A Walk Among the Tombstones

by Lawrence Block

Page 9

 

  "Dear God," she said.

  "The things people do. "

  "Theres just no end, is there? No bottom to it. " She took a sip of water. "The cruelty of it, the utter sadism. Why would anyone- well, why ask why?"

  "I figure it has to be pleasure," I said. "They must have gotten off on it, not just on the killing but on rubbing his nose in it, jerking him around, telling him shell be in the car, shell be home when he gets there, then finally letting him find her in pieces in the trunk of the Ford. They wouldnt have to be sadists to kill her. They could see it as safer that way than to leave a witness who could identify them. But there was no practical advantage in twisting the knife the way they did. They went to a lot of trouble dismembering the body. Im sorry, this is great table talk, isnt it?"

  "Thats nothing compared to what a great pre-bedtime story it makes. "

  "Puts you right in the mood, huh?"

  "Nothing like it to get the juices flowing. No, really, I dont mind it. I mean I mind, of course I mind, but Im not squeamish. Its gross, cutting somebody up, but thats really the least of it, isnt it? The real shock is that theres that kind of evil in the world and it can come from out of nowhere and zap you for no good reason at all. Thats whats awful, and its just as bad on an empty stomach as on a full one. "

  WE went back to her apartment and she put on a Cedar Walton solo piano album that we both liked, and we sat together on the couch, not saying much. When the record ended she turned it over, and halfway through Side Two we went into the bedroom and made love with a curious intensity. Afterward neither of us spoke for a long time, until she said, "Ill tell you, kiddo. If we keep on like this, one of these days were gonna get good at it. "

  "You think so, huh?"

  "It wouldnt surprise me. Matt? Stay over tonight. "

  I kissed her. "I was planning to. "

  "Mmmm. Good plan. I dont want to be alone. "

  Neither did I.

  Chapter 4

  I stayed for breakfast, and by the time I got out to Atlantic Avenue it was almost eleven. I spent five hours there, most if it on the street and in shops but some of it in a branch library and on the phone. A little after four I walked a couple of blocks and caught a bus to Bay Ridge.

  When Id seen him last hed been rumpled and unshaven, but now Kenan Khoury looked cool and composed in gray gabardine slacks and a muted plaid shirt. I followed him into the kitchen and he told me his brother had gone to work in Manhattan that morning. "Petey said hed stay here, he didnt care about work, but how many times are we gonna have the same conversation? I made him take the Toyota so hes got that to get back and forth. How about you, Matt? You getting anywhere?"

  I said, "Two men about my size took your wife off the street in front of The Arabian Gourmet and hustled her into a dark blue panel truck or van. A similar truck, probably the same one, was tailing her when she left DAgostinos. The truck had lettering on the doors, white lettering according to one witness. TV Sales & Service, with the company name composed of indeterminate initials. B & L, H & M, different people saw different things. Two people remembered an address in Queens and one specifically recalled it as Long Island City. "

  "Is there such a firm?"

  "The descriptions vague enough so that there are a dozen or more firms that would fit. A couple of initials, TV repair, a Queens address. I called six or eight outfits and couldnt come up with anybody who runs dark blue trucks or who had a vehicle stolen recently. I didnt expect to. "

  "Why not?"

  "I dont think the truck was stolen. My guess is that they had your house staked out Thursday morning hoping your wife would go out by herself. When she did they followed her. It probably wasnt the first time they tailed her, waiting for an opportunity to make their play. They wouldnt want to steal a truck each time and ride around all day in something thats liable to show up any hour on the hot-car sheet. "

  "You think it was their truck?"

  "Most likely. I think they painted a phony company name and address on the doors, and once they completed the snatch they painted the old name out and a new name in. By now I wouldnt be surprised if the whole bodys repainted some color other than blue. "

  "What about the license plate?"

  "It had probably been switched for the occasion, but it hardly matters because nobody got the plate number. One witness thought the three of them had just knocked over the food market, that they were robbers, but all he wanted to do was get inside the store and make sure everybody was all right. Another man thought something funny was going on and he did take a look at the plate, but all he remembered was that it had a nine in it. "

  "Thats helpful. "

  "Very. The men were dressed alike, dark pants and matching work shirts, matching blue windbreakers. They looked to be in uniform, and, between that and the commercial vehicle they were driving, they appeared legitimate. I learned years ago that you can walk in almost anywhere if youre carrying a clipboard because it looks as though youre doing your job. They had that edge going for them. Two different people told me they thought they were watching two undercover guys from the INS taking an illegal alien off the street. Thats one reason nobody interfered, that and the fact that it was over and done with before anyone had time to react. "

  "Pretty slick," he said.

  "The uniform dress did something else, too. It made them invisible, because all people saw was their clothing, and all they remember was that both of them looked the same. Did I mention that they had caps on, too? The witnesses described the caps and the jackets, things they put on for the job and got rid of afterward. "

  "So we dont really have anything. "

  "Thats not really true," I said. "We dont have anything that leads directly to them, but weve got something. We know what they did and how they did it, that theyre resourceful, that they planned their approach. How do you figure they picked you?"

