White Butterfly by Walter Mosley Page A

squealed.
    I took her hands and kissed her moist face.
    “Charlene.”
    In a fit of improvisation the banana dancer moved downstage and brushed the back of my neck with her plume.
    “Sit’own, baby.” Charlene pulled an empty chair away from a table where an old man had his head resting on his hands.
    “Kinda slow, huh?” I asked.
    She pawed at me with a pudgy red-fingered hand. “It’s early, Easy. Fern just do her li’l thing out there to get the stage ready for the young girls tonight.”
    I smiled and finished my drink. Before ordering another one I lit a Camel and inhaled deeply.
    I didn’t have a plan. I wasn’t a policeman. I didn’t have a notepad. Maybe we’d talk about the night that Juliette LeRoi was murdered. Maybe not.
    “Could I get you somethin’, mister?” the waitress asked. She was a high-yellow woman with straightened hair that came down and curled around her ears, like black modeling clay. She had light brown skin and freckles. Her large lips were in a permanent pout. She stood very close to me.
    “Ask Westley what he had, Elaine, an’ bring that,” Charlene said for me. Then she said, “I thought you was married, Easy Rawlins.”
    I was watching Elaine move toward the bar.
    “What would you do if you got married, Charlene?” I asked.
    “Same things I do now, I guess.”
    “I mean, you got all this property an’ stuff. What would you do if your husband didn’t have all what you have?”
    Charlene had big round cheeks that crowded her eyes when she smiled. “We’d have to sign us some papers before we got together. You know a po’ niggah get next to that much money an’ he’s liable to go crazy. You know he’d be just like you.”
    “What you mean?” As I spoke Elaine returned and put the glass down in front of me.
    Charlene took the waitress by the wrist and pulled her so close that the young woman was almost on her lap. She turned Elaine toward me so that I could get a good look at her. Elaine looked down at her breasts and smiled. Her long fake lashes enchanted me. I didn’t know whether to take a drag off of my cigarette or a sip from my glass.
    “Just like you, Easy. Here you are lookin’ at Elaine. Now just think if you saw my deeds an’ my cash register an’ then this here girl’s titties an’ legs… ”
    I couldn’t take my eyes off what Charlene was talking about. Elaine looked up at me. She was smiling but her eyes were cold.
    I actually felt myself beginning to sweat.
    Charlene slapped the girl on the butt and pushed her toward the bar. Elaine brushed me with one of those thighs as she went by. She even put a hand on my shoulder before walking away.
    “Man got nuthin’ cain’t never get enough, Easy.”
    “What about a woman?” I asked. My throat was tight.
    “What you worried ’bout?” Charlene smiled a warm, friendly smile. “You don’t make enough to have no problem like that.”
    “I got a house,” I said. “I got a car and a job that pays me a paycheck. That’s enough fo’some women, ain’t it?”
    “I guess.” She nodded. “Some women will take the dirty underwear right out of the hamper before they go. But unless you got sumpin’ worth takin’, Easy, I wouldn’t be worried ’bout it. An’ if you is worried, maybe you should cut it off now. That why you here?”
    “Say what?”
    “You wanna start playin’ ’round?” Charlene’s business wasn’t a subtle one. “’Cause you know Elaine likes you.”
    “Naw.” I shook my head and smiled. “I just wanted to ask you that question, that’s all.”
    “Okay. But if you need anything, you know where t’come to. Gettin’ people together is my business.”
    “Business good?” I asked.
    Charlene nodded. She was watching two men come in. Westley was watching too. He could pour and look at the same time.
    “’Cause I thought things mighta gotten kinda hard for you.”
    “Why?”
    “After that thing with Julie LeRoi.”
    “What you mean?”
    “Hey!” I put my hands