a metal ledge with a curved lip. “Keep it up there,” he suggested. “Long as it don’t bounce out, nobody will ever know.”
Glenn plucked a leather pouch off the floor, placed his gun inside, and lay it between his feet. “Let’s see your gun. See if the safety is on.”
“Man, I know all about guns.” Jimmy didn’t want him to think he was a novice.
“Oh hell, yes! I’ll bet you’re some kind of an expert,” he said, looking at Jimmy and laughing. “Well, here’s how you hold it, sharpshooter.” He looked at Jimmy fumbling with the gun. “Now, where’s your pad?”
“Up ahead.”
Glenn parked outside a large house that had been divided into small apartments.
Jimmy gathered up the few items he needed, threw them into a duffel bag, and headed out.
“Where to now?” Glenn asked.
“Let’s stop off at the bar. I need to get some more money.”
As they were leaving the car, Glenn slipped his revolver out of its pouch and into a hip pocket.
“What in the world do you need that for?” Jimmy asked.
“Just for self-protection.”
They went into the bar together. Jimmy used the pay phone to call his boss. He told Troy he was going to be out of town for a few days and asked for some of the money owed him. Troy told him a couple of hundred would be sent within the hour.
Eric waited until Glenn had wandered off, then asked, “Who in the hell is that guy?”
“Like I said, I dunno. Jay somebody.”
“He looks like trouble to me.”
“You’re repeating yourself. Don’t sweat it, man.”
“Listen to me, Jimmy. I bet you two-to-one that if you go off with the old fart you’re gonna have more trouble than you’ve ever seen. I know the type.”
“Let it go, man. Give me a beer.”
A half hour later Jimmy’s money arrived and he was ready to head for Seattle. He found Glenn trying to make time with a blonde who seemed to be having some difficulty choosing between this new guy who was bigger and talked one heck of a line or staying with her escort who was a shrimp with a fat wallet. Before she could decide, Jimmy told Glenn they had to go right away.
“Dammit, John, you picked one hell of a time to hit the road. I was ready to get me some of that.”
“We’ll never get to Seattle if you go after that kind.” Jimmy swallowed hard and then said, “That guy can’t do you any good.”
“What guy, you asshole? I was after the blonde.”
“That’s the guy I’m talking about.”
Glenn stopped and gave Jimmy a hard look. “You’re putting me on.”
“You don’t believe me, go back and see for yourself.” “You mean I was trying to put the make on a man? He’s one hell of an impersonator, I’ll give him his due.”
“Yeah, he is.” Jimmy had no idea of the person’s sex but he suspected she was as female as any woman in San Francisco. From the looks of her, probably more than most. What mattered was he’d convinced Jay.
As they approached the car, Glenn said, “Hey man, how about sharing some of that money? I got things to buy before I get to Seattle.”
Jimmy wasn’t in any mood to take a bus or hitchhike. He peeled off three twenties and handed them to the old man. It looked as though this was going to be an expensive trip.
They both got into the car. Jimmy slumped down into the seat and fished a cigarette from the pack. He lit it thinking he didn’t care much for Jay, but the man was going to Seattle. The timing was just right. Jimmy was ready to put thoughts of the war behind him. He was ready for a new life.
In Portland, Oregon, Terrie Trina Tidwell, pretty, eighteen, and naive, had endured a troubled summer. She had lived with her mother and then, following a disagreement that had severed ties at least temporarily, shared quarters with two girlfriends. Still, she was not content. And so she had phoned her father, a successful financial consultant, to see if she could come to Los Angeles to live with him and her stepmother.
She could. Not only that but Brian Tidwell sent his daughter sufficient money to buy an airplane ticket. That Terrie did not use the money for this purpose but for the girl stuff, would, in a very short time, come back to haunt her.
About the time that “Jay” was goggling at the sights in Golden Gate Park and “John” was anxious to head for Seattle, Terrie was waiting for Gregory Winslow to arrive and go off to meet some friends in Eugene.
She had first met Greg at a party around the first of August. He was some six feet tall with dark hair and bedroom eyes. He was also lots of fun and they liked being together. Since that time they’d been together, but this jaunt would be their last fun trip. When she reached Los Angeles, she would be required to play a different role.
Terrie rode in the blue jeep to Eugene, Oregon, and arrived at the apartment of Phil and Tracey, friends of Greg’s. Here they would spend the night. Maybe party a little. She would miss Greg.
Where is that fool? Jimmy wondered. Sitting on a tall stool at the short end of the L-shaped bar, he had not seen Jay for some ten or fifteen minutes. Jay had remained with Jimmy only long enough to drink part of a beer. Then he’d said he was going to the rest room. Now here it was 11:25 at night, the wall clock said, and Jimmy was beginning to wonder if he’d been left behind. Perhaps the Olds was long gone. The way things were going, they would be lucky to reach Seattle by Thanksgiving.
Suddenly Jimmy heard noises, curses, and shouting coming from around the far end of the bar. Even though the commotion was out of sight, Jimmy slapped a hand to the side of his head and cursed the wicked gods who had brought him and Jay together.
As the man came running over, advising him to get his friend out, Jimmy had a good idea of what was going on. Why oh why had he ever left San Francisco?
Jimmy hurried down to the other end of the bar to investigate.
Sure enough, Jay was standing near a booth and arguing with two men who were half his age. Seated beside one of them was a plain-looking girl with green eyes and long yellow hair who did not look old enough to visit taverns.
A young man with a red beard and even redder eyes said in a gruff voice, “Listen, you old son of a bitch, you don’t say things like that to my girl.”
Glenn advanced a step, causing each man to stand while the girl tried to hide, her big eyes opening even more as she wondered if these three men were actually going to do battle over her.
Jimmy doubted
