Little Odessa Page 8

  She straightened the settings at an empty table so he wouldn’t see her trying not to laugh. Dead of Night, she remembered, and felt the flesh creep along her arms. “Where?” she demanded.

  “Thirty-four.”

  She tucked herself inside her halter as she stormed across the floor. Alone at a booth for six was a man in a herringbone jacket with a burgundy fez cocked over an ear, like a straggler from a Shriner’s convention. “Sir,” she said, coming up behind him. “That’s not a souvenir.”

  The fez dipped over a plate of pelmini, then bobbed up again.

  “Sir?”

  A voice she’d heard before told her, “Take a load off.”

  “Who—?”

  “Join me, Kate?”

  “Oh!”

  “You still shake up a storm,” Nathan Metrevelli said.

  “Thank you, Nathan, that’s kind.”

  “In a way,” he agreed. “Looking good, too.”

  “So are you,” Kate said.

  “I’ve been working out.”

  “Working, Nathan? Will wonders never cease?”

  Nathan chewed thoughtfully and then sipped from a cup of mint tea. He looked betrayed. “Working out, Kate. Going to the gym every day. Schlepping weights.”

  “Why don’t you just try working. It’s lots easier.”

  He unbuttoned his jacket and flexed a stringy bicep under her nose. “A body like this requires plenty of upkeep,” he said as if he could mean it. “I’d have to move pianos, become a stevedore.”

  “So what? It’s honest work.”

  “Now there’s a contradiction in terms.”

  “For you, Nathan. Only for you.” She picked at the pelmini with a spoon from a vacant setting. “What’s new?” she asked. “Besides your body, I mean.”

  “I’ve given up dealing, Kate.”

  She put down her spoon. “What’s the gag?”

  “You were right all along,” he said. “I don’t see any potential for growth.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Not dealing. It’s a case of addition by subtraction. A shady element’s been moving into the industry, guys with sloping foreheads and big guns. I tried carrying one for a while, but my jacket didn’t lay right and it made my ribs sore. And what chance does a greenhorn stand against those cowboys? So now I hang out in the gym.”

  “That’s an improvement.”

  “Not really,” he said and went back to the pelmini.

  Kate snatched the fez by its tassel and swung it onto her lap. “Aren’t you going to ask about me?”

  “I heard,” he told her. “That’s why I dropped by. I had to see for myself. You don’t dress like most big shots, but you run a great place. Any future in it?”

  “Not that I can see.”

  “So where do you go from here?” he asked. “Forty-second Street again?”

  “I’d sooner starve.”

  “That’s no answer.”

  “Just trying to get used to the idea,” she said.

  “We could do it together. I’m taking an apartment over the boardwalk.”

  “What about Phyllis?”

  “She wants to get married. Have kids, if they’re girls. Since I quit dealing, she thinks I got religion. If I stay with her, I’m afraid I will.”

  “You could do worse,” Kate said.

  “You don’t know Phyllis.”

  “I know you, Nathan.”

  “It would be different—” he said before something in his own voice stopped him.

  “Would it?” Kate asked.

  “This time,” he began again more deliberately and, he hoped, more believably, “it will work.”

  “But will you?”

  As if he couldn’t bring himself to say it, Nathan nodded. Kate thought she saw him shiver, too. “Is it a big place?” she asked.

  “Four rooms,” he said breezily. “A sublet with a two-year lease.”

  “The problem,” she said as though she’d thought it out a long time before, “is that whenever we try to live together I never have enough space. I think we’d be cramped.”

  “I won’t be in your way.”

  “I love you, Nathan, and after all these years of trying not to I don’t see much hope I’ll stop, God help me. But you know me too well, you know how to bring out something that makes me want to kick the person I am when I’m with you. It’s a neat trick. I can’t tell if you do it on purpose and I doubt you can either. I promised myself I wouldn’t take it any more.”

  “A simple no will do.”

  “That was a yes,” Kate said. “A qualified one.”

