Killer Mine Read Online Free PDF Page A

light, and what she did to her hair changed her face somehow and I had to wonder where all the beauty came from. She was full and proud in the breasts, with a casual way of standing with one leg partly thrust out that accentuated the incredible curve of her hips. Like that, the fabric of the dress ran flat across her belly, yet made you aware of other hidden curves still more lovely.
    “You like?” she asked.
    “I like,” I said. “What’s it for?”
    “To give you a good reason for being here.”
    “It was good enough before,” I grinned.
    She walked closer, swirled around so I could see the overall effect. “But better now, huh?”
    I nodded. “Better now.” Then I grabbed her and pulled her close so I could smell the sweet scent in her hair and she was warm and hard against me, her fingers biting into my arm. Her mouth touched my mouth, warm and moist, the tip of her tongue soft and searching, saying hello after such a long, long time, a gentle touch because we were still new, even though very old.
    I held her away and she smiled. “Nutty, isn’t it?”
    “Yeah. I’m not sure I understand it.”
    “Like this is nice work,” she grinned.
    I said, “On the job training.”
    She gave me that throaty laugh again, touched my lips with her finger and reached for her purse. She said, “We ready?”
    I looked at my watch. It was a quarter to six and there was no time like the present. I nodded and said, “Let’s go.”
     
     We picked Tony’s Pizza for supper because René Mills had made it his special eatery. Nothing fancy about it, but Tony would put anybody from the neighborhood on the cuff. The old man remembered me with a black-faced nod not intended to be personal, but prohibition raids had long ago soured him on any kind of cop.
    Fat Mary came over beaming and smiling, then patted me on the head like she used to do when she gave me a slice of hot Italian bread, thick with butter, for running errands for her.
    When the sausage and peppers came Mary dished it up herself and sat down opposite me, nodding with satisfaction as we ate. She liked to see people eat.
    She said, “Now, Joe, you come back to see thees nice girl, no?” She didn’t let me answer. “That is good. Very good. Long time thees nice girl should be marry. How to have the babies without the marry, no?”
    “Well…”
    She waggled a fat finger at me. “No. You marry first! Like I tell…”
    But Tony broke it off. “Like you tell nobody. You let them eat, okay?”
    Mary laughed so that her chins jiggled, then she reached over and patted my hand. “You a good boy, Joe. Now, how about rest of your family, eh? That crazy brother of yours still around?”
    “I haven’t seen him in a long while, Mary.”
    “Oh, he a funny one. Remember when he make believe he hang that kid and I scream and fall down the steps?”
    Marta looked at me, puzzled. “The Davis kid,” I explained. “They made this harness to go under his clothes, but it looked like he really was hung.”
    “Oh.”
    Mary’s face drew into a stern grimace. “Not so funny yet. On the back I am all black and blue. Good thing I am there to see.”
    “Why?”
    “Thees things they made to hold him up. One broke and he really was hanging.” She shuddered. “For minute his face get red, his tongue come out. I take him down and I give that brother of yours one hell of a sock. Make his nose bleed. I was going to tell your papa, but he cry so I say nothing.”
    “First time I heard about that part of it.”
    “What was his name, what you called him? Something Indian.”
    “Chief Crazy Horse. A Sioux, I think. Big war leader under Sitting Bull.”
    “Oh, I tell you plenty things from them days.”
    Behind the bar Tony said, “Yak, yak. You let them eat, woman.”
    I winked at the old man and he scowled back friendly-like. Mary looked hurt, so I said casually, “See where René Mills died.”
    “No die.” She hunched her heavy shoulders in a shrug. “He was