Watch Them Die

No one was following him; at least, he didn’t see anybody. He spotted a pay phone in the window of a coffeehouse, and hurried inside.

Catching his breath, he dug into his pocket for change. No quarters. There was a line at the counter. He stepped up to the front. “Could I just get change?” he asked.

“End of the line, bub,” the skinny young man at the espresso machine said, barely glancing up.

Ben pulled a five-dollar bill out of his wallet. “Look, five bucks,” he said, still out of breath. “I’m exchanging this for two quarters.” He dropped the bill in the tip jar, then took out two quarters.

“That’s pretty cool,” the young man said, nodding.

Ben hurried to the phone, put in his money, and dialed Hannah’s number. While the phone rang, he glanced out the coffeehouse window. A cop car came down the block. Ben stepped away from the window. He heard Hannah’s machine click on, and her recorded greeting. As he waited for the beep, he watched the squad car continue down the street.

“Hannah, are you there?” he asked. “Can you pick up?”

There was another click. “Ben? Where are you?”

“In a coffeeshop not far from you.”

“Well, that narrows it down to about fifteen places. Did you find out anything more about Seth?”

“Something’s really screwy here, Hannah. Apparently, the cops found video equipment, tapes, and photographs—all linking Seth to several murders.”

“Which murders? You mean Britt—and Rae and—”

“I wasn’t able to find out for sure,” Ben replied. “But it looks that way. The thing is, none of that stuff was in the apartment when I searched it last night. Somebody set this up. And according to Seth’s landlord, he worked in a lock and key place. The guy didn’t know anything about the film classes or the video store.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Hannah said. “Tish just talked to one of the police there this morning—”

“I know, I know,” he said. “They mentioned that. I guess it threw them for a loop.”

“What about the roommate?” Hannah asked.

“According to the landlord, Seth Stroud lived alone.”

“Then who was that guy we talked to at Seth’s apartment?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. Do you remember his name?”

“Oh, just a sec. Um, Something Kidd…Michael…no…”

“Richard,” Ben said. “That’s it, Richard Kidd. Hold on.” Cradling the receiver against his ear with his shoulder, Ben pulled the phone directory out of a little nook below the pay phone. He quickly paged through it. “I’m looking him up right now. Here we go, Kidd…Randall, Robert, Roy… shit, nothing.”

Ben heard a click on her end of the line. “Are you still there?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s my call-waiting,” she said. “I don’t know if I should take it. Oh, what the hell. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

Guy was mesmerized in front of Sesame Street, and sitting too close to the TV. Four suitcases and a box of toys sat by the front door. And Hannah stood at the kitchen counter, the cordless phone in her hand. She pressed the call waiting button. “Um, hello?” she said warily.

“Hannah, it’s Tish again.” She sounded anxious and rushed. “I hate to keep bugging you when you have a sick child at home. Any luck in getting another sitter?”

“Oh, Tish, I’m sorry, no,” she said, picking up the Vertigo cassette, then frowning at it.

“Well, I wouldn’t call, but I’ll have to close the store if you can’t come in. They want me at the East Precinct to answer a bunch of asinine questions. I’m supposed to be there now.”

“What kind of questions?” Hannah set the video back on the counter.

“Oh, seems they don’t think Seth was really working at this store. Right. Hello? He opened a new account his first day here. Same address, same phone number, same birthday, and the same social security number on his W-2 form. What more do they want? I think they may ask me to identify the body, and believe you me, I ain’t up for that. God, listen to me. I’m awful. The poor guy’s dead. It’ll hit me tonight and I’ll have a total breakdown. Anyway, Han, I just thought I’d try you again. Any chance you can get a neighbor to come over and look after Guy—just for a couple of hours?”

“I’m sorry, Tish. I really can’t.”

“Well, on the off chance you get away, you have your key to the store, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I honestly don’t think I can do it, Tish.”

“Okay. Just thought I’d try. Take care, Han.”

“Bye,” Hannah said. She pressed the flash button. “Ben, are you there?”

“Yeah, what took so long?”

“My boss at the video store. She’s frazzled.”

“Well, have her join the club. I still can’t figure out what’s going on. We were both there when Richard Kidd told us he was Seth’s roommate. Did Seth confirm that to you?”

“Yes. I remember him saying later My roommate told me you came by, or words to that effect.”

“So how come no one else knows he had a roommate?” Ben said. “It’s like Seth Stroud was two different guys.”

Hannah stared at the Vertigo tape on the counter.

“Are you there?” Ben asked.

“Two different Seth Strouds,” she said. “You know, in Vertigo, Kim Novak’s character was pretending to be someone else for the first half of the movie.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She was pretending to be a woman named Madeleine,” Hannah explained. “And when she jumped from the church tower, it was faked. The real Madeleine was thrown from the tower instead, and Kim’s character just went back to being her old self—until Jimmy Stewart rediscovered her.”

“Hannah, I still don’t understand. It’s been a while since I saw that movie.”

“I’ll explain later. I have a feeling Richard Kidd is behind all this. And he might be in our customer files at the video store. If so, his address would be in the computer at work. Listen. How far are you from store?”

“A few blocks,” Ben said.

“Meet me out front,” Hannah said. “Guy and I are leaving right now. We’ll see you in five minutes.”

“Take a cab,” Ben advised. “I’d feel better knowing you have someone with you. Besides, you can bring my duffel bag.”

“Will do,” she replied.

“See you soon,” he said. “Be careful, Hannah.”

Twenty-two

TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO EMERGENCY

We’ll Reopen by 2:30 Today (Friday)

Sorry About the Inconvenience