Fade Away (1996) (13 page)

No, he couldn't risk it. He'd have to stay away. He began to head to the Dyckman Street subway station when a voice stopped him.

'You looking for Sally?'

Myron turned. It was the homeless-looking man with the Thorn McAns from the diner. He sat on the pavement, his back leaning against the brick building. He had an empty plastic coffee cup in his hand. Panhandling.

'You know her?' Myron asked.

'She and I . . .' He winked and crossed his fingers. 'We met because of that damn phone, you know.'

'Really.'

Using the wall for support the man stood. His facial hair was whitish, not full enough to be a beard yet past the stage of a Miami Vice wanna-be. His long hair was black as coal. 'Sally was using my phone all the time. It pissed me off.'

'Your phone?'

'The pay phone in the back,' he said licking his lips. 'It's right by the back door. I hang out in the back alley a lot so I can hear it, you know? It's kind of like my business phone.' Myron couldn't guess his age. His face was boyish but leathered - from the passing years or hard living, Myron couldn't say. His grin was missing a couple of prominent teeth, reminding Myron of that beloved Christmas classic 'All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.' Such a nice song really. No toys, no Sega Genesis video game. The kid just wanted teeth. So selfless really.

'I used to have my own cellular,' the man continued. 'Two of them, as a matter of fact. But they got stolen. And the damn things are so unreliable, especially around the high buildings. And anyone can listen in with the right equipment. Me, I need to keep what I do secret, you see. Spies are everywhere. And they also give you brain tumors. The electrons or something. Brain tumors the size of beach balls.'

Myron kept his face blank. 'Uh huh.' Speaking of tossing the ball.

'So anyway Sally started using it, too. It pissed me off, you know? I mean, I'm a businessman. I got important calls coming in. I can't have the line tied up. Am I right?'

'As rain,' Myron said.

'See, I'm a Hollywood screenwriter.' He stuck out his hand. 'Norman Lowenstein.'

Myron tried to remember the fake name he used with Hector. 'Bernie Worley.'

'Nice to meet you, Bernie.'

'Do you know where Sally Guerro lives?'

'Sure. We used to be . . .' Norman Lowenstein crossed his fingers.

'So I heard. Could you tell me where she lives?'

Norman Lowenstein pursed his lips and used his pointer finger to scratch a spot near his throat. 'I'm not real good with addresses and stuff,' he said.

'But I could take you there.'

Myron wondered how big a waste of time this was going to be. 'Would you mind?'

'Sure, no problem. Let's go.'

'Which way?'

'The A train,' Norman said. 'Down to One Hundred Twenty-fifth Street.'

They walked toward the subway.

'You go to the movies much, Bernie?' Norman asked.

'Much as the next guy, I guess.'

'Let me tell you something about movie-making,' he began, growing more animated. 'It's not all glamour and glitz. It's a dog-eat-dog business like no other, making dreams for people. All the back-stabbing, all that money, all that fame and attention ... it makes people act funny, you know? I got this screenplay with Paramount right now. They're talking to Willis about it. Bruce Willis. He's really interested.'

'Good luck with it,' Myron said.

Norman beamed. 'Thanks, Bernie, that's real nice of you. I mean it. Real nice. I'd like to tell you what my flick is about, but well, my hands are tied.

You know how it is. Hollywood and all the theft out there. The studio wants it kept hush-hush.'

'I understand,' Myron said.

I trust you, Bernie, it's not that. But the studios insist. I can't blame them really. They got to protect their interests, right?'

'Right.'

'It's an action-adventure flick, that much I can tell you. But with heart too, you know? Not just a shoot-em-up. Harrison Ford wanted in, but he's too old. I guess Willis is okay. He's not my first choice, but what can you do?'

'Uh huh.'

