JERRY BUMPUS
109
lump of dough and told a story, upon which Lutz eavesdropped to its
end, about Cookie's daughter who died twenty years ago in Liverpool
while Cookie was at sea.
Lutz was jolted awake by a door slamming and distant braying
laughter. There was some running and the dull thud of chairs or
people knocking over. Then more laughter, and silence.
It was dusk, the window dim and the chairs and sofas three–
quarters sunk into the shadows where they would hide through the
night. Downstairs, the kitchen was empty. Lutz had turned to return
upstairs when Cookie came around the corner wearing a swallow-tail,
a lace shirt, and silk stockings, with a pair of black high-heeled shoes
tucked under his arm, and twisting a silver peruke onto his head. He
looked up, his face pink from a shave and bleeding brightly from two
nicks on the chin. He put on his shoes, winked, and stamped through a
buck and wing, leaning on Lutz 's shoulder
to
click his heels . "Rather
nifty, eh?" Then he looked Lutz up and down . "Where's your get-up,
Lutz? I thought you and Ronnie Ockersly had already been up there. "
"Mr. Ockersly might be up there. 1heard some noise a while ago."
"So you've not met him yet. "
"Met him? Yes, I've met him a dozen times."
"1 mean Mr. Abbott. He came back this afternoon. "
Lutz was speechless. He had almost given up hope of actually
meeting Abbott.
Cookie pushed by him and began slamming wood into the stove.
He scowled over his shoulder. "Well? You going to stand there forever?
Go
up. Innerduce yourself. "
The second floor was deserted. Going up to the third floor, Lutz
met Ockersly on his way down, his "get-up" a riding cap, a stained and
ancient red hunting jacket, jodhpurs riddled with holes by generations
of moths, and riding boots smooth over the calves but cracked at the
ankles and insteps and with each step flapping open where the soles
met the toes. The jacket hung open, all the buttons gone, and it was
pushed back off his shoulders.
Ockersly's triangular face was flushed and bloated, his eyes
bugging. He nearly walked into Lutz before he stopped, blinking with
surprise, and grinning. "Lutz! Well, well!" Lutz smelled liquor on his
breath; indeed, he could have smelled it a good way off. Ockersly's grin
shrank and his eyes tightened. "It's bad this time," he whispered. He
patted Lutz's shoulder and tisked, shaking his head. Leaning close he
said, "Worse'n ever before. Very worse. Very, very, very...." He gave
Lutz's shoulder a squeeze-"worse" -and proceeded down the stairs.
