The Predators (19 page)

There were six black girls in rehearsal costumes and they watched as we came in the room. Leroy was a big, handsome black man sitting at a table near the drummer and the piano player.

Leroy started toward us. He waved at the girls. “Take ten minutes.” Then he held his hand out to Buddy. He grasped Buddy’s hand and pulled him toward him in a big bear hug. “Clarence!” He smiled. “The last time I saw you, you were hanging on to your mother’s skirt.” He laughed again. “Now, here you are in Detroit in the army.”

“I grew up a little since then, Leroy.” Buddy laughed. “It’s great to see you doing so wonderful.”

“I have some backup.” Leroy smiled. “The Purple Mob are my partners. Real good friends.” He took us to the bar. “What’ll you have?”

Buddy gestured to me. “He’s my friend, Jerry Cooper. We’ve been working together for about three years.”

Leroy took my hand. Practically broke it. “Clarence is a friend of yours, you a friend of mine. We all have a shot of Canadian.”

“We’ll take ours with ice and water,” Buddy said. “We’re not used to the hard stuff. Just beer.”

Leroy smiled. “Okay. We’ll have a beer. Now what else can I do for you?”

“How did you like Rosey?” Buddy asked. “She was really a star at Small’s.”

Leroy looked at him. “Were you fucking her?”

“No,” Buddy said. “She was kept by Jerry’s uncle for a few years. Then he threw her out.”

“Why?” Leroy asked. “Was she stealing from him?”

“No way. She was straight,” Buddy answered. “We just want to talk to her a little. Jerry thinks that his uncle was screwing him on some things.”

Leroy looked at me. “Do you know Rosey?”

“I never saw her before,” I answered. “But I think she might be able to help me with some information.”

“Okay,” Leroy said. “But you can’t talk to her until after her show tonight. I’ve got her starring in the show tonight and this is her first solo performance. I don’t want her to get upset.”

“It’s okay, Mr. Leroy,” I said. “You tell me when you want me to talk to her and I’ll be here.”

He turned to Buddy. “Why don’t y’all hang around here while we go through this rehearsal. Then I’ll take you out to dinner.”

Buddy and I sat at the bar and nursed our beers. Leroy worked with the chorus line until it was perfect to his taste. He left the girls and came back to us. “Okay fellas,” he said in his deep baritone voice. “Let’s go to my place first. You’ll meet my wife while I get a shower and a new change of clothes. I’m the boss, and I have to look my best.”

We followed him out of the club. The guard at the door was already at the curb with a shiny black 1940 Cadillac limousine with the door open.

“We have a jeep,” Buddy said. “We’ll follow you.”

“No way.” Leroy smiled. “You’ll come in my hog. Give the keys to the jeep to Johnson. He’ll take care of the car for you.”

Buddy gave the keys to the guard. “Hide it,” he said. “It’s government property. I don’t want us to get canned for lettin’ somebody else drive it.”

Johnson smiled. “Don’t worry. I have all the tricks to keep a car safe.”

“Thanks.” Buddy smiled, and tried to hand Johnson a fiver.

Johnson shook his head. “No sir, you’re in the family.”

Buddy sat in the front seat with his cousin. I sat in the back. I had never been in a new car like this. It rode like I was floating on a cloud, and the upholstery was like regular furniture. The smell of the new car was like heaven. Pure pussy.

Buddy looked back at me. “Like the car?”

“Fantastic!” I answered. “I never have been in a car like this.”

“They ain’t many of them around,” Leroy said. “When the war started, all the new cars went to the big shots in the government. I paid for this one under the table.” He laughed his big laugh. “That usually gets you what you want.”

“It’s great, Mr. Leroy,” I said.

It took us only about fifteen minutes to get to Leroy’s house. It seemed like a newly constructed apartment and there was a driveway that led to the apartment entrance. A tall uniformed doorman opened the car door for us and then drove the car away. There were two elevators, each on one side of the building, each with its own elevator operator. Leroy’s apartment was on the top floor. Ninth floor. Penthouse apartment west.

Buddy looked at his cousin as we walked to his door. “Leroy!” he said with admiration. “You are one dickety nigger. How did you ever get so smart?”

“Connections,” Leroy said, and smiled. “With connections you can own the world.”

