by S. J. Rozan
“Dude—”
“Quiet.”
Pounding rose from three stories below, now the basement door syncopated with the front, the widow’s screams with “Police, open up!”
I pulled open a closet, told Linus, “Get in.” Eyes wide, he pressed into a mass of hanging clothes, me beside him. “Cell phone off,” I whispered. “Don’t move.”
Frozen in the dark, we heard the cops kick in the front door. A bedlam of men’s shouts tumbled over the thin wire of Nicole White’s panic. Very fast footsteps thumped up the stairs. I felt Linus tense, grabbed his arm to steady him. The footsteps went on up the iron spiral to the door I’d left swinging. A yell: “Here, that way!” After heart-thudding eons the footsteps came down again, along with the voice of a cop on a cell phone or radio. “. . . the roofs, probably down the back somewhere. Do the whole street, they could be in a backyard, try to break into . . .”
We couldn’t hear after that, except for the occasional rising word, and the front door opening and closing. I gave it fifteen minutes—fifteen estimated minutes, chances were I’d never see that watch again, but it had served its decoy purpose—then eased the closet open. I stepped without noise to the top of the stairs, listened. No sound at all. If the widow was still here, she was alone. If it were me, I might’ve gone off to stay with friends; it had been a rough day.
She hadn’t, though. She was sitting in the living room, staring and smoking, and when Linus and I clattered down she screamed to wake the dead. We tore out the battered front door and around the block, dove into the car. Woof caught the excitement, wagged and whined madly. I drove, joining the traffic stream on Hudson at the same pace as everyone else. I prayed Nicole White hadn’t had the wit to follow us, hadn’t seen the car. It was the best I could do.
“Dude,” Linus said weakly. “I told you Trella’s better at this stuff than me. I just about wet my pants.”
“You don’t think she would have?”
“Are you kidding? She’d have loved it. Dig: I have like a billion questions. How’d you know they were coming? How’d they know to come? Where to now? But first you gotta stop and let me take a piss.”
I pulled over, idled at a bus stop while Linus charged into a diner. I considered driving off and leaving him. This was trouble too deep for a kid. But I couldn’t do without him, the only secret weapon I had. Lydia would’ve told me to do it anyway, drive off. She’d have said, Linus is my little cousin, you shouldn’t have brought him in in the first place! Well, she’d have to yell at me later. It would be music.
I wondered if I had another weapon, too, though. I wondered if I still had Mary. I dialed her number from the prepaid phone. No answer. I had just left a message, basically “Thanks” and “Call me” when Linus came back.
“Brought you coffee.”
“How’d you know?”
“Uh-huh.” He passed me the cup from a paper bag, popped open a Coke for himself. “So, dude, how—”
“Mary,” I said.
“Aunt Mary? That was her who called?”
“She said the cops were coming and to get out.”
“Wow.” He guzzled some Coke. “Wow. We coulda got arrested and she saved us? That’s, like, weird.” He shook his head. “But dude. How did they know? They followed us? They following us now?” He twisted in his seat, looked out the back in alarm.
“No. They’d have stopped us already.”
“So then—”
“I think Kevin set it up somehow.”
“But that means—”
My phone rang. The one Kevin used.
“Well, if it ain’t that lying, cheating son of a bitch. Hell are you trying to do, asshole, get this game called on account of you’re a big fat liar?” No more robot: the real Kevin Cavanaugh sneer.
“What are you talking about?”
“Hmm. You playing innocent, or you playing stupid? ‘Ooh, let me guess, did I jam you up, when was that, I don’t remember?’ Motherfucker! You know exactly who I am.”
“I only just figured it out. After you hung up on me last time. I’d’ve let you know if you’d given me a way.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. You’d never have kept quiet so you could try to get over on me. Not squeaky-clean Luke Skywalker. But don’t worry, I don’t really give a shit. It actually took you a lot longer than I thought it would. Maybe you’re slipping. Gee, that would be too bad for Princess Leia here, wouldn’t it? So, now you know, how’s it feel, Lukey boy? All warm and fuzzy, like your high school reunion?”
“Yeah. I can’t wait to see you in person, get reacquainted. How about it?”
