The Next(23)

"To be a tool," I said.

"So you would be open to noticing anything without me prejudicing you in any way."

"I don't understand."

"What would anybody be doing with a wire cutter at three in the morning?"

"I don't know."

"Nor do I. But you might have missed that detail had I told you what to keep an eye on."

I had been micromanaged without even knowing it. He felt compelled to  withhold information for my own good. Did he think I was five years old?

"We're going to figure out the meaning of the wire cutter," he assured, "Trust me."

He walked over to my front door and pointed down at the floor. For the  first time I noticed a large black trash bag, bulging in the middle and  tied closed at the neck.

"This," he presented, "is the Layworth's trash."

The fuck?

"I stole it from their basement this morning when the doorman received a  dry cleaning delivery and left the back door open. With my shoe in the  crack."

"Why would you want the Layworth's trash?"

"There might be a clue in it that proves they killed Nathan and Ruben."

Holy shit!

All that worrying about Marzoli thinking I'm a psychotic conspiracy  theorist, and the son of a bitch had been on board before he'd even  entered my apartment.

Mother loving shit!





Chapter Fifteen

"May I ask you something?"

Marzoli paused, but he wasn't really requiring an answer.

Oh boy, here it comes. Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I going to get back together with Johanna?

As we poured over the contents of the Layworth's trash spread out on the  wood floor, he continued without even looking up from the shredded  credit card bills he'd been sifting through, "Were Nathan's nipples  erect when you cleaned them?"

By now his casual dropping of non sequiturs was a game I felt privileged  to play, but my first reaction was always teeth-gritting impatience.

I recalled Nathan's face as I cleaned his bleeding nipple. He was high,  to be sure, but he was also shivering. At the time, I associated the  cause as the temperature dropping due to his window being open. But when  I think of it, Nathan's nipples were not as stiff as they ought to have  been had he truly been cold.

"No, they weren't."

"If the room wasn't cold, why was he shivering?"

"Withdrawal?"

"No. You said he was high, so he was actively using."

"Then what?"

"Fright?"

Could Nathan have been taking drugs to self-medicate his fear away? But  what was he frightened of? And how was his open window connected to it?

Had Mr. Perfect threatened his life? Or Mrs. Perfect? And if so, why?

As I overturned yogurt-stained Pottery Barn catalogues on the floor, I  caught Marzoli eyeing me. Not just eyeing. He was penetrating my brain  through my pupils, keying into my slightest notions, cueing off my  slightest confusion, and following the paths of thought like a blind  man's stick navigating a busy crosswalk. He grinned that ridiculously  scrumptious smile. This brilliant bastard was enjoying this process. I  was grateful to have changed back into baggy sweatpants to partially  conceal just how much I was too.         

     



 

"If Nathan had fucked around with Mr. Layworth, and he'd threatened to  expose the affair to Mrs. Layworth, and Mr. Layworth grew violent … "

"Why would Nathan threaten to do that?"

"Because he'd fallen in love with Mr. Layworth? Because Layworth threatened to end it?"

"You really think it was love?"

"Or," I hesitated, "blackmail?"

Blackmail seemed the logical step for a club DJ slash E-dealer who lived  somewhat above his means in this building. Had he been dropped off as a  kid in Manhattan with only a handful of cash, he'd have developed some  resentment for the type of lord and master Layworth represented. It made  sense to me that he would have wanted Layworth for his debit card PIN  number rather than for a romantic ride holding hands in a horse-drawn  carriage in Central Park.

"Either way," I continued, "Mr. Layworth felt threatened and retaliated."

"But Nathan escapes. Is that the night you cleaned his bleeding nipple?"

"If he was shivering because he was scared shitless, it's possible."

"But Nathan actually wasn't safe. Layworth had to make sure Nathan kept  his mouth shut, and a strung-out street kid had nothing to gain by  staying zipped."

"So, Layworth slices his throat and dumps him into the river?"