One Twenty-fifth Street was not the nicest stop in the city. It was safe enough during the day, Myron surmised, but the fact that he was now carrying a gun made him feel a tad more secure. Myron did not like packing heat' and rarely did so. It was not that Myron was particularly squeamish; it had more to do with comfort. The shoulder holster dug into his armpit and made it itch like he was wearing a tweed condom. But after last night's soiree with Camouflage Pants and Brick Wall, it would be foolhardy to walk around unarmed.

'Which way?' Myron asked.

'Downtown.'

They headed south on Broadway. Norman regaled him with tales of Plywood. The ins and outs. Myron nodded and kept walking. The farther south they headed, the better the area became. They passed the familiar iron gates of Columbia University, then turned left. 'It's right up here,' Norman said, 'Toward the middle of the block.'

The street was lined with low-rise apartments that were mostly used by Columbia's grad students and professors. Strange, Myron thought, that a diner waitress would live here. But then again nothing else about her involvement in all this made sense - why should where she lived? If she lived here at all, and not, say, with Bruce Willis in Hollywood.

Norman interrupted his thoughts. 'You're trying to help her, right?'

'What?'

Norman stopped walking. He was less animated now. 'All that stuff about being from the phone company. That was all crap, right?'

Myron said nothing.

'Look,' he said, putting his hand on Myron's forearm, 'Hector is a good man. He came to this country with nothing. He works his ass off in that diner. He and his wife and son - they slave there every day. No days off. And every day he's scared someone's going to take it all away from him. All that worry ... it clouds the thinking, you know? Me, I got nothing to lose so I'm not afraid of anything. Makes it easier to see some stuff. Know what I mean?'

Myron gave a slight nod.

Norman's bright eyes dimmed as a bit of reality swept through him.

Myron looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. He made his eyes stop sweeping by him with barely a notice of age or height or even species. Myron realized that behind the lies and self-delusion lay the dreams of any man, the hopes and wants and needs that are the sole reserve of the human race.

'I'm worried about Sally,' Norman went on. 'Maybe that's clouding my thinking. But I know she wouldn't just up and leave without saying goodbye to me. Sally wouldn't do that.' He stopped, met Myron's eyes with his own. 'You're not from the phone company, are you?'

'No, I'm not.'

'You want to help her?'

'Yes,' Myron said. I want to help her.'

He nodded and pointed. 'In here. Apartment two E.'

Myron walked up the stoop while Norman stayed on the street level.

He pressed the black button reading 2E. No one answered. No surprise there. He tried the entrance door, but it was locked. You had to be buzzed in.

'You better stay there,' he told Norman. Norman nodded, understanding.

These buzzer-protected doors were mild deterrents to crime, but their true purpose was to prevent vagrants from coming in and setting up camp in the lobby. Myron would just wait. Eventually an occupant would leave or enter the building. While said occupant opened the door, Myron would enter as though he belonged. No one would question a man dressed in khakis and a button-down BD Baggies shirt. If Norman stood next to him, however, that same occupant might react differently.

Myron moved down two steps. When he saw two young women approach the door from the inside, he slapped his pockets as though looking for keys. Then he walked purposefully up to the door, smiled, and waited for them to push it open. He need not have bothered with the dramatics. The two young women - college students, Myron guessed - went through the portal without looking up or decelerating their oral activities.

Both were talking nonstop, neither listening. They paid absolutely no attention to him. Amazing restraint really. Of course from this angle they couldn't see his ass, so their self-control was not only admirable but somewhat understandable.

He looked back at Norman, who thankfully waved him off. 'You go yourself,' he said. 'I don't want to cause a problem.'

Myron let the door close.

The corridor was pretty much what he expected. It was painted off-white.

No stripes or designs. There were no wall-hangings other than a huge bulletin board that read like a schizophrenic political manifesto. Dozens of leaflets announced everything from a dance sponsored by the Native American Gay and Lesbian Society to poetry readings by a group calling itself the Rush Limbaugh Review. Ah, the college life.