“God, that one-track mind. No. Next?”
“Did you kill Jim?”
“Jim was a worse asshole than you, you know. You, at least I never thought you were my friend.”
“Let me talk to Lydia.”
“No fucking way, fucking José.”
“The deal—”
“Deal, deal, deal! You cheat and you lecture me about the deal?”
“You just said you didn’t care.”
“I don’t care you know who I am. I do kind of care that there were cops all over Perry Street.”
“That crap is getting tired, Kevin. You called them.”
“Hah! Okay, maybe you’re not slipping. But I didn’t exactly call them. Streaming video with an address stamp.”
“You have a camera at Jim’s?”
“Webcam. Had. They took it with them. You know all that Nicole bitch ever does is sit and smoke and cry? Bo-o-o-ring. Nice house, though. I could’ve had one like that, you didn’t fuck me up.”
“Why—”
“Because. You. Cheat! I thought you might turn up there sooner or later, and not tell me about it.”
“If you keep calling the cops on me we’ll never finish the game.”
“I thought you didn’t like this game.”
“The one I’d like would be where you and I play face to face.”
“Ohhhh. Well, if you do real good at this one, maybe we can play that later. And that camera was supposed to be just so if you showed your ugly face, I’d know you knew, you know? I wouldn’t have dropped that dime, but you pissed me off.”
“How?”
“Nya-nya, wouldn’t you like to know? No, okay, I’ll tell you. It was that fat fucking alky Hal Ross over my place bothering my neighbors. Out there in fucking Queens where they fucking sent me, those nice people don’t like to be reminded about all the dangerous felons in the halfway fucking house.”
Hal! Shit, you goddamn idiot! “I didn’t send him.”
“Oh! It just occurred to him, now I’ve been out eight months, two weeks and four days but who’s counting, to drop by, see how I’m doing? Your drinking buddy?”
“We’re not buddies.”
“No, I know, you jammed him up, too. See, that’s your favorite game, am I right? Jamming people up? Shit, why am I even playing with you? What a motherfucking bastard. And you know, this being on the outside ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Life is not good, Smith, you know that?”
A raggedy split in his voice. My heart jolted. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Starting to dawn on you I’m winning?”
“The fuck you are!”
“Gee, seems to me—”
“Yeah, well, whatever it seems to you, you’re wrong. Damn, asshole, you’re fielding a whole roster of benchwarmers, I’m still way ahead.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, fuck your mama, do I care what you think? Though why you’d bring in Ross, that limpdick, I don’t know, but that’s up to you. Useless, though, I’ll tell you that for free. Me and your girlfriend, we’re not out there. That place is way clean. Nothing to find.”
My needle had worked. He’d steadied, was back in the game. My pulse started to slow. “Let me talk to Lydia.”
“Shit, I could’ve sworn I said no already. But here’s what I want to know. Who’s that cute chink boy toy you had with you at Jim and Nicole’s? He listen
ing right now, that why I’m on speaker? Hi, Chop Suey.”
Linus raised an eyebrow, pointed at the phone; I shook my head.
“He’s not here. I’m back in the car.”
“You know, speakerphone’s not the right app for this. What you should do, you should get yourself one of those cool earpieces. Big deal private eye, oughta have the right equipment. Any street vendor—”
“Jesus, Kevin!”
“Yeah, you don’t like people telling you what to do, do you? Me, either. Ten years, I hadda listen. Ten fucking years, assholes who couldn’t find their own dicks with both hands and a map, telling me where to go, when to talk, when to shut up, when to shit. Now I get to tell you. Much better. Much, much better.”
“To my face. Come tell me to my face.”
“Oh, stuff it. Answer my question.”
“What—”
“Chop Suey! Who was he?”
“Borrowed from a friend. I didn’t want to go see Nicole alone.”
“Scared?”
“Sure, Kevin.”
“Borrowed from who?”
“Charlie Chan, for God’s sake! You don’t really think I’m going to tell you?”
“Well, you don’t really think I care? Just, I worry you’ve gone nancy on me. If it’s not Chinese girls for you anymore, if it’s Chinese boys, then you might not care as much about your girlfriend here as I thought you did. You might not be trying all that hard. Chinese girls! Fuck you, anyway. Wasn’t enough for you to jam me up like that, you had to take up with a slant just to stick it to me.”
