Angel With A Bullet Part 1

She was an ice cold martini in a long dress, hair like asphalt with one white stripe, eyes that flashed back the neon drug-store sign so bright I had to close the blinds to concentrate, lips as cold as aluminium. She was a dream on a stormy night. She was dangerous curves of on a cliff road. She was late.

'I'd nearly given up on you,' I said, pulling a second glass from the draw and sliding the bottle across the table. She folded herself into the chair and poured herself a slug.

'I am sorry,' she said, 'I was delayed.' She had a southern drawl, words like the silt thick Mississippi ran slow but certain.

'If you were on time,' I said, 'I would have shut up, gone home, microwaved dinner, fed the cat and had a drink by now.' I gestured to the bottle. 'Since you were late, I just had the drink.'

'And the cat?' she asked, tilting the glass to her lips to not permitting a drop through, 'wont he go hungry.'

'It's a she,' I said, 'and if she's hungry there are mice she should be catching.'

She winced at the mention of mice and put the glass down on the table.

'Water?' I asked. She nodded and I stood up and filled a jug from the sink in the corner. She sat facing forward the whole time, waiting for me to sit back down behind my desk. Me, I barely took my eyes off her.

'So what can I do for you?' I said above the rattle of the tap. The black space where Jody sat loomed deep beyond the glass door. 'This one's funny' Jody had said before she knocked off for the night.

'She's late,' I had replied.

'She's funny,' said Jody, 'watch yourself.'

'I need you to meet a man for me.'

I smiled at the black space beyond the door, Jody was right, this one was funny. I put the jug on the table next to her drink and sat back down. 'Mam I specialise in financial stuff,' I said, 'on a retainer from a couple of good insurance firms, small business jobs mainly, bankruptcies that don't smell right, mortgage defaults, that sort of thing. I even find the odd stray cat. You want muscle I've a friend who's a debt collector could use the extra work. You just want any man met I've a sister back west dying to meet one.'

She raised one eyebrow, the left I think, mixed her drink fifty-fifty and said 'you talk a lot Mister Casey.'

'I get nervous when I turn down a paycheque.'

'I need brains, not muscle.'

'And you think I have them?'

'You've got wit, which is the next best thing.'

'Jody said you were funny.'

'Is Jody the girl I spoke to on the phone.' I nodded. 'Nice kid, where'd you find her?'

'They give 'em away free with two packs of twenty at the store on the corner. She's got a hair lip and fella works in the post room at Chase Manhattan. She's saving up for corrective surgery then she'll get married have kids and go leave me and be a full time housewife.'

'But she doesn't work late?'

'One of the perks of not owning the company.'

'You own the company?'

'Fifty percent. I've a sleeping partner sleeps late all the way up in Boston, I hear he sleeps on feather pillows.'

'Did you sell up or buy in?'

'Neither,' I said picking up my drink. Then I noticed she still hadn't touched a drop of hers despite the water and put it back down again. 'Lady it's late,' I said, 'and if my cat saw a mouse she'd probably run and hide, so suppose we get down to business.'

'You'll take the job.'

'I'll hear about it.'

'No good,' she said, 'you'll take it or I walk.'

'Persuade me,' I said, 'you won't find anyone else tonight.'

'I need an agent,' she said, 'someone I can trust not to screw up, and someone who will notice anything out of the ordinary.'

'Dangerous?'

'Not at all.'

'Because I take after my cat, if it looks like violence I run and hide.'

'I can assure you there is no danger of violence at all.'

'Very well,' I said, 'then I'll take the job.'

'Good,' she said, 'I want you to take the nine-fifteen train to Washington tomorrow morning. You're to meet a man named Billericay in the mail car after you pass through Philadelphia, he will give you package. Get off at Washington and come straight back and give me that package..

'Nine fifteen to Washington,' I said, 'Billericay in the mail car after Philli.'

'Write it down please,' she said. I did.

'That's it?' I asked.

'I'll pay you on receipt of the package, if that's okay.'

'It's fair,' I said, 'one day's work plus train ticket. Jody discussed my rates?'

'She did.'

'What's in the package?'

'Don't open it,' she said.

'Do I need to hide it if I meet a policeman?'

'Not at all.'

'And what out of the ordinary something am I supposed to be looking for?'

'Anything,' she said, 'anything odd.'

'Lady,' I replied, 'this whole damn job is odd.'

She smiled a smile that lit up the rest of my evening, and downed her drink in one go. 'Are we done?' she asked.

'We're done.' I said, and she stood up and glided out of the room silent as an anaconda and more graceful than a panther in pearls at the opening night of the opera. I called Jody to let her know I wouldn't be in tomorrow.

'She's funny right?' she said.

'Like a Marx brother,' I said, Groucho or Karl I'm not sure which.'

'Go home Casey,' she said, 'feed your cat.'

I did as she said. The cat was hungry. The mouse ran across the top of the cupboard while I opened the tin like it wanted to prove a point. I looked at the cat, but she just pretended not to notice.