A Walk Among the Tombstones

by Lawrence Block

Page 43

 

  I called out to Yuri, told him to call her. "Luschka!" he cried. "Luschka, its Papa. Come to Papa!"

  She recognized the voice. Her brow contracted in concentration, as if she was struggling to make sense out of the syllables.

  I said, "In Russian, Yuri!"

  He replied with something that I certainly couldnt understand, but it evidently got through to Lucia. Her hands unclasped and she took a step, then another.

  I said, "Whats the matter with her hand?"

  "Nothing. "

  As she drew alongside me I reached for her hand. She snatched it away from me.

  There were two fingers missing.

  I stared at Callander. He looked almost apologetic. "Before we set the terms," he said, by way of explanation.

  There was another burst of Russian from Yuri, and now she was moving faster, but hardly running. She couldnt seem to manage more than an awkward shuffle, and I wasnt sure how long she could sustain even that much.

  But she stayed on her feet and kept going, and I stayed on mine and looked into the barrels of two handguns. The dark man stared silently at me, still a study in rage, while Callander watched the girl. He kept the gun pointed at me but he couldnt keep his eyes from turning to her, and I could feel how much he wanted to swing the gun, too, in her direction.

  "I liked her," he said. "She was nice. "

  * * *

  THE rest of it was easy. I opened the second suitcase and stepped back a few paces. Ray came forward to inspect the contents of both cases while his partner kept me covered. The bills got only a cursory examination. He flipped through half a dozen packs, but he didnt count any of them, or make a rough count of the number of packets. Nor did he spot the counterfeits, but I dont think anybody on earth would have.

  He closed the cases and fastened their clasps, then drew his gun again and stood aside while the dark-haired man came to pick up both of them, grunting with the effort. It was the first sound he had made in my presence.

  "Take one at a time," Callander said.

  "They aint heavy. "

  "Take one at a time. "

  "Dont tell me what to do, Ray," he said, but he put down one of the suitcases and went off with the other.

  He wasnt gone long, and neither Ray nor I spoke in his absence. When he got back he hefted the second case and pronounced it lighter than its fellow, as if this meant wed cheated him on the count.

  "Then it should be easier to carry," Callander said patiently. "Go ahead now. "

  "We oughta plug this cocksucker, Ray. "

  "Another time. "

  "Fucking dope-dealing cop. Oughta blow his head off. "

  When he had gone Callander said, "You promised us a week. Will you keep your word on that?"

  "Longer if I can. "

  "Im sorry about the finger. "

  "Fingers. "

  "As you prefer. Hes difficult to control. "

  I thought, But you were the one who used the wire on Pam.

  "I appreciate the weeks lead time," he went on. "I think its time to try a change of climate. I dont think Albert will want to come with me. "

  "Youll leave him here in New York?"

  "In a manner of speaking. "

  "How did you find him?"

  He smiled faintly at the question. "Oh," he said, "we found each other. People with specialized tastes often find each other like that. "

  It was an odd moment. I had the sense that I was talking to the person behind the mask, that our circumstances had provided a rare window of opportunity. I said, "May I ask you something?"

  "Go ahead. "

  "Why the women?"

  "Oh, my. Take a psychiatrist to answer that, wouldnt it? Something buried in my childhood, I suppose. Isnt that what it always turns out to be? Weaned too early or too late?"

  "Thats not what I meant. "

  "Oh?"

  "I dont care how you got that way. I just want to know why you do it. "

  "You think I have a choice?"

  "I dont know. Do you?"

  "Hmmm. Thats not so easy to answer. Excitement, power, just sheer intensity- words fail me. Do you know what I mean?"

  "No. "

  "Have you ever been on a roller coaster? Now I hate roller coasters, I havent been on one in years, I get sick to my stomach. But if I didnt hate roller coasters, if I loved them, then thats what it would be like. " He shrugged. "I told you. Words fail me. "

  "You dont sound like a monster. "

  "Why should I?"

  "What you do is monstrous. But you sound like a human being. How can you-"

  "Yes?"

  "How can you do it?"

  "Oh," he said. "Theyre not real. "

  "What?"

  "Theyre not real," he said. "The women. They arent real. Theyre toys, thats all. When you have a hamburger are you eating a cow? Of course not. Youre eating a hamburger. " A slight smile. "Walking down the street shes a woman. But once she gets in the truck thats over. Shes just body parts. "

  A chill ran the length of my spine. When that happened my late aunt Peg used to say a goose must have just walked over my grave. A funny expression, that. I wonder where it came from.

  "But do I have a choice? I think I do. Its not as though Im driven to act out every time the moon is full. I always have a choice, and I can choose not to do anything, and I do choose not to, and then one day I choose the other way.