  Nathan’s fork clattered to the floor. “Say that again.”

  “You caught me at the worst possible moment. The only kind I seem to have any more. I need you, damn it.”

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  “But I won’t move back to Brooklyn,” she insisted. “Will you come to my place, tonight?”

  “I haven’t moved out of Phyllis’s yet. She’ll kill me when she finds out where I was.”

  Kate’s lips toyed with a cold smile. “Stay with me, then. I’ll protect you—”

  “That’s cute, Kate. But so is Phyllis. She’ll put my stuff out on the street.”

  “—if you’ll protect me.”

  “Phyllis has no grudge against you. She says nice things about you sometimes.”

  “I’m not talking about Phyllis. The other night a burglar broke in where I’m living and scared me out of my wits. A wild man. It’s a miracle he didn’t attack me. He says he’s coming back, Nathan.” She reached across the table and pinched his bicep. “I’d feel better having you around.”

  Nathan took his arm off the table. “You said I depress you.”

  “We’ll hardly ever see each other.” She smiled. “I’m here all the time.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.” He gave the idea more thought. “Is it comfortable?”

  “Elegant is more like it.”

  “What about noise? Is there any construction on the block?”

  Kate shook her head. “You can sleep as late as you like.”

  “It might not be too bad.” He pushed his chair back, reaching for his wallet. “Great meal,” he said. “Do you take rubber?”

  “You mean plastic.”

  “I brought checks,” he explained.

  “Leave a nice tip,” she told him, motioning for a busboy. “You bruised Malik’s feelings when you swiped his hat. Dinner’s on me.”

  They walked uptown along dark streets alive with coffee shops and fruit stands that never shut, the roar of the IRT piped through broken sidewalks. Clinging to his elbow, Kate steered him onto Seventy-sixth. When they came to the brownstone she pressed the key in his hand and stood on the next to bottom step until he unlocked the door and went in. Then she hurried past him and put the light on in the anteroom. Without a word Nathan took in as much as there was to see.

  “Say something,” she told him.

  “Say what? I can’t even make a joke about what you’re doing in a place like this. If I did, you’d slap my face.”

  Kate came near and reddened his cheek with the flat of her hand.

  “Ouch,” Nathan said. “What’s that for?”

  “For what you’re thinking, whatever it is.” She took back the key and dropped it in his pocket. “That’s for you, too,” she said and then led him on a quick tour of the house. “Well,” she asked in the salon, “do the accommodations suit you?”

  “I can’t say till I’ve seen the bedroom.”

  Kate walked stiffly to the doorway. “Yours, Nathan? Or mine?”

  He got up from the piano bench and followed her to the stairs. “You’re putting me on,” he said uneasily, “aren’t you?”

  They went down two flights before she said, “All these closets and I’ve only found one blanket. I guess we’ll have to share it.”

  “That was good, Kate. You had me faked out.”

 
; She let him kiss her. It had been a long time since she’d slept with him, longer than they’d ever gone before. He felt almost like a stranger. Oddly, she thought, it was the familiarity of his touch that excited her most about him, knowing that he understood exactly how to please her because he’d trained her desires himself. Well, she decided quickly, a stranger could be exciting, too. “It’s like you said,” she whispered, backing him into the bedroom, “what goes around, comes around.”

  “I did?”

  The first call came at five-thirty. A woman with an accent that sounded like she’d learned to talk from machines was saying that Tel Aviv would be phoning. Kate went to the mirror to brush her hair, to the kitchen to put up a pot of coffee, back to bed to wait. Nathan didn’t stir. The second call woke her, too.

  “Ekaterina … did I get you up?”

  “Me …?” She stopped, waiting for her head to clear. “No.”

  “Good.” He was laughing. “Let me tell you why I called and then you can go back to sleep. Those friends of mine …”

  She rested an elbow on the nightstand, nearly tipping over a cup of stale coffee. She moved it out of the way and leaned back, careful not to disturb Nathan. “What friends?”