Marzoli scrutinized me and asked, "Can you buy all that?"

I shook my head. "Nobody kills to keep closeted in Manhattan."

Marzoli grinned, which told me that obviously men did kill to remain in  the closet in Manhattan. He picked up a folded, coffee-stained light  blue paper.

"He chaired the Tea Party Fundamentalist Coalition," he said, handing me  an invitation to a Salt Lake City conference. "And he received six  hundred thousand a year to do so. That man had no choice but to remain  in the closet. Also, he was dismissed from partnership at the law firm  one year ago for suspected late night fondling of a paralegal. A male  paralegal. This was never proven, but he was asked for his voluntary  resignation."

None of that information was on the stained light blue paper.

Jesus Christ.

How long had he been investigating the Layworths? I'd only offered my  knowledge of Ruben's involvement with the Perfects minutes ago. How  could he possibly have known this information unless they had been his  target long before he met me two days ago? How much more had he elected  not to tell me?

My heart hit the floor like a fumbled bowling ball.

Was the only reason for his being here in my apartment because of its  vantage point to the Layworth's apartment? Was I just a tool? All those  prolonged looks, the stroking of my neck, the care he took when he found  me on the fire escape, and all that wicked teasing about the state of  my apartment. Was he buttering me up because my window was across the  courtyard from his suspect? If Mrs. Abraham and I had switched  apartments, would he be flirting with her now instead of me?

"What changed just now?" he asked, looking directly into my sockets.

"Nothing changed," I responded, pretending to be transfixed on a set of  broken glasses I'd found after turning over a coffee-stained AT&T  phone bill.

What a goddam chump I am!

"What changed?" he insisted.

"Can't you get the same view of the Layworths' apartment from Ruben's apartment? Don't you have the key?"

Marzoli held me in a steady gaze. I couldn't look at him, but I could  feel him measuring and discarding a series of responses to my cunty  passive-aggressive rejection. I hated myself for being an ass to him. I  hated myself for hating myself for being an ass to him.

I glanced at Marzoli. The prevailing emotion on his face was hurt, with a large infusion of confusion.

For real? How the fuck could a sucker like me injure a tough guy like him?

The pregnant moment would not end.

Suddenly my phone rang.

I reached for it, gratefully.

California number again. I would have ignored it except I couldn't bear the moment it was interrupting one millisecond longer.

"Hello?"

"Eh … hello … .um … .This is Frank."

"Who?"

"Frank Palmer."

My brother's neighbor in the trailer park. Over the years, I'd  communicated with him almost exclusively via email regarding one subject  only-the state of my brother's health after an overdose. My sluggish  brain worked hard to bridge his name to the sound of his voice.

"What's happening?" I asked with impudent cheerfulness.

"Eh … I … I have your brother's belongings. His books. Records. Photos. Some  clothes. Sergeant Duamarel from the station brought it by. He  figured … um … I guess I was the closest anyone was to Paul. So … eh … "         

     



 

He paused, expecting me to take the initiative to speak and assume the  lead in this conversation. But I didn't. I was watching Marzoli putting  his jacket on and shuffling toward the door.

" … uhh," poor Palmer continued awkwardly, "if you want them … "

"I don't."

"Okay," he said, followed by a silence as he registered my reply.

Mr. Palmer lived in a small world whose clock ran half the speed of  every other clock. He was in his eighties and stood outside all things  mainstream. He did not smile a lot, but he seemed innately kind. Or  merely soft spoken, which I'd interpreted as kindness. Either way, since  the first day when Grandfather led Paul and I past his trailer to the  woods holding rifles, he seemed to cast a concerned, caring, watchful  look our way.

With his jacket on, Marzoli started gathering the trash on the floor.

I could stop him.

Palmer continued, "Your brother was writing a book. Did ya know that? A series of books. For kids."

"Didn't know."

"Never told me he was writing anything either. But I'm holding one of 'em: The Brothers Save Jessie."