(1987) The Celestial Bed (32 page)

Still in his pyjamas, he telephoned Suzy at the Freeberg Clinic.

‘Suzy, I’ve got to see you today,’ he said excitedly. ‘When can you get here?’

‘Why, you know, soon^s work is done. I can be there a little after six.’

‘No, before, I must see you before.’

‘You make it sound like something important,’ said Suzy, bewilderment in her voice. ‘What is it?’

‘Not on the phone,’ replied Hunter. ‘There’s something I want to show you. And yes, it is important.’

‘Well, I suppose I could drop by at my lunch break — ’

‘Your lunch break? That would be great. You can grab a sandwich here while we talk.’

‘About what?’ Suzy persisted. ‘Can’t you even give me a hint?’

‘You’ll see. I’ll be waiting for you at twelve fifteen.’

The minute he hung up, Hunter thought of another call he must make. He lifted the receiver once more, and he dialled City Hall, When he had it, he asked the switchboard operator to put him through to District Attorney Hoyt Lewis’s office.

The District Attorney was out on business, Hunter learned. ‘But,’ Lewis’s secretary went on, T know he was expecting to hear from you. Also, he said he’d be meeting with you.’

‘That’s why I’m calling,’ said Hunter. ‘Give him this message. Tell him it’s about the Reverend Scrafield’s talk with him last night. Tell him I’m getting it all down on paper, and I’ll make some copies and messenger one to him before noon. I’ll come by to see him between two and three, if it’s OK. Will you tell him that?’

‘I certainly will, Mr Hunter.’ The secretary giggled. ‘I gather you made out yesterday.’

‘Hey there, how do you know — ?’

She giggled again. ‘You forgot. I’m Mr Lewis’s private secretary. I typed out his criminal complaints two hours ago.’

‘So that’s it.’ Hunter grinned to himself. ‘Yes, my dear lady, I made out yesterday.’

After hanging up again, Hunter’s good cheer persisted. He had almost two hours to get ready for this momentous day. He would shower, shave, dress, eat a full breakfast, and then have more than enough time to complete his journal for Hoyt Lewis.

He moved through all the acts of the morning briskly and on schedule. In fact, ahead of schedule, because he wanted to wind up his journal with care — to impress Suzy, when she read it, and then the District Attorney, and finally the Chronicle’s managing editor, Otto Ferguson.

At his electric portable typewriter, Hunter tried to recall, as vividly as possible, and in fairly accurate detail, what had occurred yesterday evening in his final session with Gayle. While he had the dialogue on tape, only his mind could reconstruct the background and colour.

She had been sitting on her couch, stark naked, waiting for him to finish undressing.

She had inquired how he felt.

He had said, ‘Like I can make it.’

She had admitted, ‘You did last time. We had penetration.’

Hunter began to type it all out. The part about his fear of prematurity, he decided to skip. Such details weren’t necessary. Hell, he wasn’t trying to be James Joyce, or Henry Miller, either. He decided to concentrate on what was relevant, and still true.

‘You told me your goal was to get me to go five minutes,’ he had said.

‘Ten minutes, Chet, ten minutes,’ Gayle had replied.

Hunter resumed typing.

He wrote faster as he neared the good parts, omitting only a few lines of what had happened.

‘You’ll just have a great time, Chet,’ Gayle had promised him. ‘Penetration the way you’ve always wanted. Male superior position and you engaging in complete intercourse.’

He was writing even faster now.

‘What are we waiting for?’ Gayle had asked.

She was a hot little cookie, that one, he mused, maybe not what Suzy could prove to be, but not bad for a paid sex partner.

Recalling entering her, Hunter swallowed hard, and spelled out the details of their coupling.

He remembered what followed. ‘How long was it before I came?’

‘Seven minutes,’ she had said. And later, she had said, ‘But I’m not letting you out of here until you’ve penetrated me for ten minutes. You will.’

And he had, the second time better than the first, and he wrote it all down.

Tearing the last page out of the typewriter, he reread what he had written. He was a clean typist, and had to make only three corrections.

When he finished reading, he sat back aglow.

Wouldn’t this light a bonfire under the District Attorney? And Scrafield? And, more important, Otto Ferguson?

But most important of all, there would be Suzy Edwards’s thrilled reaction.

