by Lisa Unger
The homeless were the invisible population of New York City. They staggered through the streets, ranting, reeking, begging for change, and yet they were barely acknowledged by even the most compassionate New Yorkers sharing the sidewalks. People didn’t want to acknowledge their existence, as if to do so were to admit that they themselves were only about a paycheck away from the same fate. The homeless were filthy and crazy, to be ignored and avoided at all costs, just like the city rats. Worse … because rats could be poisoned. He had always felt that way himself until by his circumstances he became one of them … well, in that he had no place to go.
In a small park on Rivington Street he’d met a man called Charlie, an aging Vietnam vet with a bad case of halitosis and a mean heroin addiction. Charlie approached Jed at a moment when Jed was feeling quite lost. The city was crawling with cops and Feds with his picture on their dashboards and he’d been moving in the darkness, through alleys, dressed as a homeless man for two days and nights, sleeping in subway stations. Truth was he had enough cash to stay at the Waldorf or to go anywhere in the world, but he didn’t dare go near a hotel, an airport, or a train station. Jed had been slumped on a park bench, pretending to sleep, when he heard the clattering of a shopping cart pushed over concrete and detected a dreadful odor … some combination of urine and foot rot. He looked up to see the watery brown eyes and dirty face of his savior.
“New at this, huh?” Charlie had said, sitting beside him, pulling his cart possessively to his side.
Jed had just nodded, eyeing him suspiciously. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had spoken to him of his own accord. He wondered briefly if Charlie was an undercover cop. But decided he was just too disgusting; he smelled of years of being on the street, irregular bathing. No cop was that good.
“I’m Charlie,” he said, offering a moldy hand, his long fingernails caked with dirt. Jed didn’t offer his in return. Charlie withdrew his without emotion.
“Well, it’s gonna start to rain soon,” he said with an air of authority. “Soon it’s gonna get real cold. You got a plan?”
Jed shook his head.
“I know a place where you could go and be safe … well, safer than the shelters anyway. You could find a little place to call your own, you know? Got any money?”
“A little,” said Jed, curious.
“Can you help an old man out?” asked Charlie, looking like he was jonesing a bit, his foot tapping, his mouth moving as though he were chewing an invisible piece of gum.
So they made a deal … though it didn’t quite turn out for Charlie as he had expected. After Charlie told Jed about the tunnels, how to get in, who to see when he got there, Jed pretended to reach into the pocket of his coat for money and instead took a blade and plunged it deep into the old man’s throat. Charlie never made a sound and Jed thought the old man had looked at him with relief, as if he’d been done a favor. Jed sat beside him until the life drained from him and his eyes stared off into the world beyond. You could never trust a junkie.
So Jed had finally found a home, a place where he could be safe in the mad world that loomed above him. Catacombs, webs of tunnels that stretched for miles, wound down into the earth some said ten, some said twenty levels deep. There were nooks, rooms, bridges, ledges, catwalks, a million places where you could make yourself a nest, free from the hassles of the city above. He’d been a little afraid at first, a little uneasy. But then the dark and the silence had seduced him … and really, of whom exactly should Jed McIntyre be afraid? Who was sicker, more evil and twisted, more homicidal than himself?
He turned off into another tunnel before he reached the group of bottom-feeders that were gathered around the fire under a vent that led to the street. There was a community under here that Jed did not wish to be a part of. He only participated enough to be connected to the information web when he wanted, directions, secrets of the tombs. He had a few things they did not. Money, for one; intelligence, for another. Then there was the fact that people knew somehow to be afraid of him. Those who lived down here hadn’t survived without a certain kind of animal instinct. They smelled his evil like an odor. All these things had served so far to get him what he needed. That was how he had figured out a very important thing about the tunnels.
He would rest awhile in the little space he’d created for himself and then he’d continue his exploration of the catacombs, as he liked to call them. It reminded him of Paris and the networks of tunnels lined with bones beneath Denfert-Rochereau in Montparnasse. Comte d’Artois, later Charles X, threw wild parties in the catacombs just before the revolution. He, like Jed, must have been very comfortable with the idea of death—other people’s deaths, of course.
