John Lutz Bundle

by John Lutz

  Pearl took another long pull of beer and hoped the alcohol would soon calm her nerves. Pearl’s mother, Mrs. Kahn, and Milton Kahn. Most likely all three were in on the sporadic, creepy mailings that had finally erupted into this postal bombardment. This…this…!

  Take it easy. Don’t assume. Best to give this some calm thought.

  It was probable that Milt at least knew about the assault by mail and condoned it. But if Pearl called him, he’d deny it. And wasn’t that what this was all about, getting her to call him?

  She stood up from the table and threw the mail in with the kitchen trash. All of it. Including any bills that might have been hiding between brightly colored images of moles gone amok.

  Then she finished her beer and went into the bathroom, where she stood before the mirror and took yet another long, long look at the mole behind her right ear, until the ear ached from being bent drastically forward to reveal the mole. She’d been examining the mole so frequently lately that her right ear appeared swollen and larger than her left.

  Pearl splashed cold water over her face, patted it dry with a towel, then leaned on the washbasin with both hands and assessed herself anew in the mirror. The stress she’d been under since joining Quinn’s investigation showed, the stress from worrying about murder and the mole. She leaned closer to the mirror to get a better look at the somber woman staring back at her.

  You look like you’ve been run over by a subway.

  Damn my mother! Damn Mrs. Kahn! Damn Milton Kahn!

  Damn Quinn! And Fedderman, too. And that bitch, Zoe.

  Look what they’re doing to me!

  “Enough of this bullshit,” Pearl said to the other Pearl.

  The other Pearl nodded, gave her a grim smile.

  She would make another appointment with another dermatologist who wasn’t Milton Kahn, and she would keep that appointment. She would have the seemingly harmless mole examined by an unbiased physician and put the matter to rest.

  She was pretty sure she would.

  Rhodes was too quick for him. Jerry Dunn had been following Thomas Rhodes for the last fifteen minutes, staying well back, waiting for Rhodes either to be relatively isolated, or surrounded by so many people that the bark of a shot would only serve to confuse them and the shooter—the hunter—could easily be lost among the milling humanity.

  What Dunn liked was that Rhodes was carrying a black leather duffel bag slung from his shoulder by a thick strap. That meant he intended to run rather than try to turn the tables and become hunter rather than prey. Probably, Dunn thought, because Rhodes knew that if he couldn’t successfully go into hiding he’d continue to be hunted no matter how this particular joust with death turned out.

  What Dunn didn’t like was that the duffel bag was only partly zipped, and Rhodes walked with one arm resting on the bag, his hand inside it. Dunn was sure the hand was curled around a .25-caliber revolver exactly like the one concealed in the fold of the morning Times he was carrying.

  Rhodes was wearing brown slacks and a brownish tweed sport coat, warm for this kind of weather. Dunn figured that was so he could take all the useful clothing with him that wouldn’t fit into the bag. It also meant he might be heading for a cooler climate. Not once had Rhodes glanced behind him, but Dunn didn’t take for granted that his presence was unknown.

  Suddenly Rhodes crossed Seventh Avenue in the middle of the block. At Fifty-first Street he jauntily descended the steps to a subway stop.

  Dunn had to hurry. He followed down the concrete steps toward the platform, aware that his haste might cause carelessness. He might be entering a trap.

  Ahead, beyond the turnstiles, he could see people coming up another flight of steps. Apparently a train had just arrived.

  Dunn had a Metro card good for a week. He hurried through a turnstile, elbowing aside some of the crowd moving the opposite direction and pushing through the turnstiles to exit.

  At the head of the steps he stopped.

  He had a clear view down to a landing and a continuation of concrete steps, and saw no sign of Rhodes. Had he been tricked?

  Damn it!

  He glanced back toward the turnstiles and caught a glimpse of men’s brown pants, as someone who might have been Rhodes jogged up the steps beyond the turnstiles and ran toward the street.

  Rhodes?

  The color of the pants was perfect.

