Compulsion

other side of the inner entrance, a small landing was announced by an engraved bronze Please Watch Your Step sign.

Three stairs down and a sharp left turn took me to a white marble maitre d’ stand. A tall, thick, tuxedoed man studied his reservation book in the amber light of a seashell Tiffany lamp. Low-volume opera supplied the soundtrack, some tenor moaning a sad story. My nostrils filled with alternating ribbons of ripe cheese, roasting meat, garlic, balsamic vinegar.

Behind Tuxedo, a wine rack stretched to the hand-plastered ceiling, obscuring the entire left side of the room. The wall to the right was covered by a mural. Happy peasants bringing in the grape harvest. The three tables in full view were round, covered in red linen, and unoccupied. Glass clink and the low murmur of conversation floated from behind the rack.

“May I help you, sir?”

“No reservation, but if you could accommodate one for dinner.”

“One,” he said, as if he’d never heard the word before.

“Thought I’d be spontaneous.”

“We like spontaneous, sir.” He ushered me to one of the empty tables, handed me a wine list and a menu, and told me about the osso buco special made with veal from serene Vermont calves allowed to enjoy their brief lives unfettered by pens.

His bulk blocked visual access to my fellow diners. As he described a medley of “artisanal vegetables,” I feigned interest and glanced at the menu. Auction-gallery wines, white truffles, hand-netted fish from lakes I’d never heard of. The balsamic was older than most marriages.

Prices to match.

“Drink, sir?”

“Bottled water, bubbles.”

“Very good.”

He stepped aside, revealing two parties on the other side of the windowless room.

The first was a gorgeously dressed couple in their thirties clenching wineglasses and tilting toward each other like pugilists.

Tight jaws, parted lips, and rapt stares. Passion just short of coitus, or a poorly camouflaged argument.

To their right, a man sat with a child – a chubby, fair-haired girl. Her back was to me as she hunched over her plate. From her size, six or seven. The man leaned low to maintain eye contact, face melting into the shadows. He touched her cheek. She shook him off, kept eating. She had on a white sweater and a pink plaid skirt, white socks, red patent leather shoes. Except for the shoes, maybe a school uniform. His gray sport coat and brown shirt drabbed in comparison.

I could see enough of him to make out a small frame. That fit Polito’s description of Roland Korvutz. So did his age – sixty or so – and having a child.

He broke a piece of bread and sat up to chew and I got a better look at his face. High, flat cheekbones, bulbous nose, narrow chin, steel-framed specs. If this was my quarry, the red-brown hair had faded to a sparse, gray comb-over.

He reached for his fork, curled pasta, offered some to the little girl. She shook her head emphatically.

He said something. If the girl answered, I couldn’t hear it.

Black serge filled my visual field again. A large bottle of Aqua Minerale Primo Fiorentina and a chilled glass were set down gently. “Ready to order, sir?”

Still full from the late lunch, I opted for the lightest offering, a forty-four-dollar diver scallop salad. Before Tuxedo took away the menu, I checked the price of the water. Well over LAPD’s daily food allowance, all by itself. Maybe it had been hand-drawn from artesian springs by highly educated, medically verified vestal virgins.

I drank. It tasted like water.

The little girl across the room said something that made the man in the gray sport coat raise his eyebrows.

Again, he spoke. She shook her head. Got off her chair. Her skirt had ridden up and he reached out to smooth it. Her hand got there first. She planted her feet, fluffed her hair. Turned.

Clear-skinned, blue-eyed, pug-nosed. The unmistakable visage of Down syndrome.

Older than I’d estimated; ten or eleven.

She noticed me. Smiled. Waved. Said, “Hel-lo,” loud enough to override the opera.

“Hi.”

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

The man said, “Elena-”

The girl wagged a scolding finger. “I talk to the man, Daddy.”

“Darling, if you have to go-”

The girl stomped a foot. “I talk, Daddy.”

“I know that, darling. But-”

“Daddy,” she said, stomping a foot. Then: “Daddy sad?” She grabbed his face with both hands, kissed his cheek, bounced happily to a door at the back of the restaurant.

Unmarked door; the kid was a veteran of hundred-dollar dinners.

The man shrugged and mouthed, “Sorry.”

“She’s adorable.”

He resumed twirling pasta. Examined a diamond wristwatch. Put his fork down, checked the time again.

Tuxedo came over. “Everything okay, Mr. Korvutz?”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, Gio.”

“Nice to see Elena. Her cold’s all better?”

“Finally.”

“Smart girl, Mr. K. She like school?”

Korvutz nodded weakly.

“Some wine to go with the Diet Coke, Mr. K.?”

“No, I’m doing homework later, need to keep a clear head.”

“Kids,” said Gio.

Korvutz’s face turned sad. “It’s worth it.”

Elena returned playing with the hem of her sweater. She stopped at my table, pointed a finger. “He’s all alonely.”

Roland Korvutz said, “Leave the gentleman alone.”

“He’s alonely, Daddy.”

“I’m sure he’d just like to-”

“You’re alonely. You can eat with us.”

“Elena-”

The girl pulled at my sleeve. “Eat with us!”

I said, “If it’s okay with your dad.”

Korvutz’s face got hard.

Elena applauded. “Yay!”

“Elena, stop this. Let the gentleman-”

I got up and brought my water glass to their table.

“Yay!”

Korvutz said, “Sir, this is not necessary.”

“I don’t mind for a few minutes-”

“Yay!”

The intense couple glanced over. The woman whispered something to her companion. He shrugged.

“It’s really not necessary,” said Korvutz.

“It is nessery, Daddy!”

The hot-eyed couple smirked.

“Elena-”