So Nude, So Dead Read Online Free PDF

he’d know better, know enough to have a spare shot ready all the time, especially in the morning. He really couldn’t be blamed for this one, though. When he’d sacked in last night, he’d expected to wake up to sixteen ounces of the stuff.
    Thinking of it made it worse. He wanted to tear something, hit something, knock down somebody, anybody, anything, anything to untangle him. But he knew the only thing that would set him straight.
    All right, all right, you know, he told himself. But where are you going to get it?
    I don’t know, he moaned inwardly, the thought twisting his mind. I don’t know, and he felt the sickness at the pit of his stomach again.
    Maybe Jeannie would— No, no, she wouldn’t. But maybe. No, he couldn’t. He, couldn’t go to her again, he couldn’t. He moistened his lips. Maybe she’d forgotten about the time he— Maybe she’d— No, it wasn’t worth the trip. But he needed a shot.
    His body was covered with sweat now, his shirt sticking to his back. He gulped, felt the lump rise and fall in his throat. Maybe Jeannie would give him some money. Maybe, just maybe, just maybe one chance in a hundred million, maybe, maybe.
    He made up his mind quickly, walked up the ramp to the street and hailed a taxicab, gambling with his last dollar and ninety cents.
    * * *
    The cab ride made him sicker, and he was glad when it was over. He paid the cabbie, pocketing the remaining seventy-five cents. He looked up at the third-floor window, then rapidly climbed the front steps and opened the glass-framed door. He pushed Jeannie’s bell, nervously wetting his lips, waiting for the buzz that would open the inside door. He pressed the bell again, still waiting, his fingers moving restlessly on the knob. Disgusted, he pushed all the bells in the small entranceway, quickly opened the door as a chorus of buzzes sounded.
    He ran up the steps to the third floor, stopping outside 3 B . He leaned on the buzzer, hearing it sound deep within the apartment. What time was it? Was she still sleeping? Come on. Come on!
    Inside, he heard a restless stirring. “All right,” a voice called. “Just a minute.” He released the button and waited while he heard footsteps coming toward the door. The door opened a crack and he stuck his foot into the wedge. A blue eye appeared in the crack, then widened in surprise. “Ray!”
    “Open up, Jeannie,” he said.
    He saw her shake her head, only part of her features visible in the slit of the door. “No, Ray. Please go away.”
    “I want to come in, Jeannie.”
    “You’re—you’re not welcome here, Ray. Go away. Please.”
    “I need help,” he said, keeping his foot stuck in the wedge.
    He saw her brush a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes, remembered the gesture from somewhere deep in his memory, felt a momentary pang of nostalgia. “I thought you didn’t want help anymore, Ray. I thought—”
    “I need a fix,” he said desperately.
    “You’ve come to the wrong place, Ray.”
    “I need money.” His teeth were on edge now, and he hoped she wouldn’t give him trouble. All she had to do was slip him a fin, just slip it through the crack. She didn’t have to let him in if she didn’t want to. All she had to do was slide it through that opening. That’s all he wanted.
    “I haven’t any money, Ray.”
    His face began to twitch, the muscles around his lips, the muscles near his eyes. His whole face twitched as if it would fall apart, leaving only a skull. He saw the panic in her eyes, saw her grip her lower lip between her teeth, saw the tears almost start.
    “Jeannie,” he said softly, “please let me in. We’ll sit down and talk this over. Please, Jeannie.”
    “We’ve said all there is to say, Ray. Please, please, leave me alone, please.”
    “No!” he shouted, and he heaved his shoulder against the door, slamming it into her body. He felt a faint resistance, and then a yielding as he pushed into the room. He slammed the door behind him.
    Jeannie