Odessa.' I wanted to kiss you. And Fadey accepted it.

  He didn't care one way or the other.

  I don't know how you thought of that so quickly. You hear him downstairs and I'm a sexual deviant in the same moment.

  You know, Vera said, there are times when you do sound girlish. But then you began putting it on It was fun.

  Yes, until people notice you, maybe your shipmates. It doesn't take much. You hold your hand the wrong way looking at your nails. She put her arm around him, drawing his slender body, his ribs she liked to feel, close to her. The death squad comes by and someone on the dock points you out. 'He's one.' You try to tell them you have a reason for acting the way you do, to prevent someone's husband from shooting you. And they pissed on you. Vera began caressing him, touching his face, moving her hand over his hair. My poor baby. I'm so sorry.

  I could stop acting like a queen.

  Not yet. You're my secret weapon.

  I didn't think Jurgen would be a problem, but he is.

  I'm not going to worry about it, if I have to give him up, I will. Walter, I don't know, he doesn't say much. But now he has something he wants to tell us. What he's planning to do for Hitler's birthday, the twentieth.

  What is it?

  He won't say. He'll tell us tomorrow night, here. He'll bring that loudmouth from Georgia if he flies up. I called Dr. Taylor, told him he'd better come. Keep up with what's going on.

  I hope Joe Aubrey can't make it, Bo said. The weather has him socked in. No, he takes off. Fuck the weather, he's a ferocious, two-fisted little fellow and no storm is going to stop him. But it does, he crashes and burns to death. Wouldn't that be neat?

  Except he's taking the train this time, Vera said. The one I've been thinking about is Dr. Taylor.

  He doesn't say a word, Bo said, as his eyes silently move over us, missing nothing.

  He doesn't speak very much at a meeting. But he could be talking to the Federal Bureau. I think if he has to, Vera said, the doctor will tell on us rather than go to prison. Or have his sentence reduced.

  What would you like me to do about it?

  I'll let you know tomorrow night, after I watch these people. See if I like any of them.

  See who has money to give us, Bo said. We know the loudmouth could spare some. You could vamp him, give him one of your lines. No, I couldn't. His cologne makes my eyes water.

  Mine too. I thought it was Joe's breath. Get him to write you a check for German Relief, the starving people of Berlin, made out to cash. Bo squirmed against Vera to lay his cheek on her breast. Tell me when you're out of money, I'll go stand on the corner.

  Don't say that. Please.

  Six Mile and Woodward Avenue, partway up the first block. Catch some trade going home to the suburbs, where the people with money live.

  Vera took Bo's jaw in her hand and turned his face to look at her and see the judgment in her eyes.

  Never, ever, tell me what you could be doing when you're not with me. I don't want to hear it. You understand? Not even kidding, or I'll cut you loose. She kept looking at him, their faces close, and kissed his mouth, Vera gentle now, her voice soft saying, You understand? You're my love. I want to feel you belong to me, no one else. Be nice to me, Vera said, I'll make you happy. I'll let you wear my black sequined dress tomorrow night.

  Bo twisted around to sit up.

  You mean when your spy ring's here?

  It's up to you, Vera said.

  The black with sequins?

  Chapter Fifteen.

  Carl phoned Louly every week at Cherry Point, North Carolina, the marine air base, so he wouldn't have to write let- ters. He'd listen to her get on a subject like marching, how marines loved to march and had their own snappy way of calling cadence, more like sounds than words, not making any sense. She said, Why is marching so important? In boot you march everywhere you go. Even now, visitors come up from Washington, congressmen, we're out on the parade passing in review, doing right and left obliques, to the rear march, showing the visitors, goddamn it, we're marines.

  Louly sounding like a dedicated jarhead.

  We even marched a lot, Carl said, meaning the Seabees. You're in the service, it doesn't matter which one, they march your ass off. I think it's to get you doing what you're told on the beat. You're in combat, you get ordered to move, you don't stop and think, you move.

  So his wife would think he was as Semper Fi as she was.

  Toward the end of the conversation Louly would say, You staying out of trouble?

  Carl would say, I don't have time to get in trouble. How about you?

  We stay in the barracks we play hearts or read. We go out, we have a few beers and listen to gyrines try their dopey lines on us. The officers who've been in combat think they're hot stuff and act real bored. I tell them my husband's shot more people who wanted to kill him than any of you, without even leaving Oklahoma.

  What about the two Nips I got? On an island supposed to be secured?

  That time Louly said, Don't worry, I tell them about your scoring a couple of Nips.

  He'd feel good after talking to Louly. Her enlistment was up in the summer and he'd tell her he couldn't wait to have his sweetie home. He'd start looking for an apartment in Tulsa.

  This time, talking to him in Detroit, Louly said, You staying out of trouble?

  He said what he always did about not having time, but with pictures of Honey Deal flashing in his mind, Honey wearing her black beret, in the car and at dinner, Honey's eyes on him as she sipped her dry martini, straight up.

