Desperate Measures

by David Morrell

  need? Don't forget to mention he belonged to the East Side senior

  citizens bowling team.

  "I've got it," Pittman said.

  "In that case ... "

  "I'll need your address."

  "But I already told you where my father lived."

  "No, I need your address, so the Chronicle can send you a statement for

  printing the obituary."

  "Statement?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "You mean a bill?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "The newspaper doesn't print obituaries as a community service?"

  "No, ma'am."

  "Shit.

  It had been a mistake, Pittman realized. He hadn't imagined the intense

  effort that it would take for him to go through the motions, to pretend

  to be committed to his job. Even the simplest gestures, picking up his

  phone, writing notes, required an exertion of will that left him as

  exhausted as the marathons he used to run before Jeremy became ill.

  He took four more calls, each requiring a greater effort, each more

  draining. Death by car accident, drowning, hanging, and old age.

  Hanging had been a method Pittman had considered. When he'd been a

  reporter, research on one of his stories had taught him that in males,

  hanging was rumored to have erotic side effects, its victims producing

  erections. Hanging also had the advantage of being less messy than a

  death by gunshot. But the trouble was, it wasn't instantaneous. It

  didn't guarantee results. The rope might slip, or someone might find

  you in time to resuscitate you. Then you'd have to go through the pain

  all over again.

  Someone coughed.

  Glancing up, Pittman saw a stocky, craggy-faced man in his fifties with

  a brush cut and bushy eyebrows. The man had his navy blazer draped over

  his shoulder, his muscular upper arms bulging against his rolled-up

  shirt sleeves. His striped tie was loosened and the top shirt button

  was open, exposing his bull-like neck. He gave the impression that he

  was out of uniform, that he belonged in the military. But like Pittman,

  Burt Forsyth had never been in the military. Burt had worked for the

  Chronicle since he'd gotten out of college, eventually becoming its

  editor.

  "Glad you could make it." Burt's voice was even more gravelly than it

  had sounded last night. Pittman shrugged. "You look beat."

  "So people keep telling me," Pittman said.

  "I'd have thought your day off would have made you look rested."

  "Well, I had a lot of things to do."

  "I bet." Burt's gaze was piercingly direct.

  Does he suspect? Pittman wondered.

  "Considering how busy you are, I appreciate your making time for the

  Chronicle."

  "For you," Pittman said.

  "The same thing."

  When Jeremy had gotten sick, when Jeremy had died, when Pittman had

  collapsed, Burt Forsyth had always been there. to provide

  reinforcement. "Need to go to the hospital to see your boy? Take all

  the time you need. Need to stay with him in intensive care? As long as

  you want. Your job? Don't worry about it. Your desk will be waiting

  for you." Burt had visited Jeremy in the hospital. Burt had arranged

  for the most valuable National Football League player to phone Jeremy.

  Burt had escorted Pittman to and from the mortuary. Burt had gotten

  drunk with Pittman. Although Pittman had tried to convince himself that

  he had paid back every debt, the truth was that Burt could never be

  repaid. Of all those who might have called last night, Burt was the one

  person Pittman could not refuse.

  Burt studied him. "Got a minute?"

  "My time is yours."

  "In my office."

  What now? Pittman thought. Is this where I get the lecture?

  The Chronicle had a no smoking policy. Pittman could never understand

  how Burt managed constantly to have the recent smell of cigarette smoke

  on him. His office reeked of it, but there weren't any ashtrays, and

  there weren't any cigarette butts in the wastebasket. Besides, Burt's

  office had glass walls. If he was breaking the rule and smoking in

  here, the reporters at the desks outside would have seen him.

  A big man, Burt eased himself into the swivel chair behind his desk.

  Wood creaked.

  Pittman took a chair opposite the desk.

  Burt studied him. "Been drinking too much?"

  Pittman glanced away.

  "I asked you a question," Burt said. "If you were anybody else ..."

  "You'd tell me it was none of my business. But since I'm, the one

  asking ... Have you been drinking too much?"

  "Depends," Pittman said.

  "On?"

  "What you call too much."

  Burt sighed. "I can tell this isn't going to be a productive

  conversation.

  "Look, you asked for nine days. I'm giving them to you. But that

  doesn't mean you can run my life."

  "What's left of it. You keep drinking as much as I think you have and

  you'll kill yourself."

  "Now that's a thought," Pi said. "Drinking won't bring back Jeremy."

  "That's another thought."

  "And killing yourself won't bring him back, either." Pittman looked

  away again.

