George Chesbro: Two Songs This Archangel Sings

"Yo, brother."

"Mongo, where the hell are you?"

"Veil's place."

"What the hell are you doing there? You know, you just caught me; I was on my way out the door. Want to try and guess where I was going?"

"Garth, listen-"

"As a matter of fact, I was afraid I was going to be late for a very heavy lecture my brother is giving this morning to law enforcement people from all over the world. This brother of mine is supposed to be some kind of expert on serial murderers, which doesn't surprise me at all; loonies love him. Anyway, I'm very proud of this brother. There are a lot of cops from a lot of different places who arrived in town a few days early to see the sights, and I've been spending a lot of time getting drunk with them, bragging about my brother and telling them what a great speaker he is. By the way, do you plan to show up?"

"Just shut up and listen to me, Garth. This is more important."

"I'm listening," Garth said seriously. "Are you all right?"

"I'm all right, but I've been here all night and Veil hasn't shown up. I'm almost certain he took off after someone winged a shot at him; there's a bullet hole in one of his windows."

I paused for a moment, debating whether or not I should tell Garth now about the weapons Veil was undoubtedly carrying, decided that it would only cloud the more important issue. "I told you that he left his loft open, with all the lights on. It felt all wrong, and that's why I stuck around. I found the bullet hole this morning."

There was a pause, then: "Explain to me the connection."

"After I found the bullet hole, I started poking around the place. I got lucky and found a secret compartment. Inside, I found an oil painting and an envelope, addressed to me, with ten grand in cash inside."

This time there was a much longer pause. "Very strange, Mongo," Garth said at last. "Just like your friend."

"I want you to forget about the lecture; I'll give you a blow-by-blow description tonight, over steak and whiskey sours. I'll take care of that business, but I'd like you to go down to the station house and file a missing persons report on Veil Kendry. Now."

Garth thought about it. "It's too soon," he finally said. "And you're not a relative. You have no legal standing to-"

"I'm his friend. He's in trouble, Garth."

"Any signs of a struggle in the loft? Blood? Overturned furniture?"

"No," I replied reluctantly.

"Then what's the problem? It wouldn't be the first time somebody went out, left the lights on, and forgot to lock the door."

"You don't understand; you have to be here. I know he's in trouble."

"You say. Kendry doesn't get in trouble; he gives it to other people."

"I told you somebody took a shot at him. You don't seem to be taking that very seriously."

"Wrong. The problem is that you don't know for certain that somebody took a shot at him because you don't know how long that bullet hole has been there. Am I right?"

"Garth-!"

"Did you find the bullet, or another hole where it hit?"

"Garth, the loft's big as a Goddamn football field."

"The hole could have been plastered over, or covered with something. I take bullets most seriously-but remember that this is New York, and that area where Kendry lives is zooier than most. That bullet hole could have been there for months, even years. Now, do you want me to send a car to pick you up?"

"No," I answered curtly. I thought Garth was being totally unreasonable, not to mention callous, and it was beginning to make me angry. "I'm already downtown, and I can probably get there faster on my own. The shot had to have been fired sometime yesterday; it's why Veil left. Why don't you come down here? Maybe if you see-"

"Whoa, brother," Garth interrupted, impatience creeping into his voice. "You may think I'm turning off on this thing because I don't like Kendry."

"Are you, Garth?"

"Just stop and think a moment. You tell me nothing in the loft has been disturbed. The police can't go in there, and I can't file a missing persons report, just because your buddy didn't keep an appointment. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't be up there right now."

"What about the money, Garth? And the painting? I know this sounds crazy, but it occurs to me that it's almost as if he couldn't decide whether or not to ask for my help, so he left it all up to chance-first, whether I'd even notice that the door was open and come up to the loft, and then whether I'd find the things he left for me."

"You're right. It sounds crazy."

"Well, I did find those things."

"Only because you're outrageously nosy."

"The painting has to be some kind of clue."

"A clue to what?"

"Maybe to where he's gone, and why."

"And what is it that you think he wants you to do?" Garth sounded as if he were talking to a child.

"I don't know, Garth," I said, time pressure and frustration combining to squeeze my voice into a kind of plaintive whine. Garth thought I was being absurd, and in a way I could see his point. But he hadn't looked down into the secret compartment beneath the floor and seen the painting, or found the envelope with my name on it and ten thousand dollars inside; he hadn't seen the empty brackets or smelled the machine oil. "The only thing I can figure is that he may want me to search for him."

"Ah, yes, a little game of hide and seek. Are you listening to yourself? If Kendry wanted something from you, why wouldn't he just say so? Why play games?"

Of course, I didn't have an answer. "Garth, I just have this feeling."

"Get rid of it," Garth replied in a low, very serious tone. He paused, sighed heavily. "Mongo, my beloved brother, you think somebody snatched Kendry?"

"I didn't say that."

"Good, because it would take a battalion of men to do that, and that place would be torn apart. You listen to me carefully. Kendry never got in touch with you, and you haven't been hired to do anything. The university, on the other hand, pays you good money to play professor, and in a very short time you're supposed to deliver a very important lecture. Get your ass out of there."

"Garth, the envelope with the cash was addressed to me!"

"I don't care if it was addressed to Mary Poppins. It sounds to me like you just about had to tear the place apart to find it, which means that it doesn't belong to you. You're already trespassing; if you take anything out of there, some people might call you a burglar and a thief. Besides, you're the one who once told me that Kendry often drops out of sight for long periods of time."

"That's true, but he'd always let me know when he was leaving so that I wouldn't count on our Wednesday night workouts."

"So? This time he forgot."

"Garth-"

"Did he ever tell you where he was going?"

"No."

"You never asked?"

"Veil's a very private man."

"Right. This is the private man whose loft you're tearing up and looting while he's away taking care of some private business."

"Come on, Garth, be serious. At least stop being ridiculous. Why the hell would he leave without turning off the lights and locking the door?"

"You be serious. Kendry's a loony, Mongo. In fact, he's even loonier than you think he is."

The smell of machine oil was still in my nostrils, and something in Garth's voice-perhaps a warning-gave me pause. "Meaning what? Why is Veil even loonier than I think he is?"

"Never mind; he just is. Now turn off the lights and lock up that loft, brother, after you've put everything back exactly the way you found it. Later, after you've taken care of the other little item on your agenda for today, I want you to go home and write 'I will mind my own business' one hundred times on your blackboard."

"Veil's in serious trouble, Garth, and he needs my help. I know it."