�Here.� And she threw me a handful. I let them fall, mentally noting where each one had landed; I didn�t want to appear too desperate. �Half now - the rest when you find my Father.�
What! There was more! For that kind of money I�d don a kilt and dance till the cows came home! Again though, I acted as if dame�s throwing me money to find their old man was as regular as bullets centimetres away from making my head look like a polo mint.
�Oh, my Father�s name�s Kerr,� she told me.
�First or last?� I asked.
�Last, with a double R. His first is Joe.�
The chair groaned, but groaned in a gracious kind of way when she stood up. I steadied myself; I didn�t feel confident to survive on my feet upon the appearance of a sneeze, let alone a tremor!We said our see ya later�s. I tried not to sound too delighted. She was gone, I was as loaded as the revolvers that usually snuggled up to my temple. I shuffled up the crisp notes. A quick check to see if the broad wasn�t yanking my chain with phoney bucks. They were as real as my first kiss on the lips with a knuckleduster, but tasted plenty sweeter. I had four weeks rent to pay and had been seriously starting to plan where my next place of residence would become. The dough couldn�t have arrived at a more opportune moment. There was only one thing I�d be using this cash for�
�Friends Foley leads going into the final straight -�
�Come on Friends Foley!� I muttered to myself greedily, slip grasped in hand.�- followed by Rising Sun and Toto. Friends Foley ahead by two lengths - Toto and Rising Sun battling for second - it looks like Friends Foley all the way. Just three lengths to go.�My breath was held tighter than the slip was in my hand, which was clasped tighter than a loan sharks buttock's. Seven to one and a two hundred buck stake didn�t mean I was going to hold it out for the pigeons to carry away.
I closed the door just as the commentator was describing the jockey�s injuries, �Ooo! When a leg is bent that many times, you know it can�t be good news!� and thought to myself: good! Hope you never need to wear pants again!
I chose not to go back to my office, as I thought it best to get straight to business; the early bird catches the worm, right? Another slight factor was the wad the broad had let unfold. The prospect of that was a helluva incentive� Also, there was another factor, this one a slightly bigger reason for not going back to headquarters: idiot me had only gone and promised Mr One-More-Week-And-You�re-Out-On-Your-Ass the owed rent. I now only had a ripped up betting slip and some more material to use on his Tuesday night slot to give him.
My first stop would have to be Pete�s Pot-�em and Drop-�em Pool Hall, where the women were men with high heels, and the place was a common source for most of St. Marcus�s (the hospital on the corner of fifty-sixth and seventh) customers.There was a guy I was after - no, I�m not batting for the other side, nor do I lick my stamps on the opposite end, but I was on the lookout for a certain individual. His name was Percival Ramsbottom, but, then again, no one�s perfect. I�d known him since he was three foot tall - that�s not to say I�d grown up with him; he was a dwarf and now only reached three two. I couldn�t see him after I�d opened the door and completed a quick scan of the joint, though that�s not to say he wasn�t in; a table usually worked to conceal his whereabouts.There was some unfortunate who was being sh
�Wanna wet one?� I hoped he meant a drink. I declined and asked the barman where Perce was lurking. His reply was unnecessary. A sound that I knew to be laughter, but could quite well be mistaken as a howl to the untrained ear, ripped through the clouds of burnt tobacco and cheap filters. It sounded pretty much like a mixture between an automobile that had just slammed on its brakes and a cat that had been tied upside down and was being used as a punch bag with its carrots n� onions as the prime target.
I strolled slowly around to the other side of the bar where he was tugging at the leg of a burly momma, who could easily floor the pocket-sized human with one well aimed sneeze. In an effort to present a manly pose, he was stood on tiptoe with the index finger of his left hand only just clearing the bar. So one could say he was leaning - very painfully mind you - against the bar. No wonder I hadn�t see him.
He noticed me and eyed me with a look that was between suspicion and fear, like the way I used to look at my ex-wife - when we were marred, that is.�The name�s Valentine,� I said with an audible twinge of hope that he�d remember me. Not that I�d blame him if he didn�t; the last and only time our paths had crossed he had been under the influence of several doubles.
�If you�re from Animal Welfare than that time with the Possum was never proved -�
Trying not to laugh I said, �No, I'm not.�
�You�re not a cop, are you?�I wasn�t comforted by the sound of several chair legs scraping as their occupants got to their feet. I replied with the