Invisible Streets
Page 35
“People in this City,” Canada continued, “don’t like being fucked with. You try to keep something from happening, they’ll try ten times as hard to make sure it happens.”
Frings nodded. Canada was right, of course, though the Project’s increased popularity had done nothing to lessen Frings’s objections. In fact, the expansion of the project just made those objections more urgent.
“Nothing to say to that?” Svinblad slurred.
Frings turned to Svinblad. If Svinblad hadn’t been drunk, he might have seen something in the calmness of Frings’s eyes that would have given him pause. But he was drunk, and he was cocky, and the prospect of celebrating his good fortune in the face of someone who stood for everything he hated made him drunker still. He didn’t register anything.
“You didn’t say anything when I saw you here the other night, either. You don’t say a fucking word unless you’re sitting behind your typewriter. Am I right?”
In his peripheral vision, Frings could see that Canada was uncomfortable with Svinblad’s demeanor.
“I’m glad that we ran into each other,” Frings said. “I had a conversation with the chief of police today—do you know him?—and he let me in on some information that I think you’d be interested in.”
Svinblad looked back at him in inebriated confusion.
Frings looked to Canada—who wore an expression somewhere between interest and concern—and then back to Svinblad.
“I’m sure that you’ve heard that they arrested a man named Ed Wayne in connection with the Tower bombing.”
“Sure.”
Frings could see that Canada was intently watching Svinblad now.
“You know Ed Wayne, right?” Frings asked.
“I don’t believe that I do,” Svinblad said, slowly. Frings could almost see Svinblad trying to will himself to sobriety.
“I think that you might. You see, Wayne has refused to talk about the bombing. But, he’s not stupid. He knows that he needs some leverage, or he’ll never see the outside of a prison again. And it turns out that there was another crime he was involved in on that very night. Are you following me?”
Svinblad stared at him, dully.
“I can’t foresee the future, Gerry, but my sense is that people aren’t going to be too pleased to hear that Ed Wayne, the gink behind the Tower bombing, did work for you. At the very least, I think it will prompt a look into your connection to the New City Project. Worst case, I think, is probably accessory to murder and then also corruption. What do you think? You must know that Wayne doesn’t like the Project. That’s why he bombed the Tower. If he knows that he can help himself and at the same time take down the Project … it doesn’t get much better for him.”
Svinblad had gone very pale. “I don’t have anything to do with the bombs.”
Frings shook his head. “I wouldn’t think so. It would make no sense. If the Tower had come down, things would not have worked out this well. The rest of it, though … that’s where you have a problem.”
Canada looked at Frings. “What is this?”
“This,” said Frings, “is what trouble looks like.”
Canada laughed ruefully and shook his head. “Frank Frings. You don’t know when to goddamn quit.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to my agent and friend Rob McQuilkin, who worked with me on early drafts of this book and then went out and found it the right home. Mark Krotov at Overlook Press provided great insight in matters large and small and was invaluable in helping me shape and focus the manuscript.
Thanks also to Jack Lamplough, Kait Heacock, Anthony Morais, Molly O’Laughlin, and Bernie Schleifer at Overlook Press and Derek Parsons at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.
Thank you, as always, to my parents for their enthusiasm and support, and to my mom for her help with the late stages of the manuscript.
Finally, love and thanks to Sadie, Jake, and Deborah.
TOBY BALL works at the Crimes Against Children Research Center and the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of The Vaults and Scorch City, also available from The Overlook Press, and lives in Durham, New Hampshire, with his wife and two children.
www.tobyball.com
Jacket design by Anthony Morais
Jacket photography by Ewing Galloway courtesy of New York Public Library
Author photograph by Juliet Grant
Printed in the United States Copyright © 2014 The Overlook Press
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