7

Leroy’s penthouse was something else. The living room was at least forty feet long, with windows that covered one whole side of the room that opened to a terrace that looked over the river to Canada. The furniture was beautiful. It looked like a picture in a magazine. There were expensive antiques, leather easy chairs, and a large sectional sofa, with oil paintings on every part of the walls.

Leroy saw the astonishment on my face. “It’s a beautiful place, isn’t it? My wife, Carolyn, decorated it herself. She went to Chicago, New York, and Europe and bought all of these things.”

“It’s great,” I said.

Buddy was staring with his mouth open. “This ain’t like no black folks’ house I’ve ever seen.”

“My wife ain’t black.” Leroy smiled. “I met her in Paris where she was a showgirl at the Moulin Rouge.”

“Is she here?” Buddy asked.

“She’ll be home in a minute,” Leroy said. “She has an interior decorating and furniture store over in Grosse Pointe. That’s where all the bigwigs in the auto business live. They love Carolyn’s work; she’s done most of their homes. But it takes about a half hour for her to drive home. She’ll be here soon.”

“You doin’ pretty good,” Buddy said, still gawking.

Leroy smiled. “You soldiers get a drink over at the bar while I get dressed. Just relax an’ enjoy.”

A small man wearing a white waiter’s coat came into the room and went behind the bar. “I’m Julian,” he said in a soft voice. “I’m the butler. What can I serve you gentlemen?”

“Rheingold,” Buddy said.

“Same for me,” I said. “Thank you.”

He filled our glasses and set out a plate of peanuts in front of us. “Is there anything else I can do for you gentlemen?” Julian said.

“We’re fine, Julian,” Buddy said.

“The door to the terrace is unlocked if you would like to go out, gentlemen,” Julian said. “If you need anything else just press this button on the bar.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Buddy looked at me. I followed him out to the terrace. Buddy shook his head. “I never knew that Leroy was so loaded.”

“He seems like a nice man,” I said.

Buddy laughed. “You didn’t know him when he was young. He was really tough. He was the collection man for the Purple Mob. Then when he made his mark they turned him over to the cabaret business and he ran all the games in a secret room behind the showroom.”

“He still seems like a nice man,” I said.

“He really is.” Buddy smiled. “If you don’t give him any trouble.”

“I’m an angel.” I laughed. Then we heard Julian open the front door and looked toward the doorway. Leroy’s wife came into the room. He was right when he said she wasn’t a black woman. She had skin that looked like ivory, platinum hair, and beautiful blue eyes. She was a beautiful lady who looked like a model off a magazine cover.

Buddy was up on his feet. He was off the terrace and into the room before she could get through the living room. I followed him but I was not as fast as he was. “Carolyn, I’m Leroy’s cousin, Clarence.”

She shook his hand. “I’m happy to meet you.” She smiled back. “You sound like you’re from New York,” she said in a sultry voice. “I was born in New York, too.”

Buddy laughed. “I guess we’re all New Yorkers, then. This is my friend, Jerry Cooper.”

I nodded and held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”

She held my hand. It was warm. “You can call me Carolyn.” She smiled. “What brings you to Detroit?”

“We’re working over at the jeep factory in the army. When we’re finished here we’ll be shipped overseas,” I rattled off. I couldn’t keep my mind on what I was saying, she was so beautiful.

“Jerry’s too modest,” Buddy chimed in. “We’re both teachers here and we’ll probably be here quite a while.”

“Good.” She smiled a radiant smile. “We’ll be happy to have you here. Most of our friends have already shipped out.” She turned to leave the room. “I’m going over to check with Leroy about what the plans are for this evening. Just relax at the bar and we’ll both be back real soon.”

Buddy looked at me after she left the room. “Man, she’s really a knockout. Cousin Leroy has done himself proud.”

I looked at him and went to the bar. “She’s a star. I’m surprised she never wound up in Hollywood.”

Leroy had just come into the room and had heard me. “You’re right, kid.” He laughed at me. “We went to Los Angeles on our honeymoon and the first night we were at dinner, one of the big producers at MGM wanted to take us over to the studio the next morning and give her a screen test. But she said no, no. She was staying with her man Leroy in Detroit.”

“You’re a lucky man,” Buddy said.

“Don’t I know it!” Leroy agreed. “You fellas like surf and turf? We got the best place in town. We’ll have dinner and then we’ll all go back to the cabaret and see the show.”

“You’re the boss.” Buddy laughed.

