Sparkle (17 page)

“It really works,” she said. “Even when your messes are man-sized!”

The singers started singing, “

Shiny Goooold…” “Shiny Gold,” the announcer said. “That’s what I call clean!

Chapter 24

Monday

Eddie woke and sat up in the early dark. Jolie’s birthday.

His head was clear. He knew what his next step was supposed to be.

Unfortunately, there was a huge glitch. Sparkle Cleaners had a job today.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. The job would just have to wait. Joe would probably get upset, but Eddie’s priorities were clear. It wasn’t that his work for Sparkle Cleaners wasn’t important, it was just that what he had to do now was absolutely vital, completely unprecedented, and would require all the skills he could muster.

Doing what he knew he had to do wasn’t Eddie’s most daunting challenge. That, theoretically at least, was fairly easy once he’d made up his mind. The hard part was in not doing all the things he normally did; entering uncharted territory would have been much more manageable if it didn’t require leaving familiar territory behind.

First, there wasn’t time this morning to clean the basement. Even as he told himself that wasn’t going to be a problem, he found himself holding the carpet sweeper.

He stood still and took deep calm breaths until he was able to put it away, then quietly walked up to the kitchen. He swerved only slightly toward the idle coffeemaker as he headed up to the second floor and into his brother’s room, where Joe was snoring loud. Eddie opened the top drawer, where Joe kept his socks and the envelope stuffed with cash, and pulled out a wad of the small bills. He noticed with pleasant fascination that his hand was doing something it had never done before. His hand looked good holding money. Responsible.

Eddie silently left the room, went downstairs to the kitchen, and walked out the back door.

Joe reached over to his nightstand, scrounged for a smoke and a light. He took a drag and looked over at his clock. It was 10:00 a.m.

“Shit!” He was late for work. Seriously late. A big job, too. Six head shots in a Chinese card room. Yuck. Joe didn’t even like to think about it. Then again, since it looked like it was probably a pro hit, the mess would at least most likely be fairly confined. In this business, you had to take your consolation wherever you found it. Maybe they could make up the lost time. Why the hell hadn’t Eddie woken him up? Had the excitement of the ball game and catching the ball made the poor guy oversleep?

Joe jumped up and hurried downstairs to the kitchen. The coffee wasn’t even on.

“Eddie? Eddie?” Joe practically slid down the stairs to the basement. His head hurt too much to stomp.

“Eddie? We’re late for work, bro!”

What the hell? Eddie’s couch was made up; everything was as it should be. But Eddie was gone. Joe tore through the small house shouting his brother’s name, but Eddie was nowhere inside.

Maybe he got another strange impulse the way he did at the game yesterday, Joe thought. Maybe he went by himself to the store. Damn! He knew we had to work today.

Joe threw on his jacket and rushed out the door. He hopped in the van and sped to Mrs. Kim’s store, four blocks away. Should he call someone? The cops? He realized Detective Bjorgeson would probably laugh at him and make him feel stupid, and Detective Louis would take it too seriously and and he’d end up feeling like an ass when Eddie showed up. Either way he’d be screwed.

It took less than five minutes to get to Mrs. Kim’s, the little corner store where he usually bought his cigarettes and beer. Eddie regularly walked there by himself to pick up his Sparkle, which she stocked especially for him. It was the one outing Joe let him make on his own.

Joe lurched the van to a stop in the middle of the mostly residential street, hoping Eddie had decided he needed milk for Joe’s coffee or something—even though there was a whole routine around Eddie going to the store that involved Joe calling ahead to let Mrs. Kim know he was coming.

He ran into the store, looking around quickly. Damn it! Eddie wasn’t there.

“Morning, Joe.” Mrs. Kim had her back turned and was going straight for the Pall Malls. She turned around and laid a pack on the counter. “You see Eddie on the TV last night?” she asked.

“What?”

“Yeah, they showed him making that catch on the sports news. Channel 5. I couldn’t believe it.”

“No. God, no. I mean, listen, Mrs. Kim. Have you seen Eddie this morning?” Joe words tumbled out less than coherently.

“No, haven’t seen him for a few days. Is everything all right?”

Joe pulled out a card and gave it to her. “Please call me if he shows up.”

“Sure, Joe. You want your cigarettes?” But Joe was out the door before she finished the sentence. She dropped his card into the trash. She knew their number; Joe gave her one nearly every time he came in.

