I felt my knees go weak. “Hang up and dial the operator. Tell her you’re being kidnapped. Then leave the receiver off the hook and start running. Wave down a truck or a highway patrol.”
He started to hiccup. “They’re coming… They’re coming… They… Oh, shit, ice cream guy. They’re gonna punish me.”
Someone opened the phone booth door and pulled the receiver from Stoney’s hand. “Is this who I think it is?” a voice said.
“How’s it hangin’, Doyle? You like movies? Did you ever see The Maltese Falcon? Humphrey Bogart takes a pistol away from Sidney Greenstreet’s bodyguard and throws it to Greenstreet and says something like, ‘Here, a crippled newsie took it off him.’ For some reason you make me think of that line.”
“I’ll be looking you up, Broussard. You don’t know where I am. But I know where you are.”
“Last time out, you didn’t do too well,” I said.
“You don’t get it, do you?”
“Afraid not.”
“You remember Cherry Alley in Tokyo? The signs out front said ‘Fuckie-Suckie’? Why do you think we went to Jo Anne’s house?”
“You’re an evil man, Doyle.”
“She can give good head, but that’s about it. By the way, she said you’re a lousy lay.”
He hung up.
* * *
“JIMMY DOYLE GOT on the phone?” Jo Anne said.
“Yeah, he’s got
Stoney pretty scared,” I said.
“What’d he say?”
“He’s a jerk and not worth talking about. The issue is Stoney. I wonder if he’s being used to set us up.”
“He’s bait?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“What did Stoney tell you? You looked a little gray for a minute.”
“He was talking about a ceremony that involved the devil.”
“He has brain damage,” she said. “Don’t pay attention to what he says.”
“I get the sense he’s talking about human sacrifice.”
“What?”
“I think I know where Stoney and Doyle are headed.”
“You’re thinking about going there?” she asked.
“Will you marry me, Jo Anne?”
“I love you. I can say that truthfully. But I can’t handle all this crap.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”