Michael Ridpath - Free To Trade

I debated whether to call off my dinner. I decided I should be safe if I took a taxi to and from the restaurant. There was nothing Joe could do in broad daylight right outside the hotel. So at half past seven, having showered and put on a new shirt, I made my way down to the lobby.

There was a group of people clustered round the entrance, waiting for taxis. The doorman was in the middle of the street blowing his whistle full-blast. But there were no empty taxis to be seen. It was still light, although the sun was glowing red, low over Central Park. I looked up and down the street. No sign of Joe. He definitely wasn't in the lobby either.

After ten minutes the doorman had only nabbed one taxi and there were still two people in front of me. Joe wasn't anywhere to be seen. I decided to walk over to Fifth Avenue and try my luck for a taxi there.

I had almost reached the avenue when I heard soft footsteps right behind me. I felt a sharp prick through the fabric of my suit. I shot up straight, arching my back, and turned my head slowly.

It was Joe, dressed like a jogger in a dark track suit. And he was fondling his favourite instrument. A knife.

'We're going for a walk in the park,' Joe said.

I looked up and down Fifth Avenue. A few people sauntered along the street, enjoying the evening, but none of them seemed obvious sources of help. New Yorkers knew the rule. If you see someone in trouble, ignore it, you might get hurt. Besides, it would take Joe less than a second to plunge his knife between my ribs. He knew how to use it.

So I did as he said. We crossed Fifth Avenue and walked down a bank of summer-burned grass towards the small boating lake. A boy of about ten was guiding his radio-controlled yacht across the water. His mother urged him to hurry up, concerned at the gathering gloom. There were still some people around, but they were all heading in the opposite direction to us, out of the park.

Joe's knife was hidden, but I knew it was there, only inches from my back.

'I told you to call the police off,' he hissed. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.

'There was nothing I could do,' I replied, somehow keeping my voice calm.

'Oh yeah? Why did you give them all that crap about me and Sally in the first place?' he said, prodding my back with the point of his knife. 'They've taken Sally away from me. And Jerry. It's not good for a man to be away from his wife and child. How do you feel about being responsible for that?'

I didn't say anything. I was glad that Sally had escaped Joe's beatings, and I was glad I was responsible for it. But it didn't seem a good idea to tell Joe that. Joe's voice was flat and toneless, but I imagined that this was the sort of thing that could get him pretty upset.

We were much deeper in the park now, and there were very few people around. We walked down towards a statue of an old Polish king charging towards a baseball cage. A broad field opened up to the north of it, with the tall buildings of Central Park West beyond.

I knew what Joe was planning to do. He was going to take me to the quietest, most inaccessible part of the park. Then he was going to kill me.

I had to get away.

Joe's grip on my arm wasn't very tight. But his other hand holding the knife was only inches from my ribs. I had to take the risk.

I snatched my arm away, sprung clear, and sprinted towards the field. I felt a rush of exhilaration as I realised there was no knife stuck in my back. But Joe was quick to follow me. 1 looked over my shoulder; he was only three yards behind. And he was closing. I pumped my legs harder. If I could only keep clear of him for the first hundred yards or so, I was sure I would outdistance him. I was still fast. But Joe was very fast. I glanced behind me, and saw him a yard closer. Not for the first time in my life, I cursed my lack of sprinting ability. I tried to force my legs to move harder, faster. No response. A couple of seconds later, I felt Joe's hands on my shoulders as he dived to pull me to the ground. I wriggled and twisted, but he soon had me pinned.

Two lovers fifty yards across the field stared at us as we struggled. Joe saw them too. Witnesses.

'Get up!' hissed Joe. He dragged me to my feet and propelled me into the woods to the south of the field. His grip on me was much tighter. I could feel the knife again.

We walked deeper into the trees. It was getting quite dark. Central Park is New York's playground. By day it is populated by joggers, cyclists, softball-players, sunbathers, roller-skaters, old ladies, children, and a host of other New Yorkers furiously pursuing their chosen passion. At dusk they all go home. At night the park is a playground for different types of people.

Shadows flitted silently between the trees. We passed groups of youths talking loudly, or sitting on benches, silently smoking. Men shuffled past, rolling their eyes and muttering to themselves. They were either crazy or drugged or both.

We walked deeper into the wooded section of the park. We followed narrow footpaths winding round large black rocks looming twenty feet above us in the twilight. The wind gently moved the trees and bushes, the undergrowth growing deeper and more tangled as the light failed. I completely lost my sense of direction. It was impossible to believe we were right in the middle of the city.

I began to think about dying. I thought about my mother. I thought it would be the last straw for her. Faced with the death of her son as well as her husband, she would withdraw from reality altogether.

I thought about Cathy. Would she care about my death? To my surprise, I desperately wanted to believe that she would. And I thought about Debbie.

'Did you kill Debbie?' I asked.

'No,' said Joe. 'But that doesn't mean I won't kill you. Killing people used to be my job. I am good at it.'

I believed him. 'Then who did kill her?'

'You never give up, do you?'

We walked on. We stumbled down a winding path between two large overhanging boulders, surrounded by thick trees on all sides.

'Stop here,' he said.

I could just make out the empty lake through the trees in the evening gloom. Apart from the occasional rustle of the wind creeping through the branches overhead, all was silent. A quiet, lonely place to die.

'Move back,' said Joe.

I was facing him with the boulders behind me. I did as he said, my ankles brushing against some brambles, until I felt the rocks, warmed by the day's heat, against my back.

Joe moved closer, his dead eyes locked on mine. The whites shone with a yellow gleam in the twilight. A thin smile played over his face. He was perfectly balanced, the knife held lightly in front of him. This time I was not going to get away.

Suddenly, I heard soft footsteps on the pathway behind Joe. He grabbed my arm and placed his knife firmly against my back. A group of five or six black kids emerged from the gloom. They were tall and athletic, making little sound as they rolled along in their expensive air-cushioned basketball shoes.

They walked up to us. One of them laughed. 'Yo, tooti-frooti! Having fun, guys?'

A tall kid with strange patterns carefully carved into his close-cropped hair came up to me very close. 'Hey man, do you get high?'

He was menacing, but less menacing than Joe behind me. I saw my chance. 'Yes, sure,' I said. 'What have you got?'

I turned to look at Joe. He was still holding my arm, but his knife was hidden. I guessed he would rather not stab me there and then. The kids looked dangerous, and there was no knowing what weapons teenagers in Manhattan might carry in Central Park at night.

I walked into the middle of the group, trying to put a yard between me and Joe.

'I got some ice here, just a dime,' said the tall kid. He had a lopsided grin on his face. He didn't really believe that we had come all this way into the park just to buy crack from him, but he was willing to play along.