  Louly said over the phone, I love you, Carl, and he said, I love you too, sweetie, remembering not to call her honey. There were two anchovy olives in Honey's martini.

  She said, I take one of the olives in my mouth, like this, crush it between my teeth and sip the ice-cold martini, the silver bullet. Mmmmmm.

  He said, They get you feeling good in a hurry.

  Yes, they do.

  If you aren't careful.

  She said, Even if you are.

  Her eyes smiling at him.

  He dropped Honey off at her apartment after they had supper. She thanked him. Hoped she'd see him again sometime. She didn't ask if he wanted to come up.

  See?

  She was fun to be with, that's all. She flirted a little bit with her eyes, certain things she said, but that didn't mean he'd ever go all the way with her. He had a good-looking wife who'd shot two men in her time and taught twelve hundred gunnies to love their .30-caliber Browning. Louly was all the girl he had ever wanted, and had sworn at the ti
me to remain faithful to her. He had no intention of ever committing adultery with Honey. If that's what she was game for and it looked like it might happen, Honey being what you'd call a free spirit, with bedroom eyes and that lower lip waiting there for him to bite, the girl acting like there was nothing wrong with free love.

  Carl told himself there was no possibility of his ever going too far. Even if he'd be seeing more of her now. Pretty much every day, now that he'd lost his guide to Detroit, Kevin Dean reassigned to bars blowing up.

  He phoned Honey from the FBI office where he'd spent most of the day. She sounded busy but calm answering questions thrown at her by salesgirls, sounding like she was in charge over at Hudson's Better Dresses; so all he said was his plans had changed and he would like to talk to her about what they'd be doing. He could give her a ride home after work, save her taking the streetcar.

  Honey said, Carl, you're my hero.

  He said, Shit, once he'd hung up.

  At the hotel cigar counter he picked up a copy of the Detroit News and went through the paper until he found Neal Rubin's column. Carl saw the heading and said Jesus Christ out loud and then read about himself.

  What's America's Ace Manhunter Doing in Detroit?

  There is a remote chance you know why Carl Webster is known as the Hot Kid of the Marshals Service. It was the title of the book about him that I reviewed for the News ten years ago. I liked the book, but can't for the life of me remember why he's called the Hot Kid.

  The question now is, what's Carl doing in Detroit? He works out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In a column last year that I called America's Most Famous Lawman, I told of Carl's specialty: going after German prisoners of war who have busted out of camp and are on the loose. Carl is an expert tracker, our Ace Manhunter.

  That's Deputy U. S. Marshal Carl Webster in the photo, taken in the lobby of the Detroit FBI office. He's looking at mug shots of wanted fugitives. It's too bad that flash of light on the glass makes it impossible to identify any of the bad guys.

  I would be willing to bet Carl Webster is after one of them. Possibly even two. Jawohl?

  Neal Rubin filled the rest of his column with Esther Williams, telling what it was like to have lunch with Esther at the London Chop House. He called it The next best thing to going swimming with her.

  Honey got in the Pontiac saying, Did you see Neal Rubin's piece?

  I think he's great, his style is so . . . conversational. He doesn't act like he knows everything, the way most of those guys sound, with their inside stuff. You notice you were the lead item? You upstaged Esther Williams.

  I saw it, Carl said.

  Does it blow your cover?

  I never had any to begin with.

  I could tell it was you in the picture.

  How? The guy shot me from behind.

  The way you wear your hat, Honey said, and sang the next lines to him in a low voice. 'No, no, they can't take that away from me.' What's the new thing you'll be doing?

  It's Kevin. They put him on an investigation that came up. Driving out Woodward in traffic, he told her about it.

  If a bar owner doesn't want to do business with these guys that supply jukeboxes, mob guys, they try to intimidate the owner, blow up his bar. They aren't experts at handling dynamite, they leave clues. The mob also tries to sell the bar Canadian whiskey they've heisted, no tax stamps on the bottles in violation of federal law. The FBI gets on it and that's what Kevin's doing, poking around in bars that were blown up and smell awful.

  Honey said, Are we going to have dinner?

  Yeah, if you want.

  Let's have a drink and talk first, at my place.

  Chapter Sixteen.

  Honey made highballs in tall glasses, rye and ginger ale, while Carl opened a can of peanuts saying he'd spent most of the day at the FBI office. He was coming to the tricky part now of what he wanted to tell her.

  They sat me down and said I was to forget about Jurgen Schrenk for the time being. They're pretty sure the Detroit spy ring's up to something. They're meeting tonight at Vera Mezwa's and the Bureau wants to be sure I don't get in the way. I asked what the meeting had to do with Jurgen. They said that's where he's staying now, at Vera's. I said, Otto's with him? It sounded like they'd forgotten about Otto, the SS major. They said they believed he was still at Walter's.

  I'd love to meet Vera, Honey said. Kevin showed me pictures of her doing her lectures. She's attractive, has her own style, knows how to fix herself up, writes letters with invisible ink. She knows Jurgen?