In the van, Joe dialed a number without thinking. He reached into his breast pocket for a smoke. Only a couple left. He was driving badly. Detective Louis answered on the first ring.

“Joe, I was just talking about you. Did you see Eddie on the news last night? Wow. That was one hell of a catch—”

Joe could hear Pinky Bjorgeson saying something in the background.

“Pinky says to tell you Eddie’s in the wrong business, man. You should send him to tryouts next spring. Now that he’s famous—”

Joe cut him off. “I need a favor, Detective. Could you call the Red Lotus and ask if we can reschedule their cleanup for tomorrow?”

A horn honked. Joe flipped off the driver.

“Excuse me? You think I’m your business manager now, huh? So… what kind of a cut do I—”

“It’s not f-f-funny,” Joe stammered.

“What is it, Joe?” Louis was instantly serious. “Is everything—”

Joe cut him off again. “I know it’s not your frigging—” He’d laid himself wide open. “Damn it, Eddie was gone when I got up this morning.”

“Oh,” Louis said. “Shit.”

“That’s what I s-s-said. I have no idea where the hell he is. I’m driving around trying to find him.”

“Is there anything I can do? You want me to put out word to keep an eye out for him? It’s too early to do anything official, but I could—”

“Absolutely n-n-not,” Joe stammered. “No. It’s not like that. It’s just…he’s just been acting kind of weird lately.” He kept his voice as level as humanly possible. “I just don’t feel like… I just don’t think I can call the client. That’s all. Would you call them for me?”

“Okay, Joe. I’ll call them. Will you let me know when you find him?”

“Tell them we’ll be there tomorrow morning at the absolute latest, okay?”

“Okay. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do. Seriously.”

Joe didn’t know what else to do, so he drove home. A hopeful thought crossed his mind: Maybe Eddie was back there, wondering where the hell he was.

Joe hit the curb, jumped out of the van, and jogged all around the house.

Then it came to him.

Eddie had wanted to go to the zoo alone on Saturday. And Eddie had a way of hanging on to things until he got what he wanted.

It wasn’t like him to miss work, though. That was way out of line. It didn’t seem like something Eddie would do. Where are you, Eddie?

Standing in front of the house, Joe dialed Jolie’s number.

She answered immediately. She was sitting at her little desk in the zoo office, a bunch of Mylar birthday balloons tied to her chair.

“Jolie, you haven’t…seen Eddie this morning, have you?” he said.

“No, I haven’t. Why? Is everything okay?”

Joe had to think for a minute about what he wanted to say. The last thing he wanted to do was let an outsider—especially someone with a connection, however tenuous, to the State—know there was a problem.

“No…I mean yes. Everything’s okay. No problem. But he might come to the zoo. He probably won’t. But he might.”

“You think so? Of course I’ll call you immediately if he shows up, Joe. Are you worried?”

“No…not at all.” Joe was working hard to sound casual.

“Okay.” Jolie sounded unsure. “Are you sure? Is there anything else I can do?”

“No, that’s it. Just give me a ring if he shows up. Thanks.” Joe hung up before she could say anything else. “Shit,” he said.

Jolie put down the phone. Mark walked up behind her.

“Hey, birthday girl,” he said. “Happy birthday. I have good news.”

Jolie turned around. She wasn’t smiling.

“What’s up?” Mark said. “Is everything all right?”

“It’s Eddie.” The words came out before she had a chance to think about them.

“What about him?”

“His brother can’t find him.”

“Oh no.” Mark did his best to sound concerned. “I was going to tell you…the state—”

“Can we let everyone know to watch for him in case he comes here?”

Jolie asked.

“What? Why would he come here on a Monday?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You know,” Mark said, seriously, “I hate to bring this up again, but this is exactly the kind of thing I was concerned about.”

“Don’t even go there, Mark. He’s probably not coming here. And he could get hurt.”

Mark turned and walked away. “That’s possible,” he said under his breath.

Joe lit his last cigarette and paced in front of the house, wondering what to do next. He didn’t think Eddie would go to the zoo. But what other explanation could there be? There wasn’t a game today. Ball games, zoo, Mrs. Kim’s store, the supermarket, a couple of restaurants, and work: That pretty much covered Eddie’s bases.

This is bullshit, Joe thought. Total bullshit. But he was afraid to get mad at Eddie because something bad might have happened to him.

He had to do something. Standing around waiting was too frustrating. Maybe he should call Detective Louis back and let him put out the word. Yeah, right. Or maybe I should just poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick.