  "So what kind of choice is it, really? I can postpone it, but then the time comes when I dont want to postpone it any longer. And postponing just makes it sweeter, anyway. Maybe thats why I do it. I read that maturity consists of the ability to defer gratification, but I dont know if this is what they had in mind. "

  He looked to be on the point of further revelation, and then something shifted within him and the window of opportunity slammed shut. Whatever real self Id been talking to ducked back behind its protective body armor. "Why arent you afraid?" he asked, petulant. "Ive got a gun on you and you act like its a water pistol. "

  "Theres a high-powered rifle trained on you. You wouldnt get a step. "

  "No, but what good would it do you? Youd think you would be scared. Are you a brave man?"

  "No. "

  "Well, Im not going to shoot. And let Albert keep everything? No, I dont think so. But I think its time for me to melt into the shadows. Turn around, start walking back toward your friends. "

  "All right. "

  "Theres no third man with a rifle. Did you think there was?"

  "I wasnt sure. "

  "You knew there wasnt. Thats all right. You got the girl and we got the money. It all worked out. "

  "Yes. "

  "Dont try to follow me. "

  "I wont. "

  "No, I know you wont. "

  He didnt say anything more, and I thought he had slipped away. I kept walking, and when Id gone a dozen steps he called after me.

  "Im sorry about the fingers," he said. "It was an accident. "

  Chapter 22

  "You quiet," TJ said.

  I was driving Kenans Buick. As soon as Lucia Landau had reached her fathers side, he had scooped her up in his arms and slung her over his shoulder and hurried back to his car, with Dani and Pavel taking off after him. "I told him not to wait around," Kenan had said. "Kid needed a doctor. Hes got somebody lives in the neighborhood, guyll come to the house. "

  So that had left two cars for the four of us, and when we reached them Kenan tossed me the Buicks keys and said he would ride with his brother. "Come on out to Bay Ridge," he said. "Well send out for pizza or something. Then Ill run you two home. "

  We were stopped at a traffic light when TJ told me I was quiet, and I couldnt argue with that. Neither of us had said a word since we got in the car. I still hadnt shaken off the effect of the conversation with Callander. I said something to the effect that our activities had taken a lot out of me.

  "You was cool, though," he said. "Standin up there with those dudes.
"

  "Where were you? We thought you were back at the car. "

  He shook his head. "I circled around em. Thought maybe I could see this third man, one with the rifle. "

  "There wasnt any third man. "

  "Sure made him hard to see. What I did, I made a big circle around em and slipped out the place they came in. I found their car. "

  "How did you manage that?"

  "Wasnt hard. I seen it before, it was the same Honda again. I backed up against a pole an kept an eye on it an the dude without no jacket came hurrying out of the graveyard an threw a suitcase in the trunk. Then he turned around an ran back in again. "

  "He was going back for the other suitcase. "

  "I know, an I thought while hes gettin the second suitcase, I could just take the first one off his hands. Trunk was locked, but I could open it same way he did, pressin the release button in the glove compartment. Cause the car doors wasnt locked. "

  "Im glad you didnt try. "

  "Well, I coulda done it, but say he come back and the suitcase aint there, what he gonna do? Go back and shoot you, most likely. So I figured that wasnt too cool. "

  "Good thinking. "

  "Then I thought, if this heres a movie, what I do is slip in the back an hunker down tween the front an back seats. They be puttin the money in the trunk an sittin up front, so they aint even gone look in the back. Figured they go back to their house, or wherever they gone go, an when we got there I just slip out an call you up an tell you where Im at. But then I thought, TJ, this aint no movie, an you too young to die. "

  "Im glad you figured that out. "

  " Sides, maybe you dont be at that same number, an then what do I do? So I wait, and he come back with the second suitcase, throw it in the trunk, an get in the car. An the other one, one who made the phone call, he come an get behind the wheel. And they drive off, an I slip back into the cemetery an catch up with everybody. Cemeterys weird, man. I can see havin a stone, tells whos underneath it, but some of em has these little houses an all, fancier than they had when they alive. Would you want somethin like that?"

  "No. "

  "Me neither. Just a little stone, dont say nothin on it, but TJ. "

  "No dates? No full name?"

  He shook his head. "Just TJ," he said. "An maybe my beeper number. "

  BACK on Colonial Road, Kenan got on the phone and tried to find a pizza place that was still open. He couldnt, but it didnt matter. Nobody was hungry.

  "We ought to be celebrating," he said. "We got the kid back, shes alive. Some celebration we got here. "

  "Its a draw," Peter said. "You dont celebrate a tie score. Nobody wins and nobody shoots off firecrackers. Game ends in a tie, it feels worse than losing. "

  "Itd feel a lot worse if the girl was dead," Kenan said.

  "Thats because this isnt a football game, its real. But you still cant celebrate, babe. The bad guys got away with the money. Does that makes you want to toss your hat in the air?"

  "Theyre not in the clear," I put in. "Itll take a day or two, thats all. But theyre not going anywhere. "