  "Besides, I'm not trying to run your life," Burt said. "It's your job

  I'm trying to run. I've got something different I want you to do, a

  special kind of obituary, and I want to make sure you're up to doing it.

  If you're not, just say so. I'll keep you on the desk, answering obit

  calls and filling out forms."

  "Whatever you want."

  "I didn't hear you."

  "I came back to work because you asked. If there's something you need,

  I can do it. What kind of special obituary?"

  "The subject isn't dead yet."

  Pittman changed positions in the chair. Of course, it wasn't any

  surprise to him, although it generally was to what Pittman called

  "civilians,', that some obituaries were written before the subject's

  death. Aging movie stars, for example. Celebrities of one sort or

  another who were mortally ailing or in extremely advanced years. Common

  sense dictated that since they were going to die soon and since they

  were famous, why not prepare the obituary Sooner rather than later? On

  occasion, the subjects were remarkably resilient. Pittman knew of one

  case where a lengthy obituary had been written for an elderly

  comedian-twenty years earlier-and the comedian in his nineties was still

  going strong.

  But Pittman judged from Burt's somber expression that he hadn't been

  summoned here just to write something as ephemeral as an obituary for a

  not-yet-dead movie star. Burt's brows were so thick, they made his eyes

  seem hooded, dark, intense.

  "All right- " Pittman gestured. - "The subject isn't dead yet.

  Burt nodded.

  "But evidently you're convinced that he or she will be dead within nine

  days. "

  Burt's expression didn't change.

  "Otherwise, the obituary won't be any good," Pittman said, "because the

  Chronicle will be dead a week from tomorrow, and I never heard of other

  newspapers buying freelance obituaries. "

  :,It's my gift to YOU."

  :Gosh. I don't kn
ow what to say. How generous." You're not fooling

  anybody," Burt said. "You think I haven't figured out what you're

  planning to do?"

  Pittman showed no reaction. "Ellen phoned yesterday," Burt said.

  Pittman felt sudden heat in his stomach, but he didn't allow himself to

  show any reaction to that either, to the mention of his ex-wife.

  "She says you've been acting strangely," Burt said. "Not that I need

  her to tell me. I've got eyes. In fact, anybody who thinks of you as a

  friend has noticed. You've been going around making a point of paying

  back favors, money you borrowed, whatever. You've been apologizing for

  any harm you caused, and I know it's not because you're cleaning house

  as part of joining AA, not the way you've been drinking. That car

  accident three weeks ago. Three A.m. A deserted road in Jersey. A

  bridge abutment. What the hell were you doing out driving at that hour?

  And even as drunk as you were, I don't see how you couldn't have avoided

  that big an obstacle. You meant to hit it, and the only reason you

  didn't die is that your body was so loose from the booze, you bounced

  like a rag doll when you were thrown from the car."

  Pittman touched a still-healing gash on the back of his hand but didn't

  say anything.

  "Don't you want to know what Ellen wanted?" Burt asked.

  Pittman stared at the floor.

  "Come on," Burt demanded. "Quit acting like you're already dead.

  "I made a mistake."

  . 'What?"

  "Coming back to work. I made a mistake. " Pittman stood.

  "Don't," Burt said. "Let me finish.

  A reporter appeared in the doorway.

  "In a minute," Burt said.

  The reporter assessed the two men, nodded somberly, and went away. Other

  reporters, seated at their desks, were glancing toward the glass walls

  of Burt's office. Phones rang.

  "What Ellen wanted was to tell you she was sorry," Burt said. "She

  wants you to call her."

  "Tell me about this obituary."

  "Give her a chance."

  "Our son died. Then our marriage died. There's plenty to be sorry

  about. But I don't want to talk about it. I'm through talking about

  it. Nine-connection: Since I promised last night, if we count today,

  it's eight more days, Burt. That's all the time I'm willing to give

  you. Then we're even. Tell me about the obituary."

  Assessing Pittman, Burt didn't blink for quite a while. At once he

  shrugged, sighed, then picked up a folder on his desk. "Jonathan

  Millgate Pittman felt a spark speed along his nerves getting to sound

  familiar from when you were "That name on working on the national

  affairs desk, before Self conscious, Burt let the sentence dangle.

  "Before I cracked up, you mean? Or fell to pieces, or ... if that's

  the euphemism these days?"

  "Needed a rest."

  "I'm not so fuzzy-minded that I wouldn't remember the name of one of the

  grand counselors."

