A Long Line of Dead Men

by Lawrence Block

Page 12

 

  And still a virgin. "He would never put it in," she said, "because he told me that would be a sin. "

  While she and I had not drawn any such line, in other respects our relationship echoed what shed had with Daddy. Although she had originally made the first overtures, giving me to understand that she was available to me, since then she had initiated nothing. She never called my home or office. I always called, asking if she felt like company, and she always told me to come over.

  We were never together outside her apartment. We never walked down the street side by side, or had a cup of coffee together. One night Elaine and I stopped at Armstrongs after a concert at Lincoln Center, and Elaine spotted Lisa in the crowd at the bar. It was Elaine who had introduced me to Lisa and her husband; the two women had met at a class at Hunter College. "Isnt that Lisa Holtzmann?" shed said, nodding toward the bar. I looked and agreed that it was, but neither of us suggested going over and saying hello.

  In her apartment, in her bed, I could shut out the world. It was as if those rooms on the twenty-eighth floor existed somehow outside of space and time. I would shuck off my life like a pair of boots and leave it at the door.

  I suppose it wasnt much of a stretch to say she was like a drug or a drink to me. Id thought fleetingly of calling the liquor store, reached for the phone, and called her instead. The connection wasnt usually that clearly wrought. I would find myself thinking of her, and wanting to be with her. Sometimes I resisted the impulse. Sometimes I didnt.

  I rarely went to her more than once a month, and during the winter thered been a stretch of almost three months when Id never even reached for the phone. Shortly after the first of the year I thought of her and thought, Well, thats over, feeling a curious mixture of sadness and relief. Early in February I called and went over there, and we were right back where wed started.

  Afterward we watched the sunset. It must have been around nine. The sunsets were coming later every day now, with less than a week to go until Midsummer Eve.

  She said, "Ive been working a lot. I got a great assignment, six covers from a paperback western series. "

  "Good for you. "

  "The hardest part is reading the books. Theyre what they call adult westerns. Do you know what those are?"

  "I could probably guess. "

  "You probably could. The hero doesnt say, Shucks, maam. "

  "What does he say?"

  "In the one I just finished he said, Why dont you get shed of that petticoat so I can eat that sweet little pussy of yours. "

  "How the West was won. "

  "Its shocking," she said, "because you think youre reading Hopalong Cassidy, and the next thing you know somebodys getting fisted behind the corral. The heros name is Cole Hardwick. Thats pretty straightforward, dont you think?"

  "One gets the point. "

  "Im doing a different western scene for each cover. The two constants are guns and cleavage. Oh, and Cole Hardwicks weathered face in the foreground, so youll know right away its another book in the series. " She extended a hand, ran her forefinger along my jaw. "I almost used this face," she said.

  "Oh?"

  "I started sketching, and what came out began to look curiously familiar. It was a great temptation to leave it. I wonder if youd ever have seen one of the books, and if youd have recognized yourself. "

  "I dont know. "

  "Anyway, I decided youre not right for it. Youre too urban, too streetwise. "

  "Too old. "

  "No, Hardwicks pretty grizzled himself. Look, there goes the sun. Will I ever get tired of sunsets? I hope not. "

  The show was even richer once the sun was down. A whole rainbow of colors stained the Jersey skyline.

  She said, "Ive been seeing somebody. "

  "Somebody nice, I hope. "

  "He seems nice. Hes an art director for an in-flight magazine. I showed him my book and he didnt have any work for me, but he called me the next day and took me to dinner. Hes nice-looking and fun to be with and he likes me. "

  "Thats great. "

  "Weve had four dates. Tomorrow were going to have an early dinner and see Eleven Months of Winter at Playwrights Horizon. And then I suppose Ill sleep with him. "

  "You havent yet?"

  "No. A couple of, you know, lingering kisses. " She clasped her hands in her lap and looked down at them. "When you called, my first thought was to tell you not to come over today. And then I said I didnt want to do anything, and how long did that last? Half a minute?"

  "Something like that. "

  "I wonder what it is with us. "

  "Ive wondered myself. "

  "What happens if I start sleeping with Peter? What will I say when you call?"

  "I dont know. "

  " Come on over, Ill say. And afterward Ill feel like a whore. "

  I didnt say anything.

  "I cant see myself sleeping with two men at once. I dont mean literally at the same time, I mean-"

  "I know what you mean. "

  "Having a relationship with Peter, and still going to bed with you. I cant see myself doing that. But I cant imagine saying no to you, either. "

  "Daddy stuff?"

  "Oh, I suppose so. When you kissed me there was a split second when I could taste liquor on your breath. Of course that was just memory. He never came to my room without liquor on his breath. Did I tell you he was in treatment?"

