Lawrence Block - A Walk Among the Tombstones

”Not for a safe-deposit box. I can’t get it all out of my checking account because I just paid the bills the other day.”

”So write a check and cover it Monday.”

”This isn’t the kind of expense where the people will take a check.”

”Oh, right.” There was a pause. ”I don’t know what to tell you, Matt. I could come up with a couple of hundred, but I haven’t got anything like two grand.”

”Doesn’t Kenan have it in the safe?”

”Probably a lot more than that, but I can’t get in there. You don’t give a junkie the combination to your safe, not even if he’s your brother. Not unless you’re crazy.”

I didn’t say anything.

”I’m not bitter,” he said. ”I’m just stating a fact. No reason on earth for me to have the combination to the safe. I got to tell you, I’m glad I don’t have it. I wouldn’t trust myself with it.”

”You’re clean and sober now, Pete. What’s it been, a year and a half?”

”I’m still a drunk and a junkie, man. You know the difference between the two? A drunk will steal your wallet.”

”And a junkie?”

”Oh, a junkie’ll steal your wallet, too. And then he’ll help you look for it.”

I almost asked Pete if he wanted to go to that Chelsea meeting again, but something made me let the moment pass. Maybe I remembered that I wasn’t his sponsor, and that it was not a position for which I wanted to volunteer.

I called Elaine and asked her how she was fixed for cash. ”Come on over,” she said. ”I’ve got a house full of money.”

She had fifteen hundred in fifties and hundreds and said she could get more from the ATM, but no more than $500 a day. I took twelve hundred so I wouldn’t leave her broke. That, added to what I had in my wallet and what I could get from my own ATM, would be plenty.

I told her what I needed the money for and she thought the whole thing was fascinating. ”But is it safe?” she wanted to know. ”It’s obviously illegal, but how illegal is it?”

”It’s worse than jaywalking. Computer trespass is a felony, and so is computer tampering, and I have a feeling the Kongs will be committing both of them tomorrow night. I’ll be aiding and abetting them, and I’ve already committed criminal solicitation. I’ll tell you, you can’t turn around these days without trampling all over the penal law.”

”But you think it’s worth it?”

”I think so.”

”Because they’re just kids. You wouldn’t want to get them in trouble.”

”I wouldn’t want to get myself in trouble, either. And they run this particular risk all the time. At least they’re getting paid for it.”

”How much are you going to give them?”

”Five hundred apiece.”

She whistled. ”That’s not bad for a night’s work.”

”No, it’s not, and if they’d come up with a figure it would probably have been a lot less. They went blank when I asked them how much they wanted, so I suggested five hundred each. That seemed fine to them. They’re middle-class kids, I don’t think they’re hurting for money. I have a feeling I could have talked them into doing the job for free.”

”By appealing to their better nature.”

”And their desire to be in on something exciting. But I didn’t want to do that. Why shouldn’t they have the dough? I’d have been willing to pay more than that to some phone-company employee if I could have figured out who to bribe. But I couldn’t find anybody who’d admit what I wanted was technologically possible. Why not give it to the Kongs? It’s not my money, and Kenan Khoury says you can always afford to be generous.”

”And if he decides to bail out?”

”That doesn’t seem likely.”

”Unless, of course, he gets arrested going through customs wearing a vest full of powder.”

”I guess something like that could happen,” I said, ”but that would just mean I’d be out of pocket to the tune of a little under two grand, and I started out by taking ten thousand dollars from him a couple of weeks ago. That’s almost how long it’s been. It’ll be two weeks Monday.”

”What’s the matter?”

”Well, I haven’t accomplished very much in that amount of time. It seems as though — well, the hell with it, I’m doing what I can. Anyway, the point is that I can afford to take the chance that I won’t get reimbursed.”

”I suppose so.” She frowned. ”How do you get two thousand dollars? Say one-fifty for a hotel room, and a thousand for the two Kongs. How much Coca-Cola can two kids drink?”

”I drink Coke, too. And don’t forget TJ.”

”He drinks a lot of Coke?”

”All he wants. And he gets five hundred dollars.”

”For introducing you to the Kongs. I didn’t even think of that.”

”For introducing me to the Kongs, and for thinking of introducing me to the Kongs. They’re the perfect way to spirit information out of the phone company, and I never would have thought of looking for someone like that.”

”Well, you hear about computer hackers,” she said, ”but how would you find one? They don’t list them in the Yellow Pages. Matt, how old is TJ?”

”I don’t know.”

”You never asked him?”

”I never got a straight answer. I’d say fifteen or sixteen, and I don’t think I could be off by more than a year either way.”

”And he lives on the street? Where does he sleep?”

”He says he’s got a place. He’s never said where or with whom. One thing you learn on the street, you don’t want to be too quick to tell your business to people.”

”Or even your name. Does he know how much he’s getting?”

I shook my head. ”We haven’t discussed it.”

”He won’t be expecting that much, will he?”

”No, but why shouldn’t he have it?”

”I’m not disagreeing with you. I just wonder what he’s going to do with five hundred dollars.”

”Whatever he wants. At a quarter a shot, he could call me up two thousand times.”

”I guess,” she said. ”God, when I think of the different people we know. Danny Boy, Kali. Mick. TJ, the Kongs. Matt? Let’s not ever leave New York, okay?”

On Sundays Jim Faber and I usually have our weekly dinner at a Chinese restaurant, although we occasionally go somewhere else. I met him at six-thirty at our regular place, and a few minutes after seven he asked me if I had a train to catch. ”Because that’s the third time in the past fifteen minutes you looked at your watch.”

”I’m sorry,” I said. ”I didn’t realize it.”

”You anxious about something?”

”Well, there’s something I have to do later,” I said, ”but there’s plenty of time. I don’t have to be anywhere until eight-thirty.”

”I’ll be going to a meeting myself at eight-thirty, but I don’t suppose that’s what you’ve got scheduled.”

”No. I went to one this afternoon because I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit one in tonight.”

”This appointment of yours,” he said. ”You’re not nervous because you’re gonna be around booze, are you?”

”God, no. There won’t be anything stronger than Coca-Cola. Unless somebody picks up some Jolt.”

”Is that a new drug I don’t know about?”

”It’s a cola drink. Like Coke, but twice as much caffeine.”

”I don’t know if you can handle it.”

”I don’t know that I’m going to try. You want to know where I’m going after I leave here? I’m going to check into a hotel under a phony name and then I’m going to have three teenage boys up to my room.”

”Don’t tell me any more.”

”I won’t, because I wouldn’t want you to have foreknowledge of a felony.”

”You’re planning on committing a felony with these kids?”