  He shrugged. "They knew I was a trafficker. That was mentioned. That makes you a good target. They know youve got money and they know youre not going to call the police. "

  "What else did they know about you?"

  "My ethnic background. The one guy, the first one, he called me some names. "

  "I think you mentioned that. "

  "Raghead, sand nigger. Thats a nice one, huh? Sand nigger. He left out camel jockey, thats one I used to hear from the Italian kids at St. Ignatius. Hey, Khoury, ya fuckin camel jockey! Only camel I ever saw was on a cigarette pack. "

  "You think being an Arab made you a target?"

  "It never occurred to me. Theres a certain amount of prejudice, no question about it, but Im not usually that conscious of it. Francines people are Palestinian, did I mention that?"

  "Yes. "

  "They have it tougher. I know Palestinians who say theyre Lebanese or Syrian just to avoid hassles. Oh, youre Palestinian, you must be a terrorist. That kind of ignorant remark, and there are people who have bigoted ideas about Arabs in general. " He rolled his eyes. "My father, for instance. "

  "Your father?"

  "I wouldnt say he was anti-Arab, but he had this whole theory that we werent actually Arabs. Our familys Christian, see. "

  "I wondered what you were doing at St. Ignatius. "

  "There were times I wondered myself. No, we were Maronite Christians, and according to my old man we were Phoenicians. You ever hear of the Phoenicians?"

  "Back in biblical times, werent they? Traders and explorers, something like that?"

  "You got it. Great sailors, they sailed all around Africa, they colonized Spain, they probably reached Britain. They founded Carthage in North Africa, and there were a lot of Carthaginian coins dug up in England. They were the first people to discover Polaris, thats the North Star, I mean to discover that it was always in the same spot and could be used for navigation. They developed an alphabet that served as the basis for the Greek alphabet. " He broke off, slightly embarrassed. "My old man talked about them all the time. I guess some of it must have soaked i
n. "

  "It looks like it. "

  "He wasnt a lunatic on the subject, but he knew a lot about it. Thats where my name comes from. The Phoenicians called themselves the Kenaani, or Canaanites. My name should be pronounced Keh-nahn, but everyones always said Kee-nan. "

  " Ken Curry is the message I got yesterday. "

  "Yeah, thats typical. Ive ordered things on the phone and they turn up addressed to Keane & Curry, it sounds like a couple of Irish lawyers. Anyway, according to my father the Phoenicians were a completely different people from the Arabs. They were the Canaanites, they were already a people at the time of Abraham. Whereas the Arabs were descended from Abraham. "

  "I thought the Jews were descendants of Abraham. "

  "Right, through Isaac, who was the legitimate son of Abraham and Sarah. Meanwhile the Arabs were the sons of Ishmael, who was the son Abraham fathered with Hagar. Jesus, heres something I havent thought of in a long time. When I was a kid my father had this mild feud with this grocer around the block on Dean Street, and he used to refer to him as that Ishmaelite bastard. God, what a character he was. "

  "Is he still living?"

  "No, he died three years ago. He was diabetic, and over the years it weakened his heart. When Im down on myself I tell myself he died of a broken heart because of how his sons turned out. He was hoping for an architect and a doctor and instead he got a drunk and a dope dealer. But thats not what killed him. His diet killed him. He was diabetic and he was fifty pounds overweight. Me and Petey could have turned out to be Jonas Salk and Frank Lloyd Wright and it wouldnt have done him any good. "

  AROUND six Kenan made the first of a series of phone calls after the two of us had worked out an approach. He dialed a number, waited for a tone, then punched in his own number and hung up. "Now we wait," he said, but we didnt have to wait very long. In less than five minutes the phone rang.

  He said, "Hey, Phil, hows it going? Great. Heres the deal. I dont know if you ever met my wife. The thing is, we had this kidnap threat, I had to send her out of the country. I dont know what its about but I think it has to do with the business, you follow me? So what Im doing, Ive got a guy checking it out for me, like a professional. And I wanted, you know, to pass the word, because the sense I got is these people are serious about this and my impression is theyre stone killers. Right. Yeah, thats the thing, man, we sit here and were easy marks, we got plenty of cash and we cant holler for the law, and that makes us the perfect target for home invasions and every goddam thing… Right. So all Im saying is be careful, you know, and keep an eye and an ear open. And pass the word around, you know, to whoever you think ought to hear it. And if any shit comes down, man, call me, you understand? Right. "

  He hung up and turned to me. "I dont know," he said. "I think all I did was convince him Im getting paranoid in my old age. Whyd you send her out of the country, man? Why not just buy a dog, hire a bodyguard? Because shes dead, you dumb fuck, but I didnt want to tell him that. If the word gets around its got to mean problems. Shit. "