  "No. "

  "Well, Minnesota. Land of ten thousand lakes and twenty thousand alcoholism-treatment centers. The doctor was concerned that his liver was enlarged and sent him for treatment. My mother says hes not drinking anything now but a little beer with meals. I dont suppose that will last. "

  "It never does. "

  "Maybe his liverll blow up and hell die. Sometimes I wish that would happen. Does that shock you?"

  "No. "

  "And other times I want to pray for him. That hell stop drinking and, and, I dont know what. Get better, I guess. Be the father I always wanted. But maybe he already is the father I always wanted. Maybe he was all along. "

  "Maybe. "

  "Anyway, I dont know how to pray. Do you pray?"

  "Once in a while. Not very often, though. "

  "How do you do it?"

  "Mostly I ask for strength. "

  "Strength?"

  "To do something," I said, "or to get through something. That kind of strength. "

  "And do you get it?"

  "Yes," I said. "I generally do. "

  I showered before I left her place, then got to the basement of St. Pauls in time for the last half hour of the meeting. I raised my hand and said that Id thought of drinking earlier. "I was looking out the window at the liquor store across the street," I said, "and I thought how easy it would be to call them up and tell them to send over a bottle. Ive been sober a few years now, and I dont get thoughts like that very often, but Im still an alcoholic, and Ive stayed sober this long by not drinking and by coming here and talking about it. And Im glad Im sober, and Im glad Im here tonight. "

  Afterward I joined a few of the others at the Flame. I ate a hamburger and drank a glass of iced coffee. I got home a little before eleven.

  "You look a little wilted," Elaine said. "Thank God for air-conditioning, huh? Joe Durkin called, he wants you to call him in the morning. And you had a couple of other messages. I wrote them down. I hope your day was more exciting than mine. "

  "Things were pretty slow?"

  "Well, who wants to go gallery-hopping in this weather? But I think I have a commission for Ray Galindez. A woman in her seventies, a Buchenwald survivor. Her whole family died over there, and of course she doesnt have any pictures. She came over after the war with the clothes on her back and nothing else. She wants Ray to draw them all- her parents, her grandparents, her little sister. She lost everybody, Matt. "

  "Can she afford it?"

  "She could buy my whole store out of petty cash. She married another camp survivor and they opened a can
dy store. Her sons went into business together, they have a metal-casting business in Passaic. She has six grandchildren, three doctors and two lawyers. "

  "And one black sheep?"

  "The black sheep is at Harvard picking up an MBA before she moves back to Passaic and starts running the factory. Thats if she doesnt get sidetracked and decide to become the CEO of General Motors. "

  "You got the whole story, huh?"

  "Complete with pictures. Moneys no problem. Her only worry is that she wont be able to remember what they look like. I close my eyes and try to see them, and I dont see nothing. I told her to sit down with the artist and see what happens. She got a little teary at the thought. I tried to comfort her and I started to remember what an emotional experience it was when Ray did the sketch of my father. You should have seen us, honey. Two old broads with our arms around each other, crying about nothing. "

  "Youre really something. "

  "Me?"

  "I think youre wonderful. "

  "Im just another former whore," she said, "with a former heart of gold. "

  9

  Joe Durkin said, "Tell me something, because I find myself wondering. Just how did I get to be your rabbi?"

  "I suppose you went to yeshiva," I said, "and studied long and hard. "

  "You know," he said, "thats the kind of rabbi I should have been. Wear one of those little beanies, stroke my beard anytime Im stuck for an answer. I wonder if its too late for a career change. "

  "I think you have to be Jewish. "

  "I figured there was a catch. It sounded too good to be true. " He leaned all the way back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his neck. "Seriously, though," he said, "how was I chosen to be your friend in high places? Your personal tapeworm, deep in the bowels of the NYPD bureaucracy. "

  "Tapeworm," I said. "Jesus. "

  He grinned. "You like that? I thought you would. My other choice was your cats-paw, pulling your chestnuts out of the fire. I think I like the tapeworm better. "

  We were in the squad room at Midtown North. The desk next to Joes was empty. Two desks away, a heavyset black detective named Bellamy was interrogating a skinny Hispanic kid with a wispy goatee on his sharp chin. The kid had a cigarette going and Bellamy kept waving at the smoke, trying to keep it from drifting in his face.

  "Four homicide investigations," Durkin said. "Earliest ones twelve years ago, most recents this past February. Four men and a woman killed in different ways in widely separated parts of the city over a twelve-year period. What, I asked myself, could these cases possibly have in common? You want to know what I came up with?"

  "What?"

  "All of the victims are dead. Still dead, like General Franco. You remember that from Saturday Night Live?"

  "Vaguely. "

  " This just in from Madrid- Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. " He made a show of shuffling the papers on his desk. "Here we go. Carl Uhl, killed by a lover in his West Twenty-second Street apartment. Victim was gay, apartment bore evidence of an S-and-M lifestyle, victim was secured with handcuffs and leather restraints, blah blah blah, multiple stab wounds, genital and pectoral mutilation. You need all this?"