Phantom Angel by David Handler

Author:David Handler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466865075
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER EIGHT

SHE WAS SITTING ON Mom’s office sofa in her cropped tank top and spandex shorts drinking a bottle of mineral water. Gus was sprawled next to her offering her his belly to rub, which he seldom does with a total stranger. Make that never.

Mom smiled at me warmly from behind her desk. “There, you see? I told you my Benji would be home soon.”

I gazed at Boso in silence as Mom’s window air conditioner racketed away. Boso gazed back at me, her haunted blue eyes narrowing.

It was dusk by now. I’d moved the Brougham from the garage near Lincoln Center to the one around the corner on Amsterdam where we usually keep it. I’d removed my Smith & Wesson from the glove compartment and tucked it into my daypack.

“Boso and I were just having a very interesting conversation about anatomy,” Mom added. “Did you know that giraffes and mice have the same exact number of—”

“Nineteen. We have seven. Yeah, I’m fully up to speed on that.”

“I totally thought you were kidding me,” Boso said, her words tumbling out nervously. “When you told me your mother used to be a pole dancer, I mean. And Rita’s gorgeous. I’d give anything to be that tall. I felt like a danged troll standing next to her.”

I looked at Mom. “And Rita is…?”

“Spending quality time with Myron.”

I sat in one of the chairs opposite Mom’s desk. I looked at Miss Jonquil Beausoleil of Ruston, Louisiana. Looked at her gym bag that was on the floor next to the sofa. Looked back up at her and said, “What are you doing here?”

“Hello to you, too. How’s your apple juice?”

“What are you doing here?” I repeated, louder this time.

“You gave me your card,” she said, stroking Gus’s belly. “Remember?”

“I do remember. I also remember that you tore it into pieces. So let’s try it one more time. What are you doing here?”

“I got scared when I heard that somebody shot Morrie,” she confessed, swallowing.

“Where were you when it happened?”

“At the big Ralph Lauren store on Madison Avenue. Two of the sales clerks were talking about it. It was all over the Internet, I guess. And I thought, like, what if I’m next?”

“Why would you be next?”

“I don’t know, okay? But right after it happened one of Little Joe’s flunkies, Paulie, called me on the disposable cell they gave me and he was, like, ‘Why are you so late getting back from the gym?’ When I told him I was at the Ralph Lauren store he said, ‘You didn’t tell us you were going there.’ And I was, like, ‘What am I, a prisoner?’ And he was, like, ‘Stay put. I’m sending someone to pick you up.’ I told him I’d just catch a cab.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Came straight here.”

“Say hello to our new client, Bunny,” Mom said brightly.

“How did you get here?”

“Benji, why are you asking me so many—?”

“Did you take a cab?”

“I walked. Across Central Park, then up Central Park West to 103rd.”

“That’s a mighty long walk in this heat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.