  Dunn ran toward the turnstiles, pushed through to exit, and dashed up the steps, taking them three at a time.

  Back in the sunshine at street level, he looked in all directions.

  No Thomas Rhodes.

  Calm down, Dunn told himself. Calm down!

  He didn’t doubt Rhodes had known he was being tracked and had used the subway stop to slip away from his pursuer. He must have been waiting just to the side of the street steps so he could cut back the way he’d come after Dunn had hurried toward the turnstiles without a sideways glance. Now back up on the crowded sidewalks, Dunn had no chance of finding him again to resume tracking.

  He moved back into a doorway and stood thinking, his eyes all the time moving, seeking another momentary glimpse of Rhodes.

  Rhodes was wearing a heavy sport jacket and carrying a bag that could only be called luggage, so he was traveling. He might catch a cab and head for one of the airports, but his pursuer would figure him to travel by air, probably in first class.

  Dunn knew he had to guess, and he went with the odds. What was the least likely way Rhodes would travel?

  A bus.

  Possibly a train, but less likely was a bus.

  If that was the case, Dunn had a pretty good idea where Rhodes would hook up with his transportation. Where whoever was hunting him would have to make another choice. Port Authority Terminal on Forty-second Street, where a traveler could board either a bus or a subway train.

  Rhodes wasn’t carrying the duffel bag for nothing.

  Dunn got out in the street and hailed a cab. He told the driver he was pressed for time and there was a twenty in it for him if he drove fast for the Port Authority Terminal, that he needed to hook up with someone he did business with and it was critical to an important deal for him to get there before a bus left.

  All true. In its fashion.

  It had been almost a week since Hobbs had laid a hand on her. Temporarily at least, Lavern Neeson was unbruised.

  Often he’d call her from work to keep tabs on her, so she’d faked a doctor’s appointment this time, knowing that since she was unmarked Hobbs wouldn’t be interested. And she’d told him she thought she was coming down with a summer cold, not only to keep him away from her, but to give her an excuse for her sham appointment.

  Where she’d taken her unbruised self was to the lounge where she’d almost been picked up by the handsome guy with the hooded eyes and jet-black hair. It was about the same time of day she’d been there last time, so he might well be there, too. She could picture him sitting on the same stool as before, hunched over his drink, and then walking toward her, absently spinning bar stools as he came. Then the change in his expression as he saw the bruises on her face, bruises that makeup couldn’t quite conceal. She hadn’t been able to get the man out of her thoughts, out of her dreams.

  It could be different this time.

  As she entered the lounge she blinked a few times to help adjust her eyes to the dimness, looking all around for the dark-eyed man.

  He wasn’t there.

  Well, what did you expect? With your crappy luck.

  But on the same stool where dark-eyes had sat was another man, in his late thirties, maybe forty. A nice-enough-looking guy wearing gray slacks and a shirt and tie. He was looking at Lavern and smiling. He had a lot of dark stubble on his chin, but that was the style, and maybe he was growing a beard.

  When she got closer, she glanced at his left hand and didn’t see a wedding band. For all that was worth these days.

  Still smiling, he nodded to her and said, “You’re late, but that’s okay. We can make up for lost t
ime.”

  Another bullshit artist.

  “Do we know each other?”

  “I’ve never before laid eyes on you,” he admitted. The smile widened. Nice teeth, very white. “See, we’re starting off honestly.”

  Lavern smiled back.

  Why not? She could use a little talk, a little personal, painless attention.

  And a drink.

  53

  “…and they didn’t know if the parrot was saying everything he was saying, or if he was saying everything the parrot was saying.”

  The crowd in Say What? thought about it, then with a growing rush of applause decided they liked that one. They cheered and hooted as Jackie Jameson waved his right arm over his head in a circular motion, dipped low in his exaggerated bow, and trotted off the stage.

