A Walk Among the Tombstones

by Lawrence Block

Page 3

 

  Dont call anyone.

  Who would I call?

  He picked up the phone one more time and dialed a number he didnt have to look up. His brother answered on the third ring.

  He said, "Petey, I need you out here. Jump in a cab, Ill pay for it, but get out here right away, you hear me?"

  A pause. Then, "Babe, Id do anything for you, you know that-"

  "So jump in a cab, man!"

  "- but I cant be in anything has to do with your business. I just cant, babe. "

  "Its not business. "

  "What is it?"

  "Its Francine. "

  "Jesus, whats the matter? Never mind, youll tell me when I get out there. Youre at home, right?"

  "Yeah, Im at home. "

  "Ill get a cab. Ill be right out. "

  WHILE Peter Khoury was looking for a cabdriver willing to take him to his brothers house in Brooklyn, I was watching a group of reporters on ESPN discussing the likelihood of a cap on players salaries. It didnt break my heart when the phone rang. It was Mick Ballou, calling from the town of Castlebar in County Mayo. The line was clear as a bell; he might have been calling from the back room at Grogans.

  "Its grand here," he said. "If you think the Irish are crazy in New York you should meet them on their own home ground. Every other storefronts a pub, and no ones out the door before closing hour. "

  "They close early, dont they?"

  "Too bloody early by half. In your hotel, though, they have to serve drink at any hour to any registered guest that wants it. Now thats the mark of a civilized country, dont you think?"

  "Absolutely. "

  "They all smoke, though. Theyre forever lighting cigarettes and offering the pack around. The French are even worse that way. When I was over there visiting my fathers people they were peeved with me for not smoking. I believe Americans are the only people in the world whove had the sense to give it up. "

  "Youll still find a few smokers in this country, Mick. "

  "Good luck to them, then, suffering through plane rides and films and all the rules against it in public places. " He told a long story about a man and a woman hed met a few nights before. It was funny and we both laughed, and then he asked about me and I said I was all right. "Are you, then," he said.

  "A little restless, maybe. Ive had time on my hands lately. And the moons full. "

  "Is it," he said. "Here, too. "

  "What a coincidence. "

  "But then its always full over Ireland. Good job its always raining so you dont have to look at it all the time. Matt, Ive an idea. Get on a plane and come over here. "

  "What?"

  "Ill bet youve never been to Ireland. "

  "Ive never been out of the country," I said. "Wait a minute, thats not true, Ive been to Canada a couple of times and Mexico once, but-"

  "Youve never been to Europe?"

  "No. "

  "Well, for Jesus sake, get on a plane and come over. Bring herself if you want"- meaning Elaine- "or come alone, it makes no matter. I talked to Rosenstein and he says Id best stay out of the country awhile yet. He says he can get it all straightened out but theyve got this fucking federal task force and he doesnt want me on American soil until the all clears sounded. I could be stuck in this fucking pesthole another month or more. Whats so funny?"

  "I thought you loved the place, and now its a pesthole. "

  "Anywheres a pesthole when you havent your friends about you. Come on over, man. What do you say?"

  PETER Khoury got to his brothers house just after Kenan had had still another conversation with the gentler of the kidnappers. The man had seemed rather less gentle this time, especially toward the end of the conversation when Khoury tried to demand some evidence that Francine was alive and well. The conversation went something like this:

  KHOURY: I want to talk to my wife.

  KIDNAPPER: Thats impossible. Shes at a safe house. Im at a pay phone.

  KHOURY: How do I know shes all right?

  KIDNAPPER: Because weve had every reason to take good care of her. Look how much shes worth to us.

  KHOURY: Jesus, how do I even know youve got her in the first place?

  KIDNAPPER: Are you familiar with her breasts?

  KHOURY: Huh?

  KIDNAPPER: Would you recognize one of them? That would be the simplest way. Ill cut off one of her tits and leave it on your doorstep, and that will put your mind at rest.

  KHOURY: Jesus, dont say that. Dont even say that.

  KIDNAPPER: Then lets not talk about proof, shall we? We have to trust each other, Mr. Khoury. Believe me, trust is everything in this business.

  That was the whole thing, Kenan told Peter. He had to trust them, and how could he do that? He didnt even know who they were.

  "I tried to think who I could call," he said. "You know, people in the business. Someone to stand by me, back me up. Anybody I can think of, for all I know, theyre in on it. How can I rule anybody out? Somebody set this up. "

  "How did they-"

  "I dont know. I dont know anything, all I know is she went shopping and she never came back. She went out, took the car, and five hours later the phone rings. "

  "Five hours?"

