“You bet your sweet tushy!” Abby crowed. “I can’t wait to see his face. Come on! Let’s stash Gray’s stuff in the bike basket and I’ll pedal straight over to the station. You can ride on the back.”
I WAS GATHERING THE SHIRT AND BOOTS together in my arms (and wondering how the heck I was supposed to straddle a bicycle in my extra-tight skirt and ultrahigh heels), when I heard Abby gasp again. Thinking she’d found another article of Gray’s clothing-a pair of pants, perhaps, or a belt-I turned around to see what had caused her sudden intake of air.
And then
I was the one who was gasping.
Binky was standing tall in the bedroom doorway with his left forearm clenched like a vise around Abby’s neck, and the fingers of his right hand wrapped so tight around the handle of the kitchen butcher knife that his knuckles were white. He was holding the knife up high, within slashing distance of Abby’s throat, and the expression on his face was so psychotic it made my blood run cold.
“You fucking, lying, scheming bitch!” he yelled at me. “How did you get into my apartment? I have to kill you now, you know! And your sexy little girlfriend, too!” He jerked his arm even tighter around Abby’s neck and stepped backward, cutting off her air supply and dragging her with him into the living room. Abby’s eyes popped wide in panic as she struggled in vain to pull his arm away from her wind-pipe.
“Wait, Binky! Stop!” I cried, dropping Gray’s shirt and boots on the floor and hurtling myself through the bedroom door after them. I wanted to kick him in the stomach and knee him in the groin and yank his arm away from Abby’s neck, but I didn’t dare try. The knife was too close to Abby’s throat. One wrong move and-
“Hold it right there!” Binky roared. “If you come any closer I’m going to slice your friend wide open. That’s what the slut deserves! Isn’t that right, baby?” he said to Abby, turning his head and biting her on the cheek. Hard. “You were a bad, bad girl in Sardi’s last night. Rubbing your leg up against mine and pretending to be somebody you’re not. I’ll have to punish you for that.”
Binky’s threats were both horrifying and offensive, but they actually served a worthy purpose. They distracted him for a few brief but essential seconds, causing him to loosen his clutch on Abby’s neck. Not by much, but enough for her to start breathing again.
“But you should punish me instead of her!” I blustered, hoping to distract Binky further-a whole lot further. “I’m the one who got her into this mess! I talked her into going to Sardi’s with me, and I sent her to your table to spy on you.”
Binky looked as though he might explode. “You’re gonna pay for that, you whore!” he seethed. “I can’t believe I trusted you. You said you wanted to be an actress, but all you really wanted to do was wreck
my career. And I know why! It’s because I’ve got talent! And you can’t handle it, can you? You’re just like all the other Studio shitheads-James Dean, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Gray Gordon! You’re all so fucking selfish and jealous and resentful you just can’t stand to see a fellow acting student succeed!”
Every cell in my body was screaming, but I kept my speaking voice down to a soothing purr. “You’ve got me all wrong, Binky,” I said, giving him the sweetest smile my trembling lips could form. “I think you’re a wonderful actor who deserves to be a big, big star. I watched you audition for Elia Kazan, remember, and I thought you were fabulous in the
Hot Tin Roof role. Much better than Ben Gazzara or Gray Gordon ever dreamed of being.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, wild eyes gleaming. “If Kazan had half a brain he would’ve given me the understudy role in the first place! I’ve got more talent in the wart on my little toe than Gray had in his whole stupid body. The only reason Gray got the job instead of me was because he was so goddamn handsome. Kazan figured his sexy good looks would make him a hit with the broads in the audience-which is pretty goddamn funny since Gray was as queer as a three-dollar bill.”
“Really?” I said, putting on a big show of surprise. “I didn’t think Gray was gay!” I wasn’t trying to squelch any rumors or change any minds, I just wanted to keep Binky talking, no matter what the subject happened to be (as long as it wasn’t murder). “In fact, I thought he had a steady girlfriend,” I stumbled on. “Somebody he really cared about. He bragged about her a lot, and he always called her Cupcake.”
Binky gave me a crooked grin. “Ha! If that pansy had a fucking girlfriend, she must have been a fairy!” Delighted by his own ugly joke, he threw his head back and laughed out loud.
And that was when I made my move.
Shooting Abby a quick wink of warning, I leapt forward and grabbed hold of Binky’s right arm with both hands, pulling it and the knife outward (i.e., away from Abby’s throat) with all my might. But all my might wasn’t enough. I was able to hold onto Binky’s arm for no more than two seconds before he shook me off, pushed me away, and-with a single squeeze of his powerful biceps-snapped the knife back into slashing position.
There was only one problem-for Binky, I mean: Abby’s throat was no longer in position! Somehow, during the course of the two seconds I’d spent wrestling with Binky’s arm, Abby had worked herself free from his other arm and propelled herself-coughing and wheezing-out of slashing range. Hallelujah! God was in his heaven and all was right with the world!
But not for long.
Enraged beyond endurance, Binky jerked the butcher knife up over his head and lunged toward me, swiping the blade downward in a blinding flash. Missed me, slit open the side of the couch. I tried to move away from him, but the apartment was so small there was no place to move
to. Binky grabbed me by the arm and reined me in, pulling me up hard against his chest in a sadistic lover’s embrace. Then, grunting like a pig and glaring down at me with his demon eyes, he yanked the blade of the knife up to a point just under my chin and-
“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” bellowed a taut male voice behind me. “Drop the knife on the floor and reach for the ceiling!”
Silence fell on the room like a bomb. Binky stopped grunting. Abby stopped wheezing. I stopped whimpering. Staring, openmouthed, at the person who was standing behind me, Binky released me from his crushing hold, let the knife fall to the floor, and raised his hands in the air without a word (or grunt) of protest.
I spun around on my heels and gazed at the man who had materialized-as if by magic-just in time to save my life. The dark-haired man with the gun in his hand. The tall, lean man dressed head to toe in dark clothing. The sly, sneaky, illusive man whose identity I had been unable to confirm until now. It was Blackie.
Chapter 36
IT WASN’T UNTIL BLACKIE PULLED A pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and slapped them on Binky’s wrists that I began to realize what was going on. Blackie was friend, not foe. Protector, not stalker. Cop, not killer. And any doubts I may have had on this score were quickly eliminated when, just a few seconds later, four uniformed policemen rushed into the small apartment, crowding the narrow living room beyond capacity.
“Step over here, please, Mrs. Turner,” Blackie said, maneuvering me toward the bedroom doorway, out of the way of the other cops who, in spite of the strict space limitations, immediately launched into their prescribed police routine. One officer began patting Binky down, one started searching the apartment, one got to work bagging and labeling the knife, and one escorted Abby to the rear corner of the room for safe-keeping. (Abby was feeling just fine, you should know. I could tell by the way she was flirting with her handsome young caretaker.)