Ed Luby's Key Club (Stories) by Kurt Vonnegut

Author:Kurt Vonnegut [Vonnegut, Kurt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-440-33943-4
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Part Two

Harve Elliot stood in front of a blinding light with his wife, Claire. He had never committed a crime in his life. He was now counting off the seconds before he would break jail, before he would run away from the charge of murder.

He was listening to a supposed witness to his crime, to the man who had actually committed the murder. Ed Luby, somewhere behind the light, told his tale. Luby’s brother, a captain on the Ilium Police Force, asked helpful questions from time to time.

“Three months ago,” said Ed Luby, “I turned my restaurant into a private club—to keep undesirable elements out.” Luby, the expert on undesirable elements, had once been a gunman for Al Capone.

“I guess those two up there,” he said, meaning Harve and Claire, “didn’t hear about it—or maybe they figured it didn’t apply to them. Anyway, they showed up tonight, and they got sore when they couldn’t get in, and they hung around the front door, insulting the members.”

“You ever see them before?” Captain Luby asked him.

“Back before the place was a private club,” said Luby, “these two used to come in about once a year. The reason I remembered ’em from one year to the next was the man was always loaded. And he’d get drunker in my place—and he’d turn mean.”

“Mean?” said the captain.

“He’d pick fights,” said Luby, “not just with men, either.”

“So what happened tonight?” said the captain.

“These two were hanging around the door, making trouble for the members,” said Luby, “and a dame came out in a taxi, all by herself. I don’t know what she figured on doing. Figured on picking up somebody on the way in, I guess. Anyway, she got stopped, too, so I had three people hanging around outside my door. And they got in some kind of argument with each other.”

All that interested Harve Elliot was the effect Luby’s tale was having on the mood in the room. Harve couldn’t see Luby, but he sensed that everyone was watching the man, was fascinated by him.

Now, Harve decided, was the time to run.

“I don’t want you to take my word for what happened next,” said Luby, “on account of I understand some people claim it was me who hit the girl.”

“We’ve got the statements of other witnesses,” said the captain sympathetically. “So you go ahead and give us your version, and we can double-check it.”

“Well,” said Luby, “the dame who came out in the taxi called the other dame—the dame up there—”

“Mrs. Elliot,” said the captain.

“Yeah,” said Luby. “She calls Mrs. Elliot something Mr. Elliot don’t like, and the next thing I knew, Mr. Elliot had hauled off and—”

Harve Elliot plunged past the light and into the darkness. He charged at the door and the freedom beyond.

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