The Mephisto Club

“Then you’ll never catch him. And I can’t help you.” Lily looked at Sansone. “I need to use the restroom.”

“You can’t help us?” said Jane. “Or you won’t?”

“Look, I’m tired,” Lily snapped. “I just got off the plane, I’m jet-lagged, and I haven’t taken a shower in two days. I’m not answering any more questions.” She walked out of the room.

“She didn’t tell us a single useful thing,” said Jane.

Sansone stared at the doorway that Lily had just walked through. “You’re wrong,” he said. “I think she did.”

“She’s hiding something.” Jane paused. Her cell phone was ringing. “Excuse me,” she muttered, and dug it out of her purse.

Vince Korsak didn’t bother with a preamble. “You gotta get over here right now,” he snapped. Over the phone, she heard music in the background and noisy conversation. Oh God, she thought, I forgot all about his stupid party.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to make it tonight. I’m in the middle of an interview.”

“But you’re the only one who can handle this!”

“Vince, I have to go.”

“They’re your parents. What the hell am I supposed to do with them?”

Jane paused. “What?”

“They’re screaming at each other over here.” He paused. “Uhoh. They’ve just gone into the kitchen. I gotta go hide the friggin’ knives.”

“My dad’s at your party?”

“He just showed up. I didn’t invite him! He got here right after your mom did, and they’ve been going at it for twenty minutes now. Are you coming? ’Cause if they don’t calm down, I’m gonna have to call nine-one-one.”

“No! Jesus, don’t do that!” My mom and dad carted off in handcuffs? I’ll never live it down. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” She hung up and looked at Sansone. “I have to leave.”

He followed her into the front parlor, where she pulled on her coat. “Will you be back tonight?”

“Right now, she’s not being too cooperative. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

He nodded. “I’ll keep her safe till then.”

“Safe?” She gave a snort. “How about you just keep her from running?”

Outside, the night was cold and clear. Jane crossed the street to her Subaru and was just unlocking it when she heard a car door slam shut. She looked up the street to see Maura walking toward her.

“What’re you doing in the neighborhood?” Jane asked.

“I heard he found Lily Saul.”

“For what it’s worth.”

“You’ve already interviewed her?”

“And she’s not giving away anything. This doesn’t bring us one step closer.” Jane glanced down the street as Oliver Stark’s van pulled into a parking place. “What’s going on here tonight?”

“We’re all here to see Lily Saul.”

“We? Don’t tell me you’ve actually joined these freaks?”

“I haven’t joined anything. But my house was marked, Jane, and I want to know why. I want to hear what this woman has to say.” Maura turned and headed toward Sansone’s house.

“Hey, Doc?” Jane called out.

“Yes?”

“Watch yourself around Lily Saul.”

“Why?”

“She’s either crazy, or she’s hiding something.” Jane paused. “Or both.”

Even through Korsak’s closed apartment door, Jane could hear the thump of disco music, like a heartbeat throbbing in the walls. The man was fifty-five years old, he’d had a heart attack, and “Staying Alive” was probably a good choice for his theme song. She knocked, dreading the thought of Korsak in a leisure suit.

He opened the door, and she stared at his shimmering silk shirt, the armpits damp with circles of sweat. The collar was unbuttoned, the neckline open far enough to reveal a gorilla’s thatch of chest hair. The only thing missing was a gold chain around his fat neck.

“Thank God,” he sighed.

“Where are they?”

“Still in the kitchen.”

“And still alive, I assume.”

“They’ve been yelling loud enough. Geez, I can’t believe the language outta your ma’s mouth!”

Jane stepped through the doorway, into the psychedelic light show of a spinning disco ball. In the gloom, she could see about a dozen listless partygoers standing around nursing drinks or slouched on a sofa as they mechanically dredged potato chips through dip. This was the first time Jane had ever been inside Korsak’s new bachelor apartment and she had to pause, stupefied by the spectacle. She saw a smoked-glass-and-chrome coffee table and a white shag carpet, plus a big-screen TV and stereo speakers so huge you could nail a roof on one of them and call it home. And she saw black leather-lots and lots of black leather. She could almost imagine the testosterone oozing from the walls.

Then she heard, over the bouncy beat of “Staying Alive,” two voices yelling in the kitchen.

“You are not staying here, looking like that. What the hell? Do you think you’re seventeen again?”

“You have no right to tell me what to do, Frank.”

Jane walked into the kitchen, but her parents didn’t even notice her, their attention was so completely focused on each other. What did Mom do to herself? Jane wondered, staring at Angela’s tight red dress. When did she discover spike heels and green eye shadow?

“You’re a grandmother, for God’s sake,” said Frank. “How can you go out wearing a getup like that? Look at you!”

“At least someone’s looking at me. You never did.”

“Got your boobs practically hanging outta that dress.”

“I say, if you got it, flaunt it.”

“What are you trying to prove? Are you and that Detective Korsak-”

“Vince treats me very well, thank you.”

“Mom,” said Jane. “Dad?”

“Vince? So now you call him Vince?”

“Hey,” said Jane.

Her parents looked at her.

“Oh Janie,” said Angela. “You made it after all!”

“You knew about this?” said Frank, glaring at his daughter. “You knew your mom was running around?”

“Ha!” Angela laughed. “Look who’s talking.”

“You let your mom go out dressed like that?”

“She’s fifty-seven years old,” said Jane. “Like I’m supposed to measure her hemline?”

“This is-this is inappropriate!”

“I’ll tell you what inappropriate is,” said Angela. “It’s you, robbing me of my youth and beauty and tossing me on the garbage heap. It’s you, sticking your dick in some stray ass that just happens to wiggle by.”

Did my mom just say that?

“It’s you having the gall to tell me what’s inappropriate! Go on, go back to her. I’m staying right here. For the first time in my life, I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m going to par-tee!” Angela turned and clacked on spike heels out of the kitchen.

“Angela! You come right back here!”

“Dad.” Jane grabbed Frank’s arm. “Don’t.”