show it to him, if he touches her. Everyone is watching but no one has moved. The drunk reaches for her hair with one trembling hand but the black girl doesn’t freak out. She laughs and the drunk’s hand falls as if it suddenly became too heavy for him to carry. He wanders away.
Lonely.
I almost miss John Ransom Miller. He was a freak but at least I had a sense of purpose when I was following him. And he would have loved the drunk guy, the asshole eater. I take out his ruby ring and slip it onto my finger. Rumble and sigh and here comes the train. I wonder what time it is. Every other car is packed with flesh but mine is ghostly, quiet. I turn my face to black windows and no one pays me any mind.
Downtown. I retrace my steps past Nieman Marcus and back to the King James. There is a different doorman on duty. This guy is massive, maybe a foot taller than me. His arms are the size of my thighs and his face is like a fat gray melon, with small dark eyes sunk into gray skin. Thin cruel mouth. He shrugs and opens the door with a grunt.
What happened to Jeremy? I say.
Don’t know, he says. Punk called in sick.
Too bad.
Why? he says.
I shake my head. No reason.
There’s nothing Jeremy can get what I can’t get. You need a whore?
Not yet.
eleven.
THROUGH THE MEDIEVAL LOBBY. Empty as before. The elevator, the isolation chamber. I chew at a fingernail and find myself thinking of Molly. The way her color rose and fell. She made me a sandwich and I am so stupid that only now does it occur to me that she was the phantom cello player. The love song for Anna Marie that haunted us down in the Lizard Room. I wonder if she was just fucking with us.
I come to room 1221 and remember that Jude has stripped me of my key. This irritates me, now. I feel like a delivery boy, a chump. I knock on the door and after a long suffering silence I get the ticklish sensation that someone is breathing on the other side, eyeballing me through the peephole.
Jude. What the fuck.
The door opens slowly and the temperature changes. Jeremy the doorman stands there.
Hey, he says. The smile melting across his face.
Jeremy is not wearing a shirt. He wears pale blue jeans. He is barefoot. I glance down at my boots. I am technically still in the hallway. I am outside the room. Jeremy leans against the open door, against the flat of his hand. He looks comfortable. He has an underwear model’s body, muscular. Tattoo of a monkey’s head above the left nipple. Jeremy has a washboard stomach but my teeth are better than his. He’s got a mouthful of crooked, fucked-up choppers that indicate poor breeding.
Jeremy, I say.
Jude’s in the bathroom, he says.
Yeah?
Jeremy shrugs and lets go of the door. It swings toward me, silent as a puff of smoke. Jeremy drifts back into the room. I catch the door and stand there a moment. Rapid heartbeat and a basket of snakes in my skull.
Here we go. Things get complicated.
I follow Jeremy into the room. Pause to glance at the bathroom door. Slash of yellow light at the floor. Listen and breathe and stare at the door until it pulses and for a moment I expect to hear Jude’s thoughts, her voice in my head. I wonder if I love her. I wonder if it’s relevant. Two hours ago, I touched another woman’s hand. I felt her pulse and I wanted her. It was a physiological reaction, molecular. People crash into each other and things get interesting. Jude may have fucked this guy and she may not have and maybe she’s in the bathtub right now, washing his juices from her body.
Jeremy sits on the floor, smoking a cigarette. I go to the vanity sink and pour myself a glass of gin. The sink is a nightmare of ashtrays and Chinese take-out. In the heart of the mess is a blue plate flecked with cocaine. Beside it is a big fat hunting knife, like a small sword. I remember the stiletto Jude used to carry. It was a nasty weapon and she wielded it like it was part of her, like a talon freakishly evolved. I taste the gin and it might as well be water. I find myself staring at Jeremy’s bare feet.
What size shoes do you wear?
Nine, he says.
Those would be your running shoes, then.
Jeremy glances over at the glass coffee table, where the blue and yellow sneakers fairly glow.
Yeah, he says.
Why are you here, Jeremy?
I’m waiting.
For what?
You should talk to Jude about that. I’m not in charge.
Imagine.
Jeremy shrugs. How did you like that magic milkshake?
Delicious, I say.
He blows smoke at me, thin and blue. I put down the glass of gin and pick up the knife.
I’m glad you liked it, he says.
Yeah. Why don’t you put your shoes on.
Jeremy smiles and closes his eyes and I take two, three steps forward to crouch beside him with the knife. He flinches away and I grab him by the hair. His eyes are wide open, now.
I’m not going to cut you, I say.
Okay, he says.
Did you fuck her?
He hesitates. No.
I don’t care if you fucked her. That’s her business.
The hair, he says. Please, man. Let go of the hair.
Jeremy, I say. You may have fucked Jude today, or been fucked by her.
Listen, man.
You may fuck her in the future. It doesn’t matter. But you are a guest in this room, a visitor. You are an employee of this hotel and I don’t like it when you smile at me.
Okay, he says.
Pick a body part, any body part.
Why?
I changed my mind. I’m going to cut you after all.
Then silence. I wonder if Jude is listening to this sorry episode of male theater. My knees are trembling and I will have to stand up soon.
The arm, says Jeremy. The left arm, if you don’t mind.
You want me to cut your left arm?
He grunts at me, his face red. This is enough for me. I don’t feel better, exactly. I feel different and now I let go of his hair and he falls away from the knife. I stand up slowly, legs still trembling.
You’re not going to cut me?
Not today.
Jeremy grins. I think a knife scar might look cool, actually.
Yeah, I say. Put your shoes on.
I want to stay.
Whatever. I just don’t want to look at your naked fucking feet.
