Strip

by Thomas Perry

  “What did I feel then?”

  “You were feeling taken for granted and humiliated. You felt that I had kind of talked you into doing something you were shy about to show me you really wanted me, and then wasn’t even serious about it. That I got you to commit yourself, like saying out loud that you loved me, and then didn’t say anything back. You felt betrayed.”

  She looked at him with new respect. “That’s just about right.”

  Bull’s-eye. He stood. He would come around the table to take her hand. He planned to touch it tenderly. Maybe he could even get her to start over and have the experience they’d missed. He was a little tired, but it was all right. They had a lot of hours before she had to go to work. He reached for her hand.

  She snatched it back from the table, out of reach. “Don’t.”

  “But doesn’t what happened mean anything?”

  “To you. Not to me. Get your stuff, put it in your car, and go.”

  “After all these years apart, and then finally coming together all the way out here in California, you want to dump me for being late coming home one night?”

  “No, Jeff,” she said. “I’m dumping you because you’re not the one. That’s what every single girl is on the lookout for—the one who was meant for her. You’re not him. Having you here only wastes my time and diverts my attention.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “I’ve known you since ninth grade, remember? I just let you live with me for over a month, with benefits. Believe me, if you were the one, I’d be aware of it by now. You’re not the one for me, so don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.”

  “I won’t argue,” he said. “I suppose you’ve found another candidate for the audition.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t have to tell you anything about my future except that you’re not in it.” She got up and he made a halfhearted grab for her, hoping to give her a hug that might soften her a little, but she was fast on her feet and strong from two years of carrying a tray of drinks through a crowd of drunken men.

  She was in the closet, had all his clothes on hangers off the pole and hanging on the hook on the door, and then went back for more. She swept his underwear and socks off the closet shelf and into his open suitcase, tossed his shoes in on top, then went into the bathroom to scoop up his toothbrush, hairbrush, and deodorant, and tossed them into the mix.

  “Wow,” he said. “What’s the hurry?”

  “I asked you to go. I explained why. Then I listened politely to your full load of bullshit. I have no more patience.”

  He was angry now. He moved toward her and started to step over his suitcase so what he had to say would be said eye to eye.

  “Eldon!” It was a tone Jeff hadn’t heard before. “Him!”

  A second transformation took place. Eldon was off the couch and standing five feet from him with his ears back and his inch-long fangs bared. His throat emitted a low growl that seemed to presage something awful.

  “Whoa, Eldon,” Jeff said quietly. “We’re buddies.” He reached out toward Eldon’s head to pat it, but the dog snapped his jaws like an alligator and snarled as he took a step forward. Jeff was on one foot, lost his balance, and stepped in the center of his clothes in the open suitcase.

  “Sit, Eldon.” The dog sat, but now he looked to Jeff as though the idea of sinking his teeth into him had not entirely left his mind.

  Jeff put the canvas money bag in his suitcase beside his right foot, stepped out of the suitcase away from Eldon, closed and latched it, and retreated toward the door. He was careful to keep the suitcase between him and the dog. “Okay.”

  “Take your cell phone. It’s on the bookcase. But leave the key.”

  He picked the cell phone off the shelf, fiddled with his key chain to get the apartment key off, held it up between his thumb and forefinger, and set it on the bookcase. He opened the door, stepped into the empty space, and said, “A month from now, when you’re sorry, just remember I tried to get you to listen.” His hands were full, so he walked off and left the door open.

  Lila stood perfectly still, heard the receding footsteps, and then the outer door open and close. She closed and locked her apartment door, but wasn’t completely relaxed until she heard the big engine of the black Trans Am revving unnecessarily for a moment, then roaring off to propel Jefferson Davis Falkins into somebody else’s life.

  14

  KAPAK WAS in his bathroom shaving when he saw Spence appear in the mirror. “Apparently someone has been using a company credit card to steal money.”

  Kapak’s eyes widened, then narrowed again. “How much?”

  “The bank said the balance was over the hundred thousand mark when they cut the credit line, but they don’t know how much of the balance was legit. There was a cash advance of forty thousand, another twenty in American Express gift cards, some clothes, and a lot of jewelry—mostly diamond rings and watches and things.”

  “Why didn’t they tell me before this?” He set his razor on the marble shelf above the sink and wiped the shaving cream off his face with a towel.

  “They called the number they had, which was the house phone, throughout business hours and into the early evening. They also called your cell phone but couldn’t get through. They said they left messages.”

  Kapak stepped past him into the bedroom, went to the table by his bed, picked up his phone, and looked at the display. The phone was turned off. He remembered turning it off when he went to the police station. But how could he have been carrying it around for the rest of the day without even looking at it? He pushed the power button and the screen lit up. “Twelve missed messages. How much of the hundred grand am I on the hook for?”

  “Probably not much. There’s a federal law that limits your liability to something like fifty bucks.”

  “Five zero? I only eat fifty bucks of this?”

  “I’m pretty sure.”

  “Can you call them back and check?” He was taking the cards out of his wallet.

  “No problem. First, could you look to see if you still have the credit card? That was the first thing they asked.”