Gathering the final pages together, Hunter hurried downstairs to make two visits. One was to the Copy Shop, where he had three copies run off. Then he crossed over to the Ultra-Speed Messenger Service, and arranged for the copies to be delivered to Hoyt Lewis at City Hall, to the Reverend Scrafield at his church, and to Otto Ferguson in his office at the Hillsdale Chronicle.

It was exactly noon when he completed his chore’s and returned with his original typescript to wait for the arrival of Suzy.

At fourteen minutes after twelve Suzy arrived, kissed Hunter, then held him off to see whether she could read anything in his face to satisfy her curiosity.

‘What’s this all about?’ she wanted to know.

‘This,’ said Hunter, handing her the original of his final typing, and leading her with it to his armchair. ‘Sit down and read about my last therapy session.’

Although they had seen each other regularly during the last two weeks, Hunter had avoided two things: any attempt at sex with her, which Dr Freeberg had cautioned all patients about, (and besides, Hunter had been too fearful of another failure with Suzy); and discussions of his activities with his sex surrogate and his

progress, because he had been uncertain if anything good would come of it.

Now at last she would know all about it.

Hunter hovered near her, as Suzy, curiosity quotient rising, began to read, slowly and then faster.

Toward the end of her read she kept murmuring, ‘Wonderful… wonderful … wonderful.’

Suddenly she was done and on her feet, hugging Hunter ecstatically. ‘Honey, you made it!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh, honey, it worked and you’re all right now!’

Her enthusiasm unnerved him slightly. ‘Well, I think so, Suzy. It worked, sort of …’

She held him off. ‘What do you mean, “sort of”? You did it with that marvellous woman not once, but twice, actually three times. Why are you so hesitant?’

‘Because I’m not sure what lasting effects I’ll have from my surrogate. Gayle proved I could do it with her. With her, somehow, it worked. But now that she’s turned me loose, how do I know I’m cured with anyone else? It might not work without her.’

Suzy gripped his arms and eyed him closely. ‘Chet, were you in love with her? Are you in love with her?’

‘Of course not! I’m in love with you. She was only a teacher. You’re the one I love.’

Suzy’s arms went up around him. ‘Then show me, Chet. Prove she cured you enough to do it with me. That’s all you want to know, anyway. Let’s do it.’

He appeared startled. ‘Right now? I - I have to go out soon. You have to go back to work.’ He added lamely, ‘And what about your lunch?’

‘Oh, Chet, that’s silly. There’s still enough time to prove to yourself … and to me - ’

He embraced Suzy tightly. ‘Hey, don’t get me wrong. I want to go to bed with you any time, all the time - ’

‘Then right now’s the time.’

‘You bet,’ he said, starting to loosen his tie.

She’d yanked her blouse off, dropped it, and headed for the bedroom. ‘Follow me, Chet!’

‘Hey, kiddo,’ he said, ‘you’ve given me a hard-on a mile long.’

He was trying to get out of his trousers, when she took him by the arm. ‘Then hold on to it, save it for me.’

At the bed, they were undressed in a half minute flat.

For a moment, she gaped at him. ‘I’ve been waiting for that one a long, long time, honey.’

Suzy threw herself on the bed, bouncing, as Hunter fell on top of her. It was difficult for him to restrain himself, but all the exercises he’d learned in the past days danced through his head. Slow down. Caress, touch, stroke. Slowly, slowly, get to feelings and pleasure, and don’t try to prove anything.

After about five minutes of foreplay, he had had enough, and from the throaty sounds Suzy was making, so had she.

Her thighs were apart to receive him and he was over her.

No thought of premature ejaculation or possible failure even crossed his mind. He had entered his surrogate all the way, last night, not once but twice, and maintained his erections and withheld his orgasms for what had seemed to him eternities.

There was no thought he couldn’t do it with Suzy, his own gorgeous Suzy.

His penis was touching her velvety vaginal cleft.

Yet, no spasm, no sperm, just the body-hungering desire to enter her, to be one with her.

Without hesitation, he plunged into her, deeply into her, feeling only the heat of her body and his own as they locked together in their first coupling.

It was the dreamed-of consummation at last, and the greatest high he had ever enjoyed in his entire life.

They went on together. Neither was aware of the time. They were aware only that no premature ejaculation had thwarted their pleasure.

When ejaculation did occur, it was at the peak of their enjoyment, and for the first time it was normal.

After it was done, they clung to one another, both in relief and in celebration of what the future held for them.

Once they had rested, and gone to the bathroom to shower together, they dressed themselves.

