'You heard all that?'
'I'm only sitting ten feet below your window.'
'So?'
'So Russell is a good man, Andy. But good men sometimes lose their way. I saw it during the war-buddies getting sniped every patrol, can't even find the enemy to shoot at, the pressure builds every day-the mind can snap. I saw it in soldiers' eyes, Andy, when they were about to snap. And when they did, good men did bad things.'
'Russell's not like that.'
'Every man's like that… under enough pressure. When we're desperate enough, we can all snap. On the TV, when he talked about his son, I saw it in his eyes.' He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. 'I saw it in my own eyes, Andy, before I snapped.'
'Russell saved your life, Floyd T.'
Floyd T. nodded.
'And now I'm trying to save yours.'
Andy walked to the elevator and pushed the button. He was thinking about what Floyd T. had said when the doors opened on Russell Reeves.
'Russell.'
'Andy.'
'I was here visiting Floyd T. What are you… Zach?'
Russell nodded. 'He took a turn for the worse.'
'Can I see him?'
'Sure. Come on up.'
They went upstairs to the cancer ward and walked down the corridor. Andy followed Russell into a room. Zach Reeves was lying in the bed connected to oxygen and an IV and various monitors that beeped.
Shit.
The boy opened his eyes and smiled.
'Hi, Dad. Hey, Andy.'
His voice sounded weak.
'Hey, buddy,' Russell said then stepped over and checked his chart.
'Hi, dude,' Andy said.
Zach slowly extended his hand to Andy and closed his fist. Andy gave him a fist-punch.
'Dad?'
'Yeah, Zach?'
'Can Andy and I talk? Alone? Just for a minute.'
Russell glanced from his son to Andy and back.
'Sure, buddy.' He walked to the door but stopped. 'Andy, you want something to eat?'
'Thanks. I'm good.'
After Russell left, Andy said, 'Dude, what happened?'
'My blood counts went wacko again.'
'Man, you gotta get well soon so I can have another shot at you on Guitar Hero.'
Zach nodded.
'What's it like, Andy?'
'What's what like?'
'Kissing a girl.'
'Kissing a girl? Where'd that come from?'
Zach pointed a finger at the TV on the wall. It was tuned to a preteen show on the Disney channel.
'I don't think I'm ever going to kiss a girl,' Zach said.
'Dude, you'll have to beat 'em off with a stick.'
Zach shook his head.
'My parents won't talk to me about it.'
'Kissing girls?'
'Dying.'
Andy sat down next to the bed.
'I'm not stupid, Andy. I hear the doctors talking. I understand cancer. I need to talk about it with someone.'
'I'll talk with you about it.'
'Does it hurt?'
'No. The doctors don't let it hurt.'
'I heard my dad say your father is dying.'
Andy nodded. 'He needs a liver transplant.'
'I hope he gets it.'
'Me, too.'
'Do you think dead people hang around, you know, where they lived? So their family still feels them around?'
'I hope so.'
'Me, too.'
They talked about life and about death for a while longer. When Andy walked out of Zach's room, Russell Reeves was sitting in a plastic chair outside the door with his face in his hands. He looked up.
'Thanks, Andy.'
Andy wiped tears from his face. Russell walked him to the elevator. He punched the down button. When the elevator car arrived, Andy stepped in. The doors began to shut, but Russell stuck his hand in. The doors opened.
'She's gone, Andy. Frankie Doyle.'
'I know.'
'Find her, Andy. So my daughter doesn't end up like my son.'
TWENTY
Andy walked into his PI's storefront the next morning and found Lorenzo Escobar leaning back in his chair with his black cowboy boots propped up on his desk and his hands clasped behind his head. He was watching TV. He pointed at the screen.
'That's the most beautiful pregnant woman I've ever seen.'
Natalie Riggs was reporting live from the maternity ward at the public hospital. She stood outside the glass window of the nursery; behind her, dozens of little cribs were occupied by babies wrapped like papooses. She wasn't showing yet; her abs still looked awesome in the tight knit dress. Lorenzo stood and pointed at the screen.
'See? No underwear.'
One last look and he clicked off the TV and turned to Andy.
'You lost her again?'
Andy nodded. 'I've got to find her.'
'For your client or yourself?'
'My client's paying.'
'Same fee?'
'Yeah, but you've got to drive me to wherever she is.'
'Deal.'
Lorenzo sat at his laptop and tapped on the keyboard.
'Now this time won't be as easy 'cause your girl, she's smart. She knows we tracked her with her credit report when she signed the tenant app, see, so she won't make the same mistake again. She's gonna stay where