I was momentarily wordless. “You think me and Lydia, that’s all about you?”
“You gonna tell me you ever had a Chinese girlfriend before you fried my ass for that Oriental chick? But I gotta admit, you’re right. They’re a turn-on, aren’t they? Lei-lei, and Angelique, and all their little friends. Get me awfully hot. Remind me of that cunt in the park, I guess. Your girlfriend’s not so bad herself, really. Long as she keeps her mouth shut. Well, gotta go.”
“Dammit, let me talk to her!”
“What, your girlfriend? Umm, let’s see. No.”
“If I don’t know she’s okay—”
“Christ Jesus, the bitch is fine! Didn’t I say I wouldn’t mess with her unless you stopped playing? You gonna stop playing?”
“No.”
“Then relax, Max. I’ll keep my hands to myself. Though she really is awful cute, so that’s getting harder and harder. Or maybe that’s not what’s getting harder.”
“Kevin, you bastard—”
“See? Shit happens and you can’t do shit about it, man, that’s rough. Isn’t it? Just think about what could be happening here, you locked out, can’t get at us. I could be doing any shit to her I want. Kinda like the opposite. Kinda like when you’re inside and there’s all kinds of shit going on in the world and you can’t get at it. Pretty fucking painful, right? You know, up there where I was, where you put me, you know I had friends with country houses right up near there? Fucking country estates! I mean, they were my friends, they used to be my friends. But inside, I guess I was invisible. Superpowers! Hey, I had superpowers! Invisible Man! They’d come up, swim in their pools, ski on their slopes, have their perfect kids with their perfect birthdays, their perfect little family life. I was just down the road, breathing the same fucking air, but I was invisible! Wow! How wild is that?”
“It’s wild, Kevin.”
“ ‘It’s wild, Kevin.’ God, I hate you.”
“Let me speak to—”
“No! Knock that shit off, okay? Listen, fuckface, at least I’m giving you a chance. More than you ever gave me. You keep playing, I’m a gentleman. Besides, I need her. Your girlfriend. She’s taking care of something else for me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Guess what?” A pause. “I’m not gonna tell you! Listen, there was a little delay with your next clues. Those shoes you mentioned? Hadda deal with that. But it’s cleared up now. Just hold tight, I’ll get back to you.”
“Let me—” But no. Just silence. Empty silence.
15
“Dude,” Linus said when I slammed my hand on the steering wheel. “Pull out. Drive.”
“Where the fuck should I drive?”
“Doesn’t matter. Cop comes to give us a ticket for standing here, we’re toast.”
“Maybe we’re toast anyway.”
“I am so not hearing that.”
“Fucking Hal! I’ll kill that bastard.”
Linus blinked. “He’s not the bad guy.”
“Who the fuck told him to go up there? One fucking thing I asked for, he can’t get it right!”
“If Mr. Crazy knows he went,” Linus said equitably, “he’d have known if you went, too. And like he said, they’re not there and there’s nothing to find.”
“I might’ve found something.” I threw the car into gear and pulled out, fighting myself not to accelerate as though I were trying to leave the planet. A sudden icy thought sliced its way through my anger. “Linus. Call Trella. He may have a camera somewhere up there, too.”
Linus’s eyes flew wide. “Shit, dude!” He pressed speed dial. “Trell? Where are you? You okay? Yeah, listen, the ex’s apartment. You get near it? Because there might be a camera, Mr. Crazy might’ve seen you— Oh. No shit?” I could feel him relax. “Hey. Way cool. Yeah, but he’s driving. I’ll put him on speaker.” He pressed the button. “She wants to talk to you.”
“Trella? Everything all right?”
“Here, sure. But what did he mean? Why would there be a camera?”
“There was one at Jim White’s. Kevin thought I might show up.”
“He— But that means he knows you know who he is.”
“He does. I talked to him.”
Her words raced. “Are there more clues? Is Lydia okay?”
“No more clues yet. And he wouldn’t let me talk to her.”