It was totally silent by the time he’d reached home. He climbed the metal stairs with a light jog, removed a key from his pocket, and unlocked the padlock he’d bought at the Big K up top. The door creaked loudly as it opened, and the echo sounded in the tunnels like a human scream.
Inside, he lit one of his battery-powered lanterns, placed the padlock on the interior latch, and left the key in place, in case he needed to get out in a hurry. It was the only door in or out of his cozy little space, so he felt relatively safe. But one could never be too careful.
He’d also purchased an AeroBed from the same Big K where he’d picked up the padlock and lanterns, along with some lovely sheets, blankets, and pillows from the Martha Stewart Collection. The floor along the wall was lined with books, Lydia’s books, books about the history of New York City and its subway system, computer manuals so that he could keep up with his trade. He kind of liked his little nest.
He sat on the floor and removed his foie gras and Carr’s Water Crackers from the Balducci’s bag. He had other little treats in there, too, but he’d save them for later. He spread the foie gras on a cracker with a plastic knife and savored the spicy, meaty taste on his tongue while he gazed up at the wall. Taped up on the wall were long sheets of brown paper towels that he had drawn upon in charcoal pencil. It was here that he was making maps of his wanderings in the catacombs, charting how the tunnels and levels connected to each other, and what corresponded on the streets above. By his calculations, his little nest was almost directly below Lydia and Jeffrey’s Great Jones Street loft.
The rumor of the tunnels was that some of them led to concealed entrances to buildings, passageways created during the Prohibition Era so that bootleggers could move their product to the city’s speakeasies beneath the sight of the law. He’d yet to find any of these entrances, and he wasn’t a hundred percent convinced that they even existed. But he liked the romance of the idea, the idea of a dark netherworld connected by secret portals to the world above, small unguarded spaces where demons could move from hell into the light and back again, carrying their prey on their backs. He fairly shivered with the thrill of it.
Dax Chicago loved Lydia Strong. Not in any kind of romantic or sexual way. She’d drive him absolutely insane. But in the way of friendship, which for Dax was the most powerful love of all. He loved Jeffrey Mark in the same way, with a fierce loyalty and deep affection. Because they were threatened, because their lives and their happiness were in danger, he felt threatened and very much as though he’d let them down that night in Riverdale when Jed McIntyre had gotten away.
Jeffrey had been right when he’d warned Dax. “Don’t underestimate him,” he’d said. “He’s not as stupid as he looks.” Dax hadn’t listened. Of course, Jed McIntyre had some help that night. But still, if Dax had been a little more cautious, Lydia and Jeffrey wouldn’t be in this mess. Dax considered it his personal responsibility to fix it up right. And fast.
He drove his Range Rover slowly down Tenth Avenue. The night was turning frigid and the cold had crawled in beneath his sleeves and down his collar and he felt it in his bones, in spite of the fact that heat was blasting from the Rover’s vents. He felt badly for the prostitutes and she-males who strutted their stuff in fishnets and miniskirts. He’d always had a soft place inside hims
elf for the strays of the world, the broken, the damaged. Some people, he knew, just never had a chance.
He watched as they gyrated and preened underneath the orange glow of the streetlights. Their sparkling and brightly colored clothes were a garish contrast to the dark, gray buildings and empty doorways. Some of them looked okay from a distance, but they were skanks, every last one of them, dirty, looking ten years older than they actually were, covered in track marks, wreaking of sex. But there was no one who knew the streets like these people, knew what was going down when and on whom.
He fiddled with the heat, adjusted the vents, though he knew it couldn’t blow any harder; he couldn’t stand the bloody cold. His thick, strong hands gripped the wheel as he scanned the women and wanna-be women, looking for one in particular. They catcalled him as he drove by, walked slowly toward his vehicle. A tiny woman with orange hair and red leather pants gave him the finger when he didn’t stop for her. He couldn’t tell how old she was and he tried not to think about the fact that she looked like an adolescent. He’d been moving slowly enough and she’d come close enough for him to see her eyes. There was the deadness there of someone lost, someone who’d already been marked for a tragic end.
