late it was.
'Are you returning to Philly tonight?'
'Yeah. I'm seeing my dad tomorrow. He's preparing a presentation for the Vidocq Society, and he wants my help.'
'Wow,' Lee said. 'Your father is a member?'
'Yeah. Going on ten years now.'
The Vidocq Society, based in Philadelphia, was named after Francois Vidocq, the brilliant eighteenth century French criminal who became a detective later in his life. The society was devoted to solving cold cases that people from all over the world brought to them. Membership was by invitation only, and Lee thought there wasn't a forensic professional alive who wouldn't consider it an honor to join the group. All the members were prominent in their respective fields.
'How often do they meet?' Lee said.
'Once a month, in the Public Ledger Building. It's an interesting place, very old-world, with thick Oriental rugs and big, heavy drapes-sort of Edwardian, really. The kind of place Sherlock Holmes's brother Mycroft would have liked. When I first saw it, I imagined that's what Mycroft's club would look like.'
'You're a Conan Doyle fan?'
She gave a lopsided little smile. 'Isn't everyone?'
'So your father's a member of Vidocq-that's impressive. Is he an anthropologist too?'
'He's a forensic toxicologist.'
'Is that what got you interested in forensics?'
'Sort of.'
'I'm sure he's proud of you.'
'I guess. You know how fathers are, though.'
No, Lee thought, I don't, but he said nothing.
He walked her down the subway stairs and stood with her by the turnstiles as she waited for the train. On Sunday evenings they didn't run very often, and Lee found himself wishing the train would never come.
They stood next to each other, their bodies at an angle, half facing the tracks, half facing each other.
He glanced at Kathy. What was it she'd said? Bones are heroic. Kind of a mystical notion-though there was nothing mystical about her. With her brisk, short haircut, black leather knapsack, and firm, determined chin, Kathy Azarian was not an ethereal person. In a world where planes drop out of the sky, towers crumble and fall, and young woman are snatched abruptly from their lives, Kathy had a solid, three-dimensional presence that was reassuring.
Standing close to her, he could feel a connection between them like a current. He looked around the subway station, which was practically deserted. Contentment settled over him like a blanket, and he could have stood there all night, next to her, waiting for a train that never came.
But soon the number-nine local train came clattering into the station, its headlights snaking around the corner like the yellow eyes of a mythic beast.
'Okay,' Kathy said, feeding a token into the slot. 'I'll see you soon-you have my number.'
At the last second, before sliding through the turnstile, she turned and planted a kiss on his neck. She seemed to be aiming for his cheek, but she was so much shorter than he was that, in her haste, she missed and caught his neck instead. Her lips were soft and warm, and caught Lee by surprise.
He turned his head to reciprocate, but just then the train rattled to a halt, the doors slid open, and she slipped through the turnstile and made a dash for the nearest car, stepping inside just as the warning bell sounded. The doors closed, the train rumbled out of the station, and Lee was left alone, staring at an empty platform. But his heart felt full, and his head was light. For the first time since his sister's death, since 9/11, since all the horrors of the past weeks, he could imagine what it was like to feel whole again. He headed toward the stairs leading up to the street. It was such a beautiful night he had decided to walk the mile or so back to East Seventh Street.
His attackers seemed to come out of nowhere.
He never saw the first blow coming. It was a sucker punch-a karate chop to the base of his neck-and it sent him stumbling forward. He turned to face his assailant, but another blow caught him from behind, this time to the kidneys. He went down on his knees, hard, only to find he was being lifted to his feet by strong hands, to be hit again-and again. Most of the punches were body blows, for which he was oddly grateful-he hated being hit in the face. But they hurt just the same. The jabs were hard and short and quick, the work of professionals. He never got a chance to throw so much as a single punch.
The two men made quick work of him, hitting him swiftly and soundlessly. It was all over in less than two minutes. They left him crumpled on the subway platform, leaning against the wall, dazed and bruised.
The only thing he could be sure of later was that they were both stocky, both wearing ski masks covering their faces, and he was pretty sure they were both white. Other than that, they could have been anyone.
He heard the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps, and then sank into darkness.
Chapter Thirty-six
Evelyn Woo was tired. Her feet ached, and her back was stiff. The only thing on her mind was a hot bath and a glass of warm plum wine before dropping gratefully into bed.
At first glance she thought the man lying on the subway platform was one of the drunks she had seen dozens of times after her late-night shift. She was a good worker, and her boss liked her, but Evelyn was always among the last to leave the Happy Luck Restaurant, and she hated the late-night subway rides to the small Chelsea apartment where she lived with her boyfriend, a medical student at NYU. She would start medical school next year, but meanwhile she was holding down two jobs to save money. Her father's cousin owned the Happy Luck, and she got to take home lots of free food every night, so that made the job worthwhile.
She passed by the man, the bag full of takeout cartons swinging at her side. He moaned and tried to sit up, and she glanced down at his face. It was a handsome face-for a Round Eyes (the derogatory term her uncle used for Caucasians)-and there was something about his eyes that made her look twice. She stopped walking and stared at him. Clearly, he was not a drunk-he was well dressed and well groomed. His mouth was bleeding, though, and she could see dark bruises on his cheeks.
'Are you okay?' she said, keeping a safe distance.
The man raised his head and gestured to her. She stepped closer.
'Please,' he said. 'Can you help me?'
Later, she would recall that she thought it was odd he refused to go to a hospital; instead he asked her to help him to a cab. She didn't hear the address he gave the cabbie, but she remembered those eyes-the wounded look in them stayed with her for a long time afterward. It also occurred to her later that before 9/11 she might not have helped him, but now-well, things were different now, she told her mother and all her cousins. Now we all have to look out for each other.
Chapter Thirty-seven
'For God's sake, Lee, will you stop this nonsense and go see a doctor?' Chuck Morton said as they walked through the labyrinth of hallways in the building housing the medical examiner's office. Their heels rapped sharply on the shiny polished floors, echoing down the tiled basement corridors.
'I'm all right,' Lee said as they rounded a corner on the way to the lobby. Overhead fluorescent lamps cast a sickly yellow glow on his face, and Chuck wondered if he looked as bad as his friend under these lights.
'Well, you don't look all right,' Chuck replied, casting a sideways glance at him. He had just about had it with Lee Campbell's bullheadedness. Underneath his anger was worry, of course-but he was damned if he was going to show it.
'You could at least take a day or two off,' he muttered.
