The Whites: A Novel by Richard Price

Author:Richard Price [Price, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780805093995
Amazon: 0805093990
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: 2015-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

“Like I told you when I called, I would have been perfectly happy to come to you.”

“No problem,” Billy said.

Lazar had sounded like a wreck on the phone, like he needed to unburden himself, and Billy didn’t want him coming to the house and being subjected to the double-team tension of two freaked-out parents. He needed this guy to feel free to talk, and so he found himself in Lazar’s tiny home office in Sleepy Hollow, formerly the bedroom of his college-age daughter, the leftover floral-patterned wallpaper combining with the teacher’s visceral anxiety to shrink the already claustrophobic space to the size and feel of a sweatbox.

“So,” Billy willing himself to be cool, “now that I’m here . . .”

“Understand, I had no idea that you were a detective until you handed me your card yesterday.”

“No reason you should have.”

“This is kind of a long story.”

“How about we start with the punch line and work backwards?”

“Please, I need to tell it the way I need to tell it.” They were alone, Lazar’s wife and son watching TV one floor below, but he still seemed to feel the need to whisper. “Otherwise you’ll never understand.”

“Any way you want.”

Lazar stared at his hands, his kneecaps motoring.

“So,” Billy said.

“All right,” Lazar said, dropping his elbows to his knees. “All right . . . Last week?”

Lazar’s wife came into the room with a bowl of freshly made kale chips, her husband smiling at her with get-lost eyes. He waited for the sound of her retreating footsteps to fade before starting again.

“Last week? I had a few work meetings in Beacon, and I’m not really familiar with the town, but I was stuck there overnight and so purely out of boredom I took a walk and wound up wandering into a bar. Believe me, I hardly indulge, but I had a gin and tonic, and . . .”

“And . . .”

“Well, call me blind as a bat but I didn’t realize it was a gay bar until I ordered drink number two.”

“OK . . .”

“And I was so embarrassed that I just tabbed out and left.” Tabbed out, Billy thinking, not the expression of a fair-weather tippler.

“It’s just that when I was going out the door, I ran into my neighbor, one of my neighbors, Eric, from right up the block here, and when I saw him I was so flustered about coming out of that kind of place all I said was ‘Be careful in there, I think something fishy’s going on.’ And he said, ‘Thanks for the warning, I’ll stay on my toes.’”

“So this Eric . . .”

“Eric Salley. Understand, I’m a very tolerant individual. I have no problem with him or anyone else being gay.”

“Understood. So, this Eric Salley . . .”

“Is trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” When Lazar had difficulty answering, Billy added, “Is he making trouble for you?”

“No, not yet.”

“Maybe he’s tolerant, too.”

“There’s nothing for him to be tolerant about.”

“Understood.”

“Look, I teach at a Catholic school in a working-class city.”

“Right.”

“A rumor gets started .

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