  “The movie guys,” Howard said. “You remember. They put an idea in my head. A good one, I think.”

  “I’m not too keen on show business right now.”

  “Forget about that. I want you to stay at the Knights, to help run it for as long as I have it. I’m offering a piece of the action. Do you hear?”

  Kate dug her knuckles into her temples. “What?”

  “I met with them here just an hour ago and they still haven’t stopped raving about the time they had. These guys are tough cookies, real momzers, If you made them even smile, the rest of my customers must be in heaven. I can’t afford to lose you.”

  Kate yawned.

  “What do you say? I’m offering a fifteen percent interest with no equity from you. Giving it away.”

  “That’s very kind of you, Howard,” she said. “What’s the weather like over there?”

  “You’re still disappointed, aren’t you, that the part fell through? Don’t be. It may not be as glamorous, but this is an excellent opportunity. A partnership in a Broadway restaurant, at your age? If you want my honest opinion, this is better for you, more realistic.”

  Kate reached around the recorder and pulled the phone into bed. Nathan opened his eyes, then shut them again. “I’m not sure,” she said.

  “If you aren’t, who is?”

  “What I mean is, it’s a wonderful offer. Really, Howard, you’re too generous. Only I’m not so certain I’m the reliable businesswoman you think I am. There’s been all sorts of trouble lately. You wouldn’t believe it.”

  “At the Knights?” he said slowly, afraid to ask. “Do I still have a restaurant to give pieces away?”

  “Not there. We’re still doing well.”

  “Then there is no trouble.” He sounded relieved, about two tons lighter.

  Kate didn’t. “No … it’s, you see, there was this … I don’t know how to say it, but—”

  “Have you any idea what this call is costing?” he interrupted. “It can wait until I get home. Now, are you telling me yes or no?”

  Am I telling him about Isaac?

  “Kate?”

  Why spoil what was left of his vacation? “It sounds good to me.”

  As if it made a difference. As if he’d let her near the place once he found out.

  “Then give yourself another raise immediately. Say to four hundred dollars a week?”

  “If you think it’s okay …”

  “I do,” he said.

  “I’m tired, Howard. I want to go back to sleep.”

  “One other thing. I won’t be back till after the fifteenth. You do know what the fifteenth means?”

  Kate shook her head, then said, “Uh-uh.”

  “All over the West Side, everybody gets taken care of on the fifteenth. The police, the health inspectors …”

  “It was like that at the Starlight, too.”

  “Of course it was. Now listen carefully, this is very important what I’m trusting you with. On the chance I got held over, I prepared everything before I left. The money is in a hiding place built into the stairs between the first and second floors.”

  “Jesus,” Kate said, “now you tell—”

  “Do you hear? Untack the runner and the three middle steps are actually one piece of wood you can pull out with two fingers. Inside you’ll find some packages wrapped in paper. These are of value only to myself. So don’t touch. On top are two sealed envelopes. The thicker one is for the police. Remember to have both of them at the Knights on the fifteenth.”

  “How will I know who to give them to?”

  “These people are not shy. They will introduce themselves.”

  “This is a hell of a way to run our business, Howard.”

  “It’s the only way. That’s why it is essential you do it this one time. I’ll be home by the twentieth. After that, I’ll handle it.”

  “So soon?”

  “Should I stay longer?” Amused rather than insulted. “You sound disappointed.”

  “I was getting to like it here,” she said. “I guess I’ll have to start looking for a place of my own.”

  “Will you?” Howard asked. “I’m disappointed also.”

  She hung up. As she put the phone back, she saw Nathan watching her out of one eye. “Who was that?” he asked.

  “Howard … Mr. Ormont. The man whose place this is, my boss at the Arabian Knights.”

  Nathan squinted at the luminous face of an alarm clock. “What did he want at six A.M.?”