  “I don’t have it.” He thought for a few seconds. “Joe Carver. He was here alone waiting for me when I came back from my shower in the guesthouse.”

  Spence nodded. “I’ll use the phone in the kitchen to talk to the credit card people.” A few minutes later he reappeared, and Kapak looked closely at him for the first time. His hair was still slightly wet, his face had a close shave. The white shirt he was wearing had just been unpackaged and his body heat had not quite erased the creases. He always seemed to be around, but he always seemed to be rested, showered, and shaved. No matter how hot it was, he was cool as a snake.

  Kapak said, “I think we’ve got to look at a few things from a different angle.”

  “What things?”

  “Let’s start with Joe Carver. I think he’s not just some defenseless guy we mistakenly blamed for robbing me. I think he’s something much worse. When he came here yesterday morning, I was in the shower in the guesthouse. That’s when he must have taken my credit card. But if you think about what he wanted, it gives you a better idea of who he is. He came here in person because he wanted to show me his face and prove to me that he hadn’t robbed me. And it might have been true. The guy who robbed me wore a ski mask.”

  “So?”

  “He knows what the world is like. It’s a hard place with lots of spots to trip and get hurt. So he steals my credit card before he even talks to me. He knows that just showing me his face might not work. Maybe he’s even smart enough to know it can’t work, that I can’t let it be noised around that I’m looking for him, and then let him go. And within minutes of leaving this house, he’s already taking steps to get back at me.”

  “Steps? He seems to be attacking from every direction at once.”

  “Yeah. I’m getting to the point where I don’t want to answer the phone. But now I’m starting to get the feel of th
is guy. I don’t think he’s just trying to rob me. I think I pissed him off. I think when he came here, part of what he was doing was warning me. I think now he’s trying to ruin me, maybe even kill me.”

  “Maybe the Gaffneys will pick up something from the girls who accused him in the first place.”

  “If they do, I want you to be the one who gets it first. In the meantime, I’d like you to see what you can find out.”

  “When do you want me to start?”

  “Now.”

  “All right.” Spence turned and walked back to the rear of the house to the maid’s room off the pantry. He kept extra clothes and a few other belongings there, and sometimes slept there.

  Kapak watched him go and felt a bit better. He had come upon Spence a few years ago as a customer in Siren. He would come in a couple of nights a week, sit by himself, do some very slow drinking, and watch the dancers.

  It went on for at least three weeks before one of the managers pointed him out to Kapak. He had assigned a waitress to keep an eye on him while she worked, and try to figure out whether he was from the liquor license board or the FBI or the local police. Kapak had to protect his clubs. Nearly every day there were couriers coming in with cash that needed to be deposited in bank accounts and then returned in the form of checks from the Kapak Enterprises Corporation. If there was a man coming in alone night after night who seemed to be intelligent and who never seemed to drink too much or let his eyes linger too long on the dancers, he had to be identified and cleared.

  The waitress reported to the manager that the man said his name was Richard Cane. One of the other waitresses served him during the daylight lull and reported that he had a mild Southern accent. Kapak’s English was nearly perfect after thirty years in the country, but he wasn’t capable of placing regional accents unless they were extreme. And he doubted that the waitress could have heard Spence so clearly, even during the day, unless the music was turned off.

  He kept coming, spoke politely, bought enough drinks to keep the waitresses happy, and drank few enough of them to keep the bouncers happy. The problem was that to the manager and to Kapak, he seemed to be the ideal cop.

  A moment of clarity finally came, as Kapak had assumed it would. A man walked in the door while Spence was at his table. The way Ray the manager described it, Spence was like a hunting dog in point. He didn’t make a move, just became abnormally still and looked at the man.

  Once the new man stepped inside, his attention inevitably shifted away from the crowd around him to the girl working the brass pole on the nearest stage. He was drawn inward, walking closer to her until it happened. Spence came for him. One moment Spence was at his table, and the next he was about eight feet from the man and moving toward him. The man caught motion in the corner of his eye, looked, and saw him.

  The new man was tall, and he was wearing a pair of cowboy boots that made him look taller. But the second his eyes focused on Spence’s face, he began to shrink down to a crouch and back up. Neither man made any attempt to speak. There was no threat or explanation, just motion, as though the two had both known exactly what they would do if they ever met. Spence advanced, and the new man did his best to get out and away.

  The man got out ahead of Spence and sprinted for a car parked at the far end of the lot. Ray made it outside with the two doormen, thinking he was about to see a fight. Instead he saw Spence step out, watch the man leap into his car and drive off, then get into his own car and drive after him.

  There was nothing in the newspapers the next day that might be a mention of what had happened. There wasn’t anything all week. It took about two weeks before the report appeared. A man’s body had been found in a parked car in the hills above Tujunga. It had been driven about a hundred yards up a narrow, winding dirt road that led onto a parcel of undeveloped land rarely visited by a real estate agent working for the company that owned it. The agent who found the car could see that the victim had been shot once through the forehead.