  The Bureau, Carl said, believes he's involved in whatever Vera's up to, it's why he's at her house. But what kind of job would they give an escaped prisoner of war? I said what if they don't know about Jurgen? Walter's never mentioned him. He knows what happened to Max Stephan when he showed off the Nazi pilot, so he's kept Jurgen under wraps. But now he calls a meeting to introduce him to the gang.

  Why? Honey said.

  I was asked that. If Walter was so careful before, keeping Jurgen a secret, why would he expose him now? I said I didn't know, but I'd talked to Walter last night.

  They were surprised.

  They said oh, is that right? I told them Walter knows I'm after Jurgen and Otto. He's afraid I'm gonna come out to the farm looking for them.

  How do you know that?

  Why were we out there last night? I told them I must be the reason Walter got rid of Jurgen, sent him to stay with Vera, let her hide him for a while.

  You think she knows about you?

  If she's any good. But if she doesn't realize I'm closing in, Jurgen will point it out to her. Now what does she do, hide him or throw him out? She can't hand him over. What's she doing with an escaped Nazi POW?

  You told this to the feds?

  I said she knows you guys would come down on her. And before you're through ringing her out she knows she can kiss her spy act good-bye. But, I told them if Jurgen feels she's nervous about the situation he'll leave, disappear. They want to know how I can be sure that's what he'd do. I said because he knows he's better off on his own than having to count on people who're strangers to him. I know he'd have serious doubts about Walter. Walter's scared to death to have Jurgen around.

  They ask how you know that?

  I said Jesus Christ, I've met Walter. I know what kind of man he is. I sized him up as I would any offender I'm after. I said the thing to do before you lose Jurgen, go on in the house and bring him out handcuffed. Vera too. Carl paused to let Honey wait for what he'd say next, but she beat him to it.

  They ask you what an old boy who wears cowboy boots knows about people in espionage?

  Only the way they put it, Carl said, was why don't we let the scenario play out a little more, not spook the spooks. What scenario?

  Whatever they think is going on.

  How do they know Jurgen's at Vera's?

  Bohdan Kravchenko. He's been working for the feds since Vera came here.

  Kevin told me about him, yeah, Vera calls him Bo.

  Kevin says this Ukrainian tells them spy stuff without telling them anything. There's a meeting tonight, but Bo doesn't know why it was called. The Bureau guys admit he could be stringing them along, but he's all they've got. I mentioned before, I think Walter's gonna present Jurgen to the gang.

  But you don't know why, if he's kept him a secret until now.

  He has a reason this time or he's showing off. Look, everybody, here's an honest-to-God Nazi superman I brought to the party.

  Honey said, If you think Jurgen will disappear by tomorrow That's where I'm stuck. What do I do about it?

  Don't they have agents watching the house?

  That's why I can't barge in.

  I have to assume, Honey said, the FBI guys know what they're doing. Don't they?

  They do, only their scenario's different from mine.

  You're afraid Jurgen's gonna slip by them, Honey said, and you'll have to start all over. What's he like?

  Jurgen? He's a nice guy, he's smart, he's funny. H
e can do different accents.

  How old is he?

  I think he's twenty-six.

  What's he look like?

  He has dark blond hair, blue eyes, he's five nine and a half, one forty-five, he's always tan, his legs, 'cause he likes to wear short pants.

  Is he good-looking?

  Girls like him, they think he's cute. I'd see girls that worked in the administration building, just outside the gate, watching him through the wire fence. One of them pulling on the front of her blouse like she needed air. He had a girlfriend at that time, a hot young babe, he'd sneak out of camp to visit.

  You mean he'd escape. What did the hot babe do?

  It was an experience, Carl said, to know her. She went from the debutantes' ball to a cathouse in Kansas City, became a very expensive call girl and got rich, saved it, didn't get into opium. She's gonna write a book, says I won't believe some of the things happened to her in her life. I think she was sixteen working in the cathouse. Shemane had a sideways look she'd give you. Carl grinned. He said, serious now, She's a redhead.

  You liked her, Honey said.

  I already have a redhead.

  But you lusted after her. Was she famous?

  In Kansas City.

  Will she name names in her book?

  I told her don't get any good guys in trouble, that's all. Honey said, Tell me what you want to do.

  About Jurgen?

  About now. What do you want to do?

  They had their drinks and cigarettes sitting low in the sofa, both of them sunk into the cushions that crushed to fit their shapes, close enough to reach out and touch each other.

  Carl said he needed a guide since he'd lost Kevin for a while. If she'd like to fill in he'd write a letter to get her off work for a few days and pay her for her time. Or have someone in the FBI office write the letter.

  I call in sick, Honey said, it's no problem. Yeah, I'd love to take you around. I have a car a friend's letting me use while he's at Benning jumping out of planes. He's an instructor, airborne. It's a 1940 Model A coupe, but I don't have any gas stamps. The guy's just a friend of mine.

  Carl said he'd get her stamps, but they'd do their running around and maybe surveillance in the Pontiac. He had maps he'd show her.