  “He asked me if I’d like a piece of the restaurant,” Kate said. “Can you believe it?”

  Nathan opened the other eye. “How does he expect you to pay? Dance it off?”

  “He’s giving it to me, Nathan.”

  “No one gives anything away.”

  “But he is. No strings attached.”

  “Is it worth anything?”

  “We’re clearing about fifty-five hundred a week and he’s letting me have fifteen percent. What does that come to?”

  His eyes were closing again. “Dunno,” he mumbled.

  “It’s a lot, though. More than I’ll ever see doing anything else.”

  Nathan put an arm around her. “Marry me, Kate?” he said, and began snoring.

  The blue car was double-parked with the engine running when she came out of the club. It moved slowly into traffic, sidling up to her at the corner. The driver whistled softly and she pretended not to hear. Bucyk liked that. He tapped the horn and her eyes stayed at the red light. He liked that, too. “Need a lift?” he finally said.

  She stepped quickly into the crosswalk without looking either way.

  “Kate?”

  “Oh,” she said and backed onto the curb. “It’s you. Are you driving tonight?”

  “I gave that up when I got the new job. Didn’t need to any more.”

  She went to the passenger’s side and tossed a leather bag onto the seat, pulled the door shut after her. A taxi swung around them as the light turned red again.

  “We’ve each of us put one lousy job behind us,” he said. “That’s progress, isn’t it?”

  Kate looked like she was debating it.

  “I thought you said you had a guy riding shotgun,” he scolded.

  She made an empty gesture. “You didn’t have to do this. I shouldn’t be taking up so much of your time.”

  He headed uptown along Broadway with the needle glued to thirty, making all the lights just as they turned amber. “You’re not taking any I can use. I worked nights so many years, I don’t know how to sleep till the game shows come on the air. Before you called, I was mostly studying the various test patterns.”

  “Thanks anyway.”

  He followed Seventy-sixth to her block and parked at the fire hydrant. Then he opened his wallet for
a laminated card which he placed on the dash over the steering wheel.

  “What’s that?” Kate asked.

  “Shows you’re a member of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. You keep it in plain sight wherever you’re parked in the city, you never get a ticket. Want one? You might say I stocked up.”

  “I don’t have a car.”

  “That’s right,” he said awkwardly.

  “Well, thanks again,” she said. “And good night. Maybe he’ll call tomorrow.”

  Bucyk touched her elbow, slid his hand along the fine arm to her shoulder. “I’d like to come upstairs,” he said.

  “But it’s nearly four o’clock.”

  “And Mom’s up, that right …? Like last time?”

  “She might as well be,” Kate said. “She knows everything I do.”

  “Then we won’t do anything she hasn’t heard about before.”

  “We won’t do anything at all.” Kate’s nostrils flared. He didn’t like that. “What are you getting at anyway?”

  “I’m trying to get at you,” Bucyk said. “What gives?”

  “Not me, Detective. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Be agreeable.”

  “I’m sorry if you misunderstood my intentions,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to lead you on.”

  “You didn’t.”

  Backing out of the car she said, “I’ll be home all afternoon if you want to stop by for your recorder.” She paused, then shut the door. “After five, my boyfriend can let you in.”

  “You never said … I didn’t know you had one.”

  “It was news to me, too.” She smiled.

  Some of the slack went out of his eyes. “One thing has nothing to do with the other. I’m still gonna help you find the guy who has your dog.”

  “You’re sure you want to?”

  Bucyk nodded. “Like I told you, I owe you one.”

  7

  AT CODDLED CANINES ON Madison Avenue a salesclerk was trying to interest Harry Lema in a Gestalt dewoofer for his dog.

  “Which means what?” Harry asked.

  “Let me show you,” the clerk said, removing a heavy choker from a display case and attempting to cinch it around Harry’s arm. Harry jerked away, his hands balled reflexively into fists. “Nothing personal,” he said, quickly showing the startled clerk open palms, “but I have a thing about being restrained.”