  Burt raised his thick eyebrows

  From the forties, from the beginning Of the Cold War onward, a group of

  five East Coast Patricians had exerted a continuous influence on

  American government policy by act. At first they acted as major

  advisers to various Presidents- later private had been cabinet members

  and ambassadors, consultants, mostly to Republican presidents, but not

  exclusively. During the Democratic administration in the late

  seventies, Carter was supposed to have consulted with them about the

  Iran hostage situation. It was rumored that on their advice he

  authorized the failed hostage-rescue attempt and in effect opened the

  way for Ronald Reagan to get into the White House. Eventually, as they

  aged, they acquired the status of legends and became known as the grand

  counselors.

  "Jonathan Millgate would be about eighty now," Pittman said. "Mother a

  society maven in Boston. Father a billionaire from investments in

  railroads and communications systems. Millgate graduated at the top of

  his class, with a law degree from Yale. Nineteen thirty-eight.

  Specialty: international law, which came in handy during the Second

  World War. Went to work for the State Department. Moved upward

  rapidly. Named ambassador to the USSR. Named ambassador to the United

  Nations. Named secretary of state. Named national security adviser.

  Tight with Truman. Jumped parties to become a Republican and made

  himself indispensable to Eisenhower. Not close to Kennedy. But despite

  the party differences, Johnson certainly relied on Millgate to help

  formulate policy about Vietnam. When the Republicans came back into

  office, Nixon relied on him even more. Then Millgate suddenly dropped

  out of public view. He retreated to his mansion in Massachusetts.

  Interestingly, despite his seclusion, he continued to have as much

  influence as a high-level elected or appointed official. "He had a

  heart attack this morning. Pittman waited. "Here in town," Burt said.

  "But apparently not a fatal attack, because you said the subject of the

  obituary wasn't dead yet."

  "Since the Chronicle's dying anyhow, we can afford to experiment. I

  want the obit long, and I want it dense. With facts, with intelligence,

  with style. A cross between the front page and the editorial page. That

  used to be your specialty."

  "You're gambling he won't last until a week from tomorrow, that he'll

  die before the Chronicle does."

  "What I'm really gambling," Burt said, "is that you'll find the

  assignment interesting enough to make you want to do others like it,

  that you'll get committed to something besides grief, that you and the

  Chronicle won't die together.

  "Gambling's for suckers."

  "And working on obituaries too long can make a person morbid.

  "Right," Pittman said dryly. "It's not like reporting on national

  affairs can make you morbid." He turned to leave. -,wait, Matt.

  There's one other thing."

  Pittman glanced back and saw the envelope Burt was holding. His chest

  felt cold, "The guy who subbed for you yesterday found this in your desk

  drawer." Burt opened the envelope. "It's addressed to me, so he

  figured he'd better deliver it." Burt set a sheet of paper on the desk.

  "I guess I got it earlier than you wanted. Pretty impersonal, don't you

  think, given all we've been through?"

  Pittman didn't need to read the typed note to know what it said.

  Matthew Pittman, 38, West Fifth Street, died Wednesday evening from a

  self-inflicted gunshot wound.

  A memorial service will begin at noon on Saturday at Donovan's Tavern,

  West Fifth Street In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to

  the children's cancer fund at Sloan-Kettering in the name of Jeremy

  Pittman.

  "It was all I could think of."

  "Brevity's a virtue." Burt tapped the sheet of paper. "But so is

  thoroughness. You didn't mention that you worked for the Chronicle."

  "I didn't want to embarrass the newspaper."

  "And you didn't mention that you were survived by your ex-wife, Ellen. "

  Pittman shrugged.

  "You didn't want to embarrass her, either?" Burt asked.

  Pittman sh
rugged again. "I got writer's block when it came to calling

  Ellen by her new last name. I finally decided to hell with it."

  "I wish you could ignore your other problems as conveniently. Eight

  more days, Matt. You promised me eight more days.

  "That's right."

  "You owe me," Burt said.

  "I know," Pittman said with force. "I haven't forgotten what you did

  for-" To interrupt the confrontation, he glanced at his watch. "It's

  almost noon. I'll get started on Millgate's obituary after lunch."

  The tavern had three things to recommend it: It was out of the way, it

  didn't do much business, and the little business it did wasn't from

  staff members of the Chronicle. Pittman could drink in peace, knowing

  that he wouldn't be interrupted-not in this place. Its only reason for

  existing was for the coming and going of numbers runners. When Pittman

  had come in and asked for a drink, the bartender had looked shocked to

  be having a legitimate customer.

  Pittman nursed two Jack Daniel's on the rocks while he did his

  newspaper's Crossword puzzle. Anything to occupy his mind. Burt had