“How can a helicopter land on top of all this mess?” Ben asked, looking at the rooftop structures.
“The landing pad is on the other side,” I said. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
I took him along the perimeter to the helicopter pad.
While we waited for Travis and Stinger to arrive, I gave Ben the full tour. I pointed out several city landmarks that could be seen from the roof, and started to show him my favorite gargoyles. He didn’t like leaning over the railing to see them, though, so after I had pointed out the wyvern, and the mermaid that was supposedly modeled after the present Wrigley’s grandmother, I told him we could look at the others from the ground.
“That’s the intended view, anyway,” I said, as we settled in at Cafe Kelly. “Although I have to admit, I wouldn’t have suspected you of having a fear of heights — not after seeing you walk steep trails in the mountains.”
“I don’t mind heights in the mountains,” he said. “It’s all the flat, sheer vertical surfaces in a city, I suppose. But you don’t like being in the mountains, do you?”
I thought about this for a moment and said, “The mountains, I love. It’s the people I’ve encountered up there who’ve made me feel a little wary about going back.”
“Parrish?”
“He’s one of them.”
“Tell me what happened that morning, before we were rescued.”
“Want a bottle of water? You have your choice between that and water. A full selection in our fine establishment.”
“Served with an open-faced plate of bullshit, I see. You’re avoiding the question.”
“For the moment,” I agreed. “Listen, here comes the helicopter. Can you hear it?”
“Yes,” he said with a sigh.
I got up to turn the landing lights on; Leonard no longer locked that door.
We had a pleasant visit with Travis and Stinger, who hadn’t seen much of Ben recently. As usual, though, they didn’t stay very long. With promises to get together soon, they took off again. “Travis is a fast learner,” Ben said.
“Yes,” I said, and started to move back toward the door to the roof.
“Hold on,” Ben said, “I haven’t forgotten that promise.”
“I haven’t either,” I said. “I just want to be able to watch for Leonard, and for Jerry, the guy who comes up here to smoke. I don’t want to spill my guts for everybody on staff. I need to be able to see the door.”
I could see that he was irritated, but he went along with it. Before long, he was dogging my heels. I’ll own up to sauntering. I was in no hurry to have this conversation.
“Christ, Irene,” Ben said, passing me by. “I’m missing the last half of my left leg, and I’m going to reach that door first.”
“Don’t give me that,” I said, “you’ve been working out. And I read that stuff you had about the Paralympics — someone wearing one of those Flex-Foot feet was within four seconds of beating one of Carl Lewis’s records.”
“My upper-body strength is much better than before the surgery,” he admitted, “but I don’t run every day like you do. Besides, much as you might want me to leap tall buildings at a single, artificial bound, we don’t all get to be Super Amp, you know.”
“Super Amp or not, you’re nowhere near your full potential, and you know it,” I said. “It hasn’t been so long, you know.”
“I know,” he said, and stopped. He made a little gentlemanly bow when I caught up to him, and said, “After you. Delay all you like. It will not work.”
I reached a corner and stopped. “Okay. I can see the door from here.”
“Sure you don’t want to go and open it?” Ben asked. “Maybe the smoker is on the other side with a parabolic mike.”
“Look,” I said, “you want to hear the unvarnished truth? I’m not anxious to relive that morning with Parrish. Sometimes I think if I ever see his face again . . .”
I didn’t finish the sentence, because the door to the roof opened.
“Shit,” Ben said. “I guess you were right about that nicotine fit.”
But even with the blond hair, even from a distance, even in the darkness, I knew who had come out onto the roof.
It wasn’t Jerry or Leonard.
I pulled Ben back around the corner, nearly throwing him off balance.
“What the—”
I put my hand over his mouth. “Parrish!” I whispered. “Run!”
He looked at me in panic and said, “Where?”
Good question.
58
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1:35 A.M.
The Roof of the Wrigley Building
“Back this way!” I whispered, and we quickly ran into the dark and narrow maze of rooftop structures, turning another corner, and another, then hiding behind the air conditioner.