“Oh. Damn.” After a moment: “Bill, if he saw you, does that mean he’s seen Linus?”
“Yes.”
“Oh,” she said again, sounding wary. Hearing the unease in her voice, Linus flushed and grinned.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me,” she went on. “Unless he’s got one on the streetlight or something.”
“You didn’t get inside? Talk to the neighbors?”
“Didn’t get in. But talked to a neighbor. And I saw her. Megan.”
“Oh God, Trella, did you—”
“Of course I didn’t.”
Of course. “Sorry. How did you know it was her?”
“The neighbor. Joey and I were in the car, scoping things out before I started ringing doorbells, when out comes this older lady, with a dog. Just what I needed. I hopped out, oohed and aahed about the dog, then got shy, asked the lady if I could ask her something. Gave her my sad boyfriend story. She was all sympathy, said I didn’t have to worry. She hasn’t seen Megan with a man since Megan’s husband, that Collings guy, ditched her while she was pregnant. Megan doesn’t have very much good to say about men. About anything, in fact, except her kid. Always short-tempered and bitter, says the lady, the kid’s the only thing that can make her smile. Always complaining: the weather, the smell, the apartment. I said, ‘What’s wrong with the apartment?’ More to keep the lady talking than anything else. She said, ‘Oh, Megan’s always complaining about the apartment.’ The noise, the smell from the Chinese restaurant next door—Megan especially hates that because it reminds her of her ex-boyfriend, he was crazy for Chinese food. And the apartment’s a fourth-floor walkup, and she had to admit, the lady did, it was hard, with a six-month-old, and the stairs are too narrow for the stroller, see, there it is in the hallway and she carries the baby. And there was the one that got away, that made it worse. The husband, I said, was he the one that got away? Or the ex-boyfriend? No, no, she says, the apartment. The ex-boyfriend, before the ex-husband, did I know about him? He went to prison, for murder! Oh, my God, I said. And then I said, M
y God, don’t tell me he’s been around, that guy? The lady said, No, no, that’s not what she meant. Megan wouldn’t give him the time of day, if he ever got out of jail. He was a lying, cheating— Well, Megan uses bad language, the lady doesn’t like to repeat it. But Megan’s always saying she wishes she’d married him. Why? I say. Because, the lady says, he was buying a condo. The deal fell through when he went to jail, of course. Megan still curses him out over it, all these years later. One good thing she might have gotten from him, and he screwed it up. Just like a man. So the lady tells me I shouldn’t worry about my boyfriend. Chances are, anyone interested in a nice girl like me wouldn’t be attracted to Megan.
“I’m about to say ‘Have a nice walk’ so she and the dog can go and I can talk to other people in the building, when the lady says, ‘Oh, look, here she is!’ She gives me a wink, like we have a secret, and says, ‘Megan, darling, how are you?’ This dumpy woman coming up the sidewalk glares at her, says, ‘Oh, just fine!’ and shoves past us, stomps in the door and up the stairs. ‘You see, dear?’ the lady says. ‘You have nothing to worry about.’
“The thing is, I don’t think Megan even looked at me, but probably I’d better not go into the building now just in case. But I’m waiting in the car with Joey, so if she comes out and goes away again, I can try some more neighbors. Maybe the lady’s wrong and Kevin’s been here.”
“Sounds like Megan would slam his fingers in the door if he showed up,” Linus said.
“But he might not know that,” I said. “He has enough ego, he might assume she’d want to see him. I don’t think there’s much chance, but Trella, go ahead and give it some more time. But if you do spot him, anyone answering that description—”
“Call right away and don’t let him see me. Something like that?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Something like that.”
Linus took his phone off speaker, brought Trella up to speed on what had happened to us. I drove, thought, came up with nothing. Linus was animated, a lot of “Dudess!” and “It was awesome!” I wove through traffic, listening to the clock ticking in my head. Hearing Kevin sneer. Seeing the wasted face of Hal Ross, that stupid, stupid son of a bitch. A cab cut me off and I smashed the horn, slammed on the brakes. Linus, thrown forward in his seatbelt, looked at me, said to Trella, “Gotta go,” and lowered the phone. He said, “Dude. Do not flip out.”