  Mitzi and Rob (he had finally told her his name—Rob Curlew) were seated at the table Rob preferred. It was barely large enough for two, so they wouldn’t attract unwanted company. It was also at the very edge of the crowd, and not far from one of the side exits. Not only could they look out over the audience so Mitzi could judge crowd reaction to particular jokes, but when the night of comedy and near comedy ended, they could easily slip outside and get away without having to talk to anyone Mitzi knew. Rob valued his privacy. Mitzi understood that and accommodated him.

  Tonight was different, however, because her boss Ted Tack was holding her check from last week, and Mitzi needed the money. The rent was past due, and the landlord was pesky.

  Jackie Jameson had been the final act, so Mitzi and Rob waited for the applause to trail off, then stood up from their table.

  Mitzi started toward a side aisle so she could make her way to the stage and office. Rob closed his hand on her arm.

  Mitzi explained that she had to pick up her paycheck.

  “I can carry us till next week,” Rob said.

  Mitzi aimed her big smile at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, you carried us all this week. You wouldn’t want me sleeping with the landlord. I need my money, baby.”

  “You mean your independence.”

  “Up the rebels! Whatever it is they’re against.”

  Rob smiled and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be waiting right outside.”

  “It’ll only take a few minutes for Ted to pay me or for me to punch him out,” Mitzi said. She waved a small fist. “He always pays.”

  “Remember I’m nearby,” Rob said, “in case there’s any trouble.” As if she was serious.

  Mitizi wondered sometimes if he was serious, some of the things he said. Or maybe it was because he was normally so smooth that any slightly out-of-kilter remark seemed even more so.

  As she moved away through the crowd that was gradually making its way outside, she wondered what kind of job Rob had, that he worried so little about money. Something to do with investments, he’d say, whenever she inquired, then he’d begin explaining things to her she didn’t understand. There were lots of acronyms, but they all meant money. So maybe he was rich as well as handsome.

  I am makin’ out with The Man.

  Somebody or something tugged at her right earlobe, and she turned, ready to cut some poor bastard off at the knees if she could figure out who’d been the tugger.

  I better know you as a friend.

  She did. Jackie Jameson was jammed up against her by the press of the crowd.

  Her momentary anger was gone. She grinned at him. “Nice set, Jackie.”

  “Yours, too.” He cupped his hands over his chest. “Wanna go lift a few, Mitz? Talkin’ drinks here, not boobs.”

  “Sorry, Jackie, I’m going out with Rob.”

  Jameson made a big thing of looking all around. “So where is he?”

  “Waiting outside.”

  “What is this guy, some kinda secret agent? You helping him hide?”

  “He likes privacy, is all.”

  “Then he should like you. You’re sure keeping him a big secret.”

  “I kinda enjoy that, him and me together, nobody around to applaud or boo.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’d applaud, Mitz.”

  She grinned again. “I gotta go, get to the office before Ted makes his escape with my paycheck.”

  “Maybe Rob’d like to have a drink or two with us,” Jackie said, as Mitzi was moving away in the general direction of stage and office.

  “Oh, yeah, we’d both love having you around. In case conversation started to drag.”

  “I’m jealous, Mitz. You noticed?”

  “Of me?”

  “Of him,” Jackie said. “I’m better for you, Mitz.”

  “It’s illegal in this state for two comics to be that way with each other,” Mitzi said.

  “Is he prepared to be your love slave, like I am?”

  “You’re more a love jester, Jackie.”

  She was immediately sorry she’d said it. He turned away to hide the pain on his face.

  When he turned back, he was smiling.

  She bit her lower lip. “That was a horseshit remark. I didn’t mean it, Jackie, honest.”

  “Sure you didn’t.”

  “Will a blow job make it up?”

  “I get the point,” he said, “you say things you don’t mean. Just be careful, Mitz.”

  “Of what?”

  “Banana peels, that kinda thing.” He gave her a wave and turned his back on her.

  “Hey! Hey, Jackie! Don’t go away mad!”

  Even that had come out wrong. Just go away hung in the air. Two comics. Maybe it was a good law.

  Jackie probably hadn’t heard her anyway. He was deep into the crowd that was massing toward the street doors. She could just make out his dark head of hair with its bald spot, then he was gone. Hurt and gone, like so many people in her life.