‘Now I’ll make sandwiches for us,’ announced Suzy.

‘Make one for yourself,’ said Hunter. ‘I’ll eat later. Right now I’ve got an appointment.’

As he hurried into the living room, Suzy followed him. ‘What’s the big rush, Chet? Don’t you want to relax and — ’

‘I can’t,’ he said, retrieving the final pages of his journal. ‘I’m

meeting with the District Attorney at City Hall.’

‘The District Attorney? You doing some research for him?’ ‘I already did.’ He waved his pages. ‘He’s going to arrest Freeberg for pandering and Gayle Miller for prostitution, and he needs this for evidence, so I — ’

Suzy’s expression was appalled. She darted in front of Hunter, blocking his way. ‘Wait a minute, Chet. Don’t tell me you don’t know — ’

‘Know what?’

‘Freeberg and Gayle were arrested this morning. Freeberg wasn’t quite so worried after his lawyer, Kile, convinced him no patient would be willing to provide real evidence against them. But — ‘ She stared at Hunter. ‘ — you mean, you’re the one who is going to give evidence that Freeberg is a pimp and Gayle is a hooker?’

‘It was just a job, Suzy. Somebody had to be a witness, so I came up with the evidence.’

Suzy was stunned. ‘You did that? I don’t believe it!’ Her fury was beginning to mount. ‘You’re supposed to be the man I love. But looking at you now, I see a horrible weasel, a shitface of a weasel!’ She caught her breath. ‘I sent you to Freeberg and Gayle to fix you up, and instead you used the opportunity to investigate them, turn it into a sting operation.’

‘That was incidental, a side thing,’ Hunter explained uncomfortably. ‘Of course, my real purpose was to get some help and normalise our relationship. But along the way I picked up this evidence.’ He waved the papers in his hand once more. ‘Do you know what this means for us, Suzy? It means this is now a political issue, and I’m guaranteed a job on Ferguson’s paper. It’ll put us on our feet.’

He tried to get past Suzy, but she stood in his way. ‘You’re not going anywhere. If you try to, don’t come back. I never want to set eyes on you again. I’d regard you as the lowliest thing in the universe. Not good enough to come out from under a rock. Chet, do you know what you’re doing to them — to Dr Freeberg, to Gayle Miller — after what they’ve done for you? Your evidence could put them both behind bars, put Freeberg out of business, ruin Gayle’s career.’

‘Listen,’ pleaded Hunter, ‘I don’t make the laws — ’

‘But you’re going to be the one to try to prove they broke the

law. You’re their only evidence. How can you be against them? How can you go in there and destroy Gayle Miller, that wonderful woman? I just read what she did for you. I just found out what she did for you in your bedroom. Now you’re going to try to prove she’s a criminal.’

‘You know that was never my intention.’

‘That’s what it comes down to. Chet - ‘ Suzy had him by the shoulders ‘ - you can’t - you can’t do it.’

‘I’m sorry, Suzy, but I’m committed.’

‘Then get uncommitted.’ She snatched the story from Hunter. ‘Chet, did a low-down prostitute do this for you? Or was it a legitimate surrogate working for a licensed therapist?’

‘Suzy, please don’t stand in my way. The court will decide what’s right or wrong. All I know is what’s right for me, for us. I want to get someplace.’

‘Chet, you are no place! As a human being you are nowhere! You’re behaving like a rat!’

‘Suzy, stop that.’

‘You can go on with the work you’ve been doing. A decent opportunity will come along and you’ll go further. But don’t do it this way. Right now you have to live with yourself and me. How can you even consider turning on the people who did so much for you? Please think about it, Chet. Think about it!’

Tony Zecca sat behind his desk in the backroom office of his restaurant waiting for the telephone at his elbow to ring.

He had placed the call to Big Manny Martin in Las Vegas nearly a half hour ago. He had been told that Manny was out of his suite, but would be back soon and would return his call. He had been advised to sit tight for it.

He had been sitting tight all this while, wondering if he had done the right thing, and wondering what he should ask of Manny when he phoned back.

There was little doubt in Zecca’s mind that Manny would do whatever was requested of him. Zecca had always had a smooth working relationship with Manny and the mob. With his restaurant chain, Zecca had set up a perfect cover for them to launder loose money and give themselves an acceptable legitimacy in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service. They’d helped him get along, and get along well, of course. But he’d helped them more