  Spence had not returned to Siren. But now Manco Kapak’s curiosity had been stimulated. He and the manager studied the security tapes from the cameras mounted outside the building. Eventually he found a tape of Spence getting out of his car in the parking lot, brought it up to full magnification, and read the license number. Kapak went to the mini-mall where one of his minor businesses, Money Today, had its office. The company granted short-term loans that came due on the borrower’s next payday. He asked his clerk to run a skip-trace based on the license number. After a half hour, he had the name Richard Spence and an address.

  Kapak took both Gaffney brothers with him to Spence’s apartment. He knocked on the door, and when Spence opened it, he asked if he could come in and talk. He made sure Spence saw the others before he and Spence went inside and closed the door. He told Spence that he knew he had killed the man in the abandoned car.

  Spence didn’t argue with him or seem concerned. He said simply, “I can put you down and get out of here before your men know what happened.” He paused. “I also know that you’ve got bagmen coming into your clubs every day with money that you mix in with your receipts.”

  Kapak said, “You’re smart and observant. I hope you’re not going to leave town.”

  “I haven’t decided.”

  “You want a job?”

  “Not if it’s killing people for you.”

  “No,” Kapak said. “I’ve never wanted anybody killed and don’t now. But if you work with me, you’re my friend and brother. If an enemy comes for one of us, we do what’s necessary.”

  That was the beginning of an understanding between them that had held for six years. Kapak had kept Spence close to him whenever he went to the clubs or other businesses. Spence was not a bodyguard, but a brother-in-arms, and sometimes a surrogate. Kapak trusted in Spence’s strength and courage because he had killed at least one enemy. Half of their unspoken understanding was that Spence would be able to kill if the need arose. The other half was that Kapak would never ask him to do anything but choose Kapak’s life over an enemy’s when the time came.

  Kapak sat in his living room and looked out the French doors into the tranquil, fern-shaded garden outside. Was this the time and the enemy? Having an understanding with Spence was like carrying a hand grenade. He had to be sure, because he wasn’t going to get to use it twice.

  15

  JIMMY GAFFNEY HAD TO DRIVE in the morning traffic, because his brother, Jerry, still had not gone to pick up his car from the police impound lot. Jerry was anticipating a time-consuming and irritating interview before the police let him have his car.

  Jerry stared out the window at the steep slopes to the right and left above the road. The thick foliage seemed to grow in the shadowy, cool canyon wherever it wasn’t lopped off. It would have overrun the road in two weeks if it weren’t for the twenty-four-hour traffic. Everything in southern California seemed to grow instantly when there was water and to turn brown in a day when there wasn’t.

  Jimmy steered the curves on Laurel Canyon like an unskilled race car driver. “This is bear country,” he said.

  “This?” said Jerry. “You’re crazy.”

  “I’m not. It was in the paper that one of the very best places in the whole country to hunt grizzlies was Laurel Canyon.”

  “Could you be more full of shit? There isn’t one grizzly bear in the whole state at this moment.”

  “I said ‘was.’ I don’t mean now, you idiot. They said this was around 1860 or so. This canyon, right where we are, was full of bears. You can sort of feel where they must have been—right on those shady spots along the sides of the hills. Right up where you cross Mulholland there’s a place where water just seeps out of the hillside and trickles across the road. That would probably be the spring that fed the stream in dry weather.”

  “Jesus, Jimmy. These are bears that got shot a hundred and fifty years ago.”

  “Places are what they are. Just because some people came and shot all the bears and changed the canyon into a
n unofficial freeway doesn’t make it any less bear country.”

  They came out of the shade of the canyon into the bright glare of Sunset and headed west toward the clubs where they had met the two girls who knew Joe Carver. “Keep your eyes open,” said Jerry. “We’re getting into the part of town where Carver used to go—Carver country. We could easily stumble on the bastard and end this whole problem. He won’t be wearing a mask today.”

  “We’d be better off if he was wearing one.”

  “What?”

  “Well, neither of us has really seen Carver.”

  “I saw him from a distance the night he was chucking two-ton Hummers at us with a crane.”

  “You wouldn’t recognize him, though.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “I was just thinking. A mask makes you stand out. So at the bank, Carver must have known everybody there would know it was him. The mask says, ‘I’m Joe Carver and I’m robbing you.’ So why wear a mask at all?”

  “How the hell do I know what that deranged shitweasel might have been thinking when he went out to pull an armed robbery? He was with this madwoman who opened fire on us. Maybe he didn’t want her to see his face. Ever think of that?”

  “Jerry, we’ve both met a lot of peculiar girls over the years. Did you ever meet any who would go anywhere with a man without ever seeing his face?”

  “I don’t know. There are girls who will talk to somebody online and then agree to meet him someplace without seeing him first. What about them?”

  “Think he met her online and said, ‘I love long walks by the beach, candlelit dinners, and discharging firearms at Jerry Gaffney’s fat Irish ass’?”

  “This isn’t about me,” Jerry said. “It’s about Manco Kapak. Carver has it stuck in his head that Kapak is his enemy, and he’s concentrating on getting him in every way possible.”

  “I don’t know. It just seems to me that it doesn’t make sense that this guy in the mask is Carver. He let Kapak see his face when he broke in, and that was to prove he wasn’t the one who robbed him the first time. Why wear a mask now?”