The restaurant was great. It was on the waterfront and we were seated on a corner that looked over the river to the lights of Windsor. From the way the maître d’ acted I could easily understand that Leroy was an important man here. The steak and lobster we had was something I had never had before. I never tasted anything so good. By nine o’clock, Leroy had us back at his cabaret. The show began at midnight. By that time, I was bombed on beer and had to piss every twenty minutes. I was half asleep in my chair when Carolyn tapped me on the knee. “Showtime!” She laughed.

I shook my head to clear it. Then I realized that Leroy and Buddy were not at the table. I looked at Carolyn. “I guess I dozed off,” I said.

“You were fast asleep,” she said, laughing. “They left me here to make sure you didn’t fall off the chair.”

“I have never eaten or drunk like that in my entire life,” I said. “The army never feeds us like this.”

“Leroy went backstage. He always does that when a new show is opening. He wants everything to be perfect. Buddy followed along with him.” She smiled. “Buddy was checking out the girls. He looked horny, like he hasn’t seen a girl in a long time.”

“This is the army, ma’am.” I laughed. “You don’t get much time off for girls. This is the first time we got off since we went into the army at Fort Dix.”

She placed her hand on my thigh and moved it up to my fly under the tablecloth. I felt my hard-on growing against the touch of her hand. She smiled at me. “I guess that you haven’t gotten off in a long time.”

I lit a cigarette and kept my hands on top of the table as I inhaled and then slowly blew out the smoke. I looked over at her. “You be careful with that hand or I’ll get it off in my pants right here.”

She took her hand away and reached for a cigarette. I held the light for her. She looked into my eyes. “I’m happy that you’re not a fag,” she said. “I hear that a lot of soldiers get queer and I wondered whether you and Clarence were a team.”

I laughed. “No ma’am. We like it the old-fashioned way.”

“Good,” she said, letting the smoke lightly drift from her lips. Then she looked away. “I see them coming back.” And again she looked at me. “We’ll have another moment sometime, when there is no pressure.”

I didn’t have a chance to even answer: Leroy and Buddy were back at the table. Leroy turned to his wife. “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m worried about the show.”

Carolyn kissed his cheek and snuggled up to him. “You always worry about every new show, darlin’. They’ll be great. I know it.”

“All the same, we better keep our fingers crossed,” said Leroy, and he gulped a double shot of Canadian.

The show was great. Maybe because I had never been to a cabaret or seen a stage show in my life. The only singers or dancers I had ever seen had been in the movies. The show lasted almost an hour and a half. After the show was over the stage was rolled up and it became a dance floor. It was unbelievable to me.

Carolyn smiled at me. “Would you like to dance, Jerry?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know how. I’ve never danced before.”

Buddy laughed. “You have a lot to learn, Jerry. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old.” He turned to Carolyn. “May I?”

“For a cousin, you’re very formal.” She laughed easily. I watched them go out on the floor. I’d never seen a dance like that. If I had to hold a girl that close on the dance floor, I know that I would come all over the place. Lucky I didn’t get up and try to dance with Carolyn.

Leroy was watching them. He looked over at me. “Ain’t she beautiful? And she’s the best dancer I ever knew. Everybody loves my Carolyn.”

“There’s no doubt about that,” I answered.

He was still looking at me. “Have you fellas got a room in town yet?”

“No, sir. We hadn’t even thought about it,” I said.

“We have a couple of extra bedrooms in our place,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said. “But we wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“You wouldn’t be.” He smiled. “I’ll have to work late—the back room is busy tonight. But you can go home whenever you want.”

Carolyn and Buddy came back to the table and heard Leroy’s invitation. Buddy looked at me. “I have a date with one of the girls when she gets off. I thought I would just hang out here with Leroy.”

“That’s great for you,” I said. “But how will I get to their place?”

“You can get a taxi,” Buddy said. “I’ll need the jeep.”

“I’m not going to be staying here too much longer,” Carolyn said. “I have to get up and be at the shop at nine o’clock in the morning. He can come with me when Chuck drives me home.”

“If it’s no trouble?” I asked.

“No trouble at all,” Carolyn said.

“I want to have time to talk with Rosey before we go back to the barracks,” I said.

“You’ll have time tomorrow.” Buddy laughed. “She asked me over tonight. I’ll make sure that you see her about noon tomorrow.”