He saw her, finally, huddled by a Dumpster with a long bleached blond wig hanging to her thin waist, long, shapely legs in red tights and black patent leather platform shoes and matching hot pants, a big pink faux fur cropped jacket unzipped to reveal a leather bustier. He pulled the car over to the sidewalk and rolled down the widow. She sauntered over and leaned her arms on the door in typical ho fashion.
“Dax. I missed you,” she said, her voice deep and husky.
“You got a little bit of a five o’clock shadow going there, Danielle,” said Dax, with a smile, unlocking the door.
“It’s been a long shift,” the transvestite complained, sliding her six-foot frame into the Rover with the grace of a duchess. Dax handed her a hundred-dollar bill, which she immediately stuffed into the little pink clutch she was carrying.
“Oh, honey,” Danielle said. “You shouldn’t have.”
“It’s the least I could do,” answered Dax, not quite making eye contact with her. Danielle made Dax uncomfortable; she was a black hole of need and misery and Dax knew there was only so much he could do for her. He needed to keep his distance.
“You got that right, cowboy,” she said, her voice growing hard. She sensed his unease and it insulted her. “What I have is going to cost you more than that.”
“Tell me what you’ve got first and I’ll decide how much it’s worth.”
She laughed a deep, hearty laugh … a man’s laugh. Then she moved to get out of the vehicle.
“Okay, okay. How much?” he said.
“Five hundred,” she answered.
He took the money from the breast pocket of his leather jacket and handed it to her, watched as it disappeared into her bag. He could feel hard calluses on her hands as she grabbed the bills from him. It was what he had expected to pay her anyway. She settled into the passenger seat and got comfortable, held her hands up to the heat coming from the vents and rubbed them together for a minute.
“All right, Danielle, enough fucking around,” he said, losing patience. “Tell me what you know.”
“Um-hum, I just love that accent. It’s so sexy. Take me to McDonald’s, Daxie, and get me a Big Mac and fries, huh? I’m starving. I’ll tell you everything over a hot meal.”
Her face was a mess. Her nose had been broken and never healed right, leaving a large bump on the bridge. Her violet contact lenses looked ghoulish in combination with her dark, scarred skin. Dax noticed that her lip quivered and her hands shook slightly. As he looked at her, his impatience gave way to pity. He started the Rover and moved away from the sidewalk. It was going to be a long night.
chapter eight
Lydia had never been so acquainted with her toilet bowl as she had become over the last few days of morning sickness. She felt like her insides were being ripped open by some alien creature trying to get out. She was weak and tired, sleep having eluded her the last few nights. She’d dreamed of Julian Ross and the painting they’d seen, but she couldn’t remember the content, just that she’d awakened sweating and with a feeling of restless unease. She rested her head on the rim, bracing herself for another round, but was grateful when the nausea seemed to be subsiding.
“You all right?” asked Jeffrey, entering the bathroom, kneeling beside her, and placing a hand on her head.
“I’m okay,” she answered, trying to smile at him. She looked into his eyes and saw how happy he was, and it made her happier, too.
She pulled herself together and got up from the marble floor, leaned against the sink and inspected her face closely in the mirror. He stood behind her and smiled at her reflection. He was dressed already, wearing a royal blue Ralph Lauren oxford and charcoal pants, a black Italian leather belt with brushed chrome accents and matching buckled boots.
He put some of her Sebastian gel in his hair behind her as she brushed her teeth and pulled a comb through her jet-black hair.
“Come have a cup of coffee with me before I go?” he said, hugging her from behind.