A thought crossed his mind. Joe ran into the house, dashed upstairs to his room, and fished madly through the pockets of a pair of pants on the floor.

There it was. The card LaVonne had written her number on. She’d said she wanted to be his friend. Right now, he needed one.

LaVonne was drinking coffee and reading the Post-Intelligencer. She’d driven over to Vonelle’s earlier and taken Anton to school to help her out and spend a little time with the boy. Now she was relaxing and enjoying what was basically her one day off. She didn’t like to answer the phone before she finished her morning routine, so she didn’t. But the phone rang again. And again.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” she sighed, after about five minutes of persistent ringing. “This better be good.”

“Hey, LaVonne.”

She was taken aback to hear Joe’s voice on the line. She’d expected him to call her eventually, but not this soon. And not first thing in the morning. She would have pegged him for an 11:00 p.m. c all, after his second or third beer. But she was excited to hear his voice on the other end of the line.

“That was fast,” she said, getting ready to give him a piece of her mind.

“I need a favor, LaVonne.” Joe stumbled through the words. “Eddie’s not here. I woke up and he wasn’t anywhere. I’m slightly c-c-concerned, and I was wondering if you could come over and hang out here in case he comes home. So I can drive around and look for him.”

LaVonne was up and heading to her closet halfway through Joe’s stammering request. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she said. As she hung up, she noticed herself in a mirror. I sure know how to pick ’em.

Poor kid was probably tired of Joe hovering over his every move. Joe was a bit of a drama queen. She’d have to work on that.

Chapter 25

When LaVonne showed up at the house, Joe was pacing the sidewalk in front, biting his nails.

“The door’s…unlocked,” he said. “I’m just going to go, all right?”

“Get going.”

“Call me if he shows up, okay?”

“You know I will,” LaVonne said.

“You have my number?”

“You gave it to me when you smashed my car, remember?”

Joe winced. “Well, then…okay. I should go.” He didn’t move. “Thanks. Thank you.”

He looks like a scared kid. “I’m fine, Joe. Just go and find Eddie.”

Joe’s head was swimming. He drove around the block three times before he realized he wasn’t paying attention to what was outside the window. He drove around once more, carefully scanning both sides of the street.

He drove every route he could think of: all over the neighborhood, to Mrs. Kim’s again, to Safeway, around and around, forcing himself to pay attention and stay alert.

After driving for nearly an hour, he started spacing out again. There was something hypnotic about the driving, the fear, and the powerful sense of not being able to do a damn thing about it. Why the hell hadn’t he set Eddie up with his own phone?

Eventually, he stopped to get smokes. They helped some. At least his hands weren’t shaking anymore.

Joe had several unconscious games he played with himself when he was driving. He’d hold his breath until a light changed, or until the odometer switched from one number to another, or until he saw a blue car. Whatever. After a couple of futile hours of smoking, holding his breath, and mumbling senseless notes into his recorder, Joe drove over to the zoo and checked Eddie’s bench. He drove down to Safeco Field and around it a few times.

LaVonne would usually run half a dozen errands on Monday. The Ravenna was closed all day. She loved having Mondays off because it was easy to get a lot done. Everyone else was going to work. Hanging out at Joe and Eddie’s was a sacrifice. Joe definitely owed her a favor after this one.

She couldn’t say no, though. She’d been thinking about Joe nonstop since he’d ushered her out so awkwardly two nights earlier. The whole situation—LaVonne’s entire outlook—had changed drastically in the past few days. She’d declared a complete moratorium on men that had lasted for years. It hadn’t been easy. LaVonne was a passionate woman, and she’d never been shy about her sexuality. But she’d been hurt by her sometimes wild behavior, and she’d decided with characteristic firmness to stay on her own until she was sure she could enter a new relationship on her own terms. She’d watched Joe carefully for months before deciding to give him a chance. Once she’d made her public declaration, there was no turning back. Getting pushed away had added an irresistible element of challenge. Though it was absolutely unconscious on Joe’s part, there was nothing he could have done to make her more determined than to send her on her way. That was how LaVonne was made; she’d spent her entire life fighting for what she wanted, until she was no longer very interested in things that came too easily. If it had been because Joe wasn’t attracted to her, it might have been different. The fact that he had pushed her away because he believed his situation was impossible made her determined to prove him wrong. And once she set her heart on something, LaVonne Wilson was a force to be reckoned with.