'We just did it to use the phone.'
'And can you feature telling that to the cops? 'It's not burglary, Officer, we just dropped in to use the phones.' '
'Well, it was exciting, but we wouldn't do it again. The thing is, see, we'll probably have to spend hours and hours on this—'
'And you wouldn't want anybody walking in, or having to switch phones when we're all hooked up.'
'No problem,' I said. 'We'll get a decent hotel room. What else?'
'Coke.'
'Or Pepsi.'
'Coke's better.'
'Or Jolt. 'All the sugar and twice the caffeine.' '
'Maybe some junk food. Maybe some Doritos.'
'Get the ranch flavor, not the barbecue.'
'Potato chips, Cheez Doodles—'
'Oh, man, not Cheez Doodles!'
'I like Cheez Doodles.'
'Man, that has got to be the lamest junk food there is. I challenge you to name anything edible that is stupider than Cheez Doodles.'
'Pringles.'
'No fair! Pringles aren't food. Matt, you got to judge this one.
What do you say? Are Pringles food?'
'Well—'
'They're not! Hong, you are so sick. Pringles are tiny Frisbees that warped, that's all they are. They're not food.'
WHEN Kenan Khoury didn't answer I tried his brother. Peter's voice was thick with sleep and I apologized for waking him. 'I keep doing that,' I said. 'Sorry.'
'My own fault, nodding out in the middle of the afternoon. My sleep schedule got all turned around lately. What's up?'
'Not much. I was trying to reach Kenan.'
'Still in Europe. He called me last night.'
'Oh.'
'Coming back Monday. Why, you got some good news to report?'
'Not yet. I've got some cabs I have to take.'
'Huh?'
'Expenses,' I said. 'I'll have to shell out close to two thousand dollars tomorrow. I wanted to clear it with him.'
'Hey, no problem. I'm sure he'll say yes. He said he'd cover your expenses, didn't he?'
'Yes.'
'So lay it out. He'll pay you back.'
'That's the problem,' I said. 'My money's in the bank and it's Saturday.'
'Can't you use an ATM?'
'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?'