He ascended a stairway lit by two bare bulbs. All this walking and stair climbing were starting to take a toll on his bad knee. The joint tightened up like a rusted hinge. Myron felt himself dragging the leg behind him. He used the railing for support and wondered what the knee would be like when he reached arthritis age.

The floor plan of the building was far from symmetrical. Doors seemed to be placed in the wall as though at random. Off in a corner, a good distance from the other apartments, Myron found the door marked 2E. The positioning made the apartment look like an afterthought, as if someone had spotted some extra space in the back and decided to add an extra room or two. Myron knocked. No answer. No surprise. He checked the corridor.

No one in sight. He was thankful that Norman was not here because he wouldn't want someone to witness him breaking in.

Myron was not great at the lock-picking game. He had learned a bit over the years, but picking locks was a bit like playing a video game. You work at it enough, and eventually you move up levels. Myron hadn't worked at it.

He didn't like it. He really didn't have much natural talent for it. In most cases, he relied on Win to handle the mechanical stuff, like Barney used to do on Mission: Impossible.

He examined the door and felt his heart sink. Even for New York the dead bolts were nothing short of impressive. Three of them stacked intimidatingly from six inches above the knob to six inches below the top frame. Top of the line stuff. Brand new, judging by the gleam and lack of scratches. This was a tad odd. Was Sally/Carla the extracautious type, or was there a more aberrant reason for such security? Good question. Myron looked at the locks again. Win would have enjoyed the challenge; Myron knew that any effort he made would be fruitless.

He debated kicking in the door when he noticed something. He moved closer and squinted into the door crack. Again something struck him as being odd. The dead bolts were not engaged. Why buy all these expensive locks and not use them? He tried the knob. It was locked, but that one would be easy to get through with the loid card.

He took out the card. He couldn't remember the last time he had used it.

It looked pristine. Maybe never. He jammed it into the opening. Despite being an old lock it still took Myron almost five minutes to find the right spot to push the lock back. He gripped the knob. The door began to swing open.

It was open barely six inches when the odor attacked.

The bloodcurdling stench popped out into the hallway like pressurized gas. Myron felt his stomach dive and swoop. He gagged a little and felt a weight on his chest. He knew the smell, and dread filled him. He searched his pockets for a handkerchief and came up empty. He blocked his nose and mouth with the crook of his elbow, as if he were doing Bela Lugosi in Dracula. He didn't want to go in. He wasn't good at this type of thing. He knew that whatever image lay behind the door would stay with him, would haunt his nights and too often his days too. It would stay with him like a dear friend, tapping him on the shoulder every once in a while when he thought he was alone and at peace.

He pushed the door all the way open. The rancid smell permeated his meager protection. He tried to breathe through his mouth, but the thought of what he was sucking in made that option unbearable.

Fortunately, he didn't have to travel far to find the source of the odor.

'Whoa, Bolitar, new cologne?'

'Funny, Dimonte.'

NYPD homicide detective Roland Dimonte shook his head. 'Christ, what a stink.' He was out of uniform, but you wouldn't ever call him 'plainclothes.' He wore a green silk shirt and jeans that were too tight and too dark blue. The bottoms were tucked into purple snakeskin boots; the color faded in and out with any angle change, like some psychedelic Hendrix poster from the sixties. Dimonte gnawed on a toothpick, a habit he picked up, Myron surmised, when he spotted himself doing it in the mirror and decided it looked tough. 'You touch anything?' he asked.

'Just the doorknob,' Myron said. He had also checked the rest of the apartment to make sure there weren't any other gruesome surprises. There weren't.

'How did you get in?'

'The door was unlocked.'

'Really?' Dimonte raised an eyebrow and looked back at the door. 'The door is set to lock automatically when you close it.'

'Did I say unlocked? I meant, ajar.'

'Sure you did.' Dimonte did a bit more gnawing, shook his head. He ran his hand through greasy hair. Ringlets clung to his forehead, refusing to give ground. 'So who is she?'