  Why am I always hurting people, or getting hurt?

  Feeling paper-edge high, Mitzi continued her way to the stage steps and the office. She knew she’d deeply cut Jackie, maybe her only true friend and one of the last people in the universe she was willing to hurt, and she vowed she’d make it up to him. She wouldn’t apologize—that would only remind him of what she’d so thoughtlessly said and embarrass him some more. What was needed here was a kind of indirect apology, giving away a piece of herself without it being obvious. Mitzi was good at that. She’d been doing it since she was a little girl.

  Ten minutes later, her check in her purse, she met Rob outside in front of the club, beneath the lighted marquee. Nobody looks that good in all that bright light coming from overhead, she thought. Not even me. She clutched his arm, turning her head slightly away from him and the sickly light, as she led him out farther down the sidewalk.

  They walked a few blocks to a small, dimly lighted sports bar they frequented. There were booths toward the back, where serious drinkers and lovers sat, leaving the front booths to the sports nuts who sat hypnotized by taped ball games while raising the alcohol level of their blood.

  “You seem kind of down,” Rob said, when they were settled in with their drinks. She had an apple martini, he a scotch on the rocks.

  Mitzi told him what had happened with Jackie.

  “I feel kind of sorry for him, too,” Rob said. Then he smiled. “But I don’t blame him for being jealous.”

  They sat for a few minutes in silence, sipping their drinks. There was cheering from the front of the bar.

  “Home-run volume,” Rob said.

  “Maybe,” Mitzi said. “I don’t know how they can get so into it. Both the Mets and Yankees games have been over for hours. They already know who won.”

  “They like to pretend, like everybody else.”

  “What are you, running for political office?”

  He gave her his hooded-eyes smile, melting her down. The bastard was into her even deeper than he knew, making her vulnerable. Vulnerability was something she loathed. “Mitzi, Mitzi…always the tough front.”

  She shrugged. “I’m just pretending, like everyone else.”

  “You should cheer
up, sweet. You’ve got a birthday coming up next week.”

  “How’d you know that?”

  Does he know how old I’m going to be? Twenty-five. Holy Christ! How’d that happen? Twenty-five already, and at a place like Say What? She didn’t even have top billing

  “You must’ve mentioned it,” he said.

  “Not me.”

  “Somebody else, then. Or maybe it was on your Web site.”

  “There is nothing true on my Web site.”

  He laughed. “I know that’s your photo.”

  “It’s my mother when she was my age.”

  “Can’t you ever be serious, Mitzi?”

  “Only when I’m being funny.”

  “We should celebrate your birthday.”

  “Day of mourning,” Mitzi said. “Don’t even think of buying me a present, Rob, really.”

  “No whoop-de-do?”

  “Not even whoop.”

  He studied her over the rim of his glass. She couldn’t read his eyes, so dark in the dim lounge, but with pinpoints of light or something else in their centers.

  “Okay,” he said. “But maybe I’ll bring you flowers.”

  “That could work,” she said.

  54

  Lavern Neeson sat in what had become her usual place, holding the shotgun from the closet loosely aimed at her sleeping husband.

  The shotgun was exerting more and more of a spell on Lavern. She and Hobbs had argued again this evening about what for most couples would be nothing. They’d disagreed over who’d said what about some insignificant subject, and Hobbs, as usual, took the argument from the specific to the general. He accused Lavern of constantly saying things and then swearing she’d never uttered the words.

  Lavern’s friend and sometimes confidante, Bess, said that manipulating men claimed such things sometimes, for no purpose other than to instill uncertainty and guilt in a woman’s mind. According to records at the Broken Wing Women’s Shelter, it wasn’t all that unusual for men to create devices that would make sounds in the basement or garage so that they could skeptically go investigate and then return to reassure and tell their frightened mates that they’d only imagined hearing something. If the sound came again, the abuser might simply claim he hadn’t heard it, knowing full well it was real because he’d arranged for it.