their clubhouse if it was under siege. And there they were. Marc opened up the building's outside door and pulled Anton inside before he'd finished knocking.
'Did anybody follow you?' he asked anxiously.
'What? No.' As soon as they were in the office, Marc jerked his head, making faces at Ivan, who sat at his rolltop desk playing pinball on his computer as if he hadn't a trouble in the world.
'Hi, Andy,' he said without looking up.
'Did you hear it on the news?' Marc asked.
'You guys are some fuckups.'
Marc took Anton's arm and patted it. 'Oh, man, it's so good to see you. I was getting pretty worried about all this.'
'What's the matter with you, are you nuts? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in some lawyer's office working on a story?' Anton made a disgusted noise and paced to the other side of the room to examine the computer screen. 'What are you doing, Ivan?'
'So our lawyer came to our office. What's the big deal?'
'You don't get it. I'm not your lawyer anymore. This isn't another public-nuisance case.' Anton paced to the sofa. 'You've got to get organized.'
'How did you find out? Did it make the news?' Marc asked eagerly.
Anton stopped pacing and stared at him. 'No, it didn't make the news. There's a cop at my house.'
'Why? Do they think you had something to do with it?' Ivan looked up, surprised.
'You ruined my life!' Anton raged. 'I could kill you both.'
Marc nodded. 'You know, that's what I told Ivan. I told him there's been a tragedy here. We've got to show respect, close up. But you know Ivan, he does whatever he wants.'
'Fuck you,' Ivan replied, glued to the computer game.
Anton moved to the desk, bunching his fists. 'Marc, you ruined my life, you asshole. Get up. You've had this coming for a long time.'
'Oh, this is great. Let's see a fight.' Ivan grinned.
'See?' Marc said bitterly. 'See what I have to deal with every day? You think this is a picnic, huh? A girl dies, he doesn't give a shit.'
Ivan hit a few keys. His computer said, 'Good-bye, and have a nice day.' 'How do the police figure you in this?' he asked Anton.
'Because of you, you idiot. That girl came from here, died here. They're not stupid. They're going to figure it out. You better get a very good criminal lawyer.'
Ivan threw up his hands. 'Oh, come on, don't give me that shit. I'm not going to look guilty about something I had nothing to do with.'
'What are you talking about, looking guilty?' Marc cried. 'It was an accident.'
'Jesus Christ, you're responsible. I want to kill you,' Anton broke in.
Ivan shrugged. 'Oh come on, relax. The way I figure it, she wasn't feeling well. She stayed over. I guess she must have—'
'She was staying here?' Anton cried.
Ivan shrugged again, glanced at Marc. 'A crazy girl jumped out of the window.'
Anton glared at him. 'It isn't that simple. Questions are going to be asked. You were putting a lot of pressure on her to find out what she did with the baby. How do I know she wasn't pushed?'
'Hey, hey! Don't start that! Don't even think that.' Ivan jumped up from his desk and crossed the room. 'Don't start that.'
'What do you think, I'm stupid? You think the police are stupid? Who are you kidding? I'm so fucking mad at you I could—'
'What, you want to hit me? Go ahead, hit me.' Ivan jumped up and danced on his toes in front of Marc. Older, fatter, his stomach rolling over his belt, his dukes up.
'Oh, come on, you guys.' Marc moved in to push Ivan away. 'Come on, Anton, you don't mean this. Give me a hug. Huh? You're not mad, are you? Come on, we've seen worse than this before, right?'
'When are you going to wake up?' Anton cried. 'This is the worst. There's nothing worse than this. It's you I want to kill. You're supposed to be the sane one.'
'You see cops in here? They came; they looked around, they left. Don't worry about the cops. The girl was an illegal nothing. They don't care about this.
We got friends in the cops, don't we, Marc? Isn't your best friend a cop?'
'You ruined my life!' Anton cried. 'Who's going to pay me for this?'
'Now don't talk that way. It was an accident.' Marc rubbed his brother's shoulder. 'Nobody ruined anybody's life.'
Anton shook him off. 'What was an accident? The assault on my wife? That was an accident?'
Marc glanced at Ivan. 'Yeah, that was too bad.'
'She wasn't going to tell who did it. She wouldn't even tell me, you bastards. But now that the girl is dead, she's a different person. I wouldn't count on her keeping her mouth shut about anything. I'm fucked, understand? I don't get over this, and neither do you.' Anton punched the air. Marc stroked his shoulder. 'I hate you.'
'Her name was Lin,' Ivan said softly.
Anton ranted on. 'I don't give a shit. This was supposed to be so easy, a no-brainer. You knew a pregnant girl. Roe and I wanted a baby. And what do we have here—the biggest fuckup in history!'
'Hey, Heather didn't want him,' Marc interjected fiercely.
'Heather wanted him.' Anton pulled away from his brother and began punching the arm of the sofa. 'I'm going to get him now. Where is he?'
Marc and Ivan exchanged looks.
'Where is the baby? I'm not kidding. I'll put you both away for this. I swear.'
'We don't think it's a good idea,' Marc said.
'What do you mean it's not a good idea?'
'Let it go. The girl had a cousin. The cousin has the baby.' Marc looked embarrassed for the first time.
'It's funny, 'cause she didn't act like she had anybody.' Ivan glanced at him angrily. 'She was a scared little —'
Anton put up his hand. 'Don't tell me. I don't want to know this. You both disgust me.'
Ivan protested. 'Oh, no, this isn't me. This has somebody else's signature on it.'
'You always try to pin everything on somebody else. You won't take responsibility for anything. Damn it, you know I wouldn't hurt a fly,' Marc protested.
'Same old story,' Ivan rolled his eyes.
'Paternity is easily established these days, but I don't give a shit. I just want to know where my baby is,' Anton said.
'He's not yours anymore. We have to distance ourselves from this thing.' This from Marc.
'I have cops at my place going through my things. They think I'm a wife beater. A child stealer. I'm not going to let this go.'
'Face it, Heather isn't the baby's mother. The thing is, this girl came on to both of us. She wanted it, didn't she, Ivan? There was no victim here.'
Anton held up his hand. 'I don't want to hear this. I don't care.'
'It wasn't me. I like blonds,' Ivan said suddenly. 'And I can prove it.'
'I don't give a shit. Tell a lawyer, tell the judge. It's not my problem. Just tell me where the cousin lives.'
Marc looked uneasy. 'There's a little bit of a problem with that.'
'With you there's always a problem.' Anton punched the air.
'Listen to me, this
a problem. She came from around here, but she's married to this well-off Chink. They're connected to the Mob.'
'How do you know?'