  "I dont know, something like that. Petey, I dont know what Im doing here, I got no experience in this shit. "

  "You do deals all the time, babe. "

  "A dope deals completely different. You structure that so everybodys safe, everybodys covered. This case-"

  "People get killed in dope deals all the time. "

  "Yeah, but theres generally a reason. Number one, dealing with people you dont know. Thats the killer. It looks good and it turns into a rip-off. Number two, or maybe its number one and a half, dealing with people you think you know but you dont really. And the other thing, whatever number you want to give it, people get in trouble because they try to chisel. They try to do the deal without the money, figure theyll make it good afterward. They get in over their heads, they get away with it, and then one time they dont. You know where that comes from nine times out of ten, its people who get into their own product and their judgment goes down the toilet. "

  "Or they do everything right and then six Jamaicans kick the door in and shoot everybody. "

  "Well, that happens," Kenan said. "It doesnt have to be Jamokes. What was I reading the other day, Laotians in San Francisco. Every week theres some new ethnic group looking to kill you. " He shook his head. "The thing is, in a righteous dope deal you can walk away from anything that doesnt look right. You never have to do the deal. If youve got the money, you can spend it somewhere else. If youve got the product, you can sell it to somebody else. Youre only in the deal for as long as it works, and you can back yourself up, build in safeguards along the way, and from the jump you know the people and whether or not you can trust them. "

  "Whereas here-"

  "Whereas here we got nothing. We got our thumb up our ass, thats what we got. I said well bring the money and you bring my wife, they said no. They said thats not the way it works. What am I gonna say, keep my wife? Sell her to somebody else, you dont like the way I do business? I cant do that. "

  "No. "

  "Except I could. He said a million, I said four hundred thousand. I said fuck you, thats all there is, and he bought it. Suppose I said-"

  The phone rang. Kenan talked a few minutes, making notes on a scratch pad. "Im not coming alone," he said at one point. "I got my brother here, hes coming with me. No arguments. " He listened some more and was about to say something else when the phone clicked in his ear.

  "We gotta roll," he said. "They want the money in two Hefty bags. Thats easy enough. Why two, I wonder? Maybe they dont know what four hundred large is, how much space it takes up. "

  "Maybe the doctor told them no heavy lifting. "

  "Maybe. Were supposed to go to the corner of Ocean Avenue and Farragut Road. "

  "Thats in Flatbush, isnt it?"

  "I think so. "

>   "Sure, Farragut Road, thats a couple of blocks from Brooklyn College. Whats there?"

  "A phone booth. " When they had the money divided up and packed in a pair of garbage bags, Kenan handed Peter a gun, a 9-mm automatic. "Take it," he insisted. "We dont want to walk into this unarmed. "

  "We dont want to walk into it at all. What goods a gun gonna do me?"

  "I dont know. Take it anyway. "

  On the way out the door Peter grabbed his brothers arm. "You forgot to set the alarm," he said.

  "So? They got Francey and were carrying the money. Whats left to steal?"

  "You got the alarm, you might as well set it. It cant be any less useful than the goddamn guns. "

  "Yeah, youre right," he said, and ducked into the house. When he emerged he said, "State-of-the-art security system. You cant break into my house, cant tap my phones, cant bug the premises. All you can do is snatch my wife and make me run around the city with trash bags full of hundred-dollar bills. "

  "Whats the best way, babe? I was thinking Bay Ridge Parkway and then Kings Highway to Ocean. "

  "Yeah, I guess. Theres a dozen ways you could go, but thats as good as any. You want to drive, Petey?"

  "You want me to?"

  "Yeah, why dont you? Id probably rear-end a cop car, the way I am now. Or run over a nun. "

  THEY were supposed to be at the Farragut Road pay phone at eight-thirty. They got there three minutes early, according to Peters watch. He stayed in the car while Kenan went over to the phone and stood there waiting for it to ring. Earlier, Peter had wedged the gun under his belt in the small of his back. Hed been conscious of the pressure of it while he was driving, and now he took it out and held it in his lap.

  The phone rang and Kenan answered it. Eight-thirty, Peters watch said. Were they doing this by the clock or were they eyeballing the whole operation, somebody sitting in a window in one of the buildings across the street, watching it all happen?

  Kenan trotted back to the car, leaned against it. " Veterans Avenue," he said.

  "Never heard of it. "

  "Its somewhere between Flatlands and Mill Basin, that area. He gave me directions, Farragut to Flatbush and Flatbush to Avenue N and that runs you right into Veterans Avenue. "

  "And then what happens?"

  "Another pay phone at the corner of Veterans and East Sixty-sixth Street. "

  "Why the running around, do you have any idea?"

  "Make us crazy. Make sure we dont have a backup. I dont know, Petey. Maybe theyre just trying to break our balls. "

  "Its working. " Kenan went around to the passenger side, got in. Peter said, "Farragut to Flatbush, Flatbush to N. Thatd be a right on Flatbush and then I guess a left turn on N?"

  "Right. I mean yes, right on Flatbush and left on N. "

  "How much time have we got?"

  "They didnt say. I dont think they said a time. They said to hurry. "

  "I guess we wont stop for coffee. "

  "No," Kenan said. "I guess not. "