“Sure,” she said, and trundled downstairs behind him still in her purple silk pajamas. She had a few hours before she had to meet Eleanor Ross at the office, so she planned to do a little exploring on the Internet, see what she could find about Julian Ross and her past. Dax was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table watching The Today Show as they came down the stairs.
“When did you get here?” asked Jeff.
“A couple of minutes ago,” he said, not looking up from the screen. “I made some coffee.”
“He has a key?” asked Lydia.
“I thought it was a good idea,” answered Jeff with a shrug.
“God, why doesn’t he just move in here and start paying rent?”
“Katie Couric is really hot, you know. She’s got this whole sexy girl-next-door thing going on,” said Dax.
“So where did you go yesterday, Dax?” asked Lydia, grabbing two coffee mugs from the cabinet. They’d just left the gallery and were walking toward the Yum Yum Diner when Dax’s cell phone rang. He had about a thirty-second conversation, which seemed to mainly consist of grunts. Then he had hung up quickly and said, “I gotta go. I’ll see you in the morning.” He had walked away without another word, disappearing around the corner.
“None of your bloody business,” he said gruffly. “Christ, you’re nosy.”
“All of a sudden you get this call and then you just disappear like James Bond on a mission.”
“I have other clients, you know,” he said, standing up and walking over to them, pouring himself some more coffee and then handing the pot to Lydia. “You are not the center of my universe,” he continued, patting Lydia on the cheek. “A concept that I know is difficult for you.”
“Oh, come on, Dax,” she pleaded, “give it up. You’re too mysterious. I can’t stand it.” Her curiosity about him, his life, and his past was like an itch that she couldn’t scratch. She placed the cups on the counter, poured some coffee in each, and put the pot back in the machine. She was about to press Dax further when she was struck by yet another powerful wave of nausea. She turned and ran to the downstairs bathroom, slamming the door behind her. When she was gone, Dax turned to Jeff and said quietly, “I got a lead on him.”
Jeff raised his eyebrows. They’d agreed that if they got a handle on Jed McIntyre, they’d take care of it themselves, without the FBI … and without Lydia.
“Is it reliable?”
Dax shrugged. “I think so. We’ll need to check it out. Sooner rather than later.”
“Lydia has a meeting at the office in a couple of hours with Eleanor Ross. Let’s talk then.”
Dax nodded as Lydia waddled back into the room, holding her stomach, looking gray and sweaty. She threw herself on the couch with a groan. “This kid is kicking my ass already.”
“
You know,” said Dax, sitting beside her and dropping his arm around her, “you don’t have that healthy glow so many pregnant women seem to have.” He gave her an affectionate squeeze.
“Oh, fuck off, Dax.”
Lydia’s office, which had been more or less transplanted from the home she’d sold last year in Santa Fe, took up the greatest square footage on the first floor of their apartment. The south wall faced Great Jones Street and was comprised largely of four ten-foot windows. The east wall was floor-to-ceiling bookcases, containing the intellectual clutter of most of the books she had read and all she had written in her career. Across from her desk sat a large sienna leather couch and matching chair, between them a mahogany wood table, which had once been the door of an eighteenth-century Spanish castle.
It was a peaceful place, a cocoon, and as she settled into the black leather chair at her desk and booted her laptop, she listened to the hushed street noise that only just barely made it through the thick glass of the windows. A scented candle beside her gave off a hint of jasmine, though it wasn’t lit. On the wall behind her hung a clutter of awards, her Pulitzer chief among them. Several black-and-white photographs accented empty wall space: an adobe church against a darkening sky threaded with lightning, a photograph of her taken by Herb Ritts during a shoot for a Vanity Fair feature in which she looked a pleasing combination of haunted and mysterious, mischievous and wise. It had surprised her then that she looked so utterly together, when she was really just lost inside. She had been relieved that it didn’t show.
Here, in her office, she was free. She didn’t have to think about Jed McIntyre, or about her pregnancy. She only had to focus on the case at hand, give in to the buzz, and search for the pieces of the puzzle. It was like a drug she used to escape her reality, even as she was chasing someone else’s.
