A Dangerous Man

– And we do. We learn.

He closes his eyes.

– Too much.

He opens them.

– David. He is our uncle. By marriage only. But he is our uncle. But this man. He is shit.

He stands and paces once more.

– The forger tells us he has done a job for David. Identification for a man in Las Vegas. He showed us the pictures. He showed us the changes. He told us what he thinks. But we do not need him to tell us. We can see it. But there is more. If you wait, if you are patient, there is always more. He has met our cousin. Mikhail. And he knows something.

He stops pacing.

– Mikhail had lost his passport. He was to travel soon and he had lost his Russian passport. This is not a easy thing to replace. But it is something David could help with. He was a artist, our cousin. You know this? A filmmaker. A student.

I nod.

– Yes. He wanted to make a film. For school. NYU. I remember when my mother received the letter from Tetka Anna. She was so proud. She told us what it was, NYU. One of the best. And expensive. They do not give you the money to make your films. He wanted money for this film. He went to his uncle. He had plans. He would go to Europe. Take time from school and travel Europe. Russia. See family. Then back and start this film. But David, he thinks a man should work. He offered the money, but Mikhail must work for it. Do not go to Europe, David said to him, go to Mexico. Have fun in Mexico. Relax. But look for this man.

He points at me.

– You. David told his nephew to go to Mexico and look for you. Do not do anything, he said. Just look. David promised the money whether Mikhail saw you or not. Ten thousand dollars to go to Mexico on vacation and to look. Why not?

He stops pacing.

– And the forger can tell us this story because Mikhail had lost his passport. So David had sent him to the forger. And he had bragged to the forger. About his uncle. About the job he would do. And how he would be paid. Paid by his uncle to go to a foreign country and look for a killer.

He makes the hairball sound. But this time he is not smoking.

– So now we know. We know you are alive. We know you are in Las Vegas. We know David is protecting you. And we know how little he cares for his family. Is there need for more?

He waits.

I shake my head.

He nods.

– But there is more. We cannot make Tetka believe. She will not believe this is David. That he would do these things. She thinks we are wrong. Until she sees you at his office. And the picture in the paper. And we show her the forger’s pictures again. And she believes. So then. She wants you. And we know where to find you. Because in the news article there, it says the man you are with is a baseball player. And people at newspapers are weak and make little money. For a little more, they will tell you where someone is. They told us where the baseball player was. And so we found you.

He sits. Picks at the cigarette butts again, but finds them wanting.

– And now. You are here. And Tetka Anna wants David to die. And she wants you to die. So you will do the first.

He scratches his beard.

– And we will do the second.

I look at the papers in my hands. I fold them over again and tuck them inside my jacket.

– If I try to kill David he’ll have my parents murdered.

He nods.

– Yes. He will. He knows where they are. They are in a small town in Oregon. On the coast. This is something the forger found out for him. He found out from the Internet, from all of the men who talk about you. The forger told us this last. Told us where your parents are. Before we killed him. Because he was so broken. He wanted to die. That is what will happen if we go to Oregon. To them. You see?

– David. It’s me.

He makes a sound, the kind you might make if your favorite player did something unbelievably boneheaded on the field.

– I need to see you, David.

– Yes. You do. But I, I have seen you already this morning. Do you know where? In the paper, yes? In the newspaper I saw you.

He will be making a fist and bouncing it lightly against his forehead. What have I done to deserve this?

– Yeah, I know. I need to see you.

– Yes. Yes, you must see me. How is the boy?

– He’s fine. It wasn’t a real fight, just him and his friend.

– Are you with them?

– No. They went to breakfast. I went to meet them and saw the paper on the way.

– Where are you now?

– The West Village. A coffee shop.

– Good. That is good. Stay away from them. This photograph. Someone might see something in this, yes? The surgery is good in its way, but someone could see something. There is nothing they can prove if you are gone. No way to ask you questions. I will have someone talk to the boy. If anyone asks him questions, you will be someone his agent hired. A simple bodyguard.

– Sure.

– Come to my office. We will talk. You will take care of this other business of ours. And then, then it will be time for you to leave.

He’ll be looking at the ceiling, searching it with his eyes. I have no words to describe how disappointed I am.

– Come to my office. Wait for me there. Yes?

– Yeah. Sure thing. David?

– Yes?

– I’m sorry about this.

– Sorry will not help this. Come to my office and we will fix things. Things can always be fixed. I have told you this?

– Yeah.

– So we will fix.

He hangs up. I drop the phone in my pocket. I look out the car window as we hum over the George Washington Bridge. Martin is driving. Adam sits next to him, turned sideways, watching me in the backseat as I hang up the phone.

I lean my head against the window. I found some Motrin in Mickey’s mother’s bathroom. They made my face feel a little better. I was hoping to find some of the pills she had been talking about, but I’m sure it’s better I didn’t.

We come off the bridge and pull onto the West Side Highway. Deja vu hits me. Right, I made a trip like this before. Coming back from Jersey in the DuRantes’s car. They were brothers, too. Ed and Paris. They wanted me to set someone up. That didn’t work out very well. Not for them. In the long run, not for anybody.

– What does he say?

I take my head from the glass.

– He said come over.