Icarus

the apartment, maybe he does, but I'll bet he doesn't know what it was used for. Or at least he didn't until recently.'

'Which means what?'

'Did he kill Kid when he found out?'

'That's a question. Are you through telling?'

'No. You moved Kid into the apartment – if I think about it, I'm sure I can even tell you the exact day. Then you started demanding more and more of his time. Why not, you were paying for it. But Kid didn't like it, so he told you he was ending the relationship. He told me he was going to. I think he told you the night he died.'

'And then what? I lured him out to the balcony and, with my vanity crushed, I pushed him off?'

'Maybe.'

'Which is it, Jack? Did I kill him or did my jealous husband?'

'I don't know. But I think one of you did.'

She pulled a cigarette out of her purse, put it between her lips, and leaned over for Jack to light it. He could see her breasts rustle under her dress.

'Sorry,' he said. 'I used up all my matches.'

She shrugged, reached into her purse, pulled out a lighter, and lit it herself. 'Kid was my trainer,' she said, after a deep inhale. 'And in a lot of ways I was his. I know a lot about you. He told me what you did for him when he was younger. Well, I helped him when he was older. I cleaned him up, I dressed him, I showed him which fork to use. He was a very, very beautiful boy with extraordinary potential and he knew that what I could teach him was going to come in very handy. And I knew that what we had couldn't last forever. He was young and' – she made only the briefest hesitation – 'I'm not as young.'

'That's not quite the way he told the story.'

'Men are vain. They always make themselves out to be the hero.'

Jack wanted her to talk more now. He tried to remember what else Kid had told him about her. What he could use that might nettle and get under her skin. 'I think you wanted to control him,' he said. 'And he wasn't someone you could control.'

'Wasn't he?'

'No.'

'There are very few things – or people – I can't control, Jack. It's one of my talents. In addition to being a good businesswoman.'

'I saw another one of your talents,' Jack said. 'One I'm sure the police will be interested in.'

'And what was that?'

'You're good with a knife. I saw the proof on Kid's arm.'

Her eyes flashed angrily but the expression on her face didn't change. 'I suspect you might not be so easy to control,' she said.

'I think there are a lot of things you're not going to be able to control so easily now,' he told her.

She put her cigarette down on her bread plate. Her lipstick ringed the end of it, soaking into the paper like traces of blood.

'Jack,' she said. 'I don't know what it is you're doing exactly. And I don't really care. But the police believe that Kid simply fell. Whether he jumped or it was an accident, it's a sad and tragic thing but it's what I believe, too. You'd be very smart to come around to the same belief.'

'Or?'

'That wasn't a threat, Jack. Despite what you think you know, I'm not really all that threatening. All I meant was, or you'll be spending a lot of sleepless nights. You'll be trying to find something that has no answer. Don't forget,' she said. 'I'm in the death-and-dying business. I know a lot about it. I know that there's nothing quite so final or quite so still. And I know that death is a thing completely unto itself. It exists; that's its only importance and its only value. It comes, it comes for everybody, and it's not very concerned with why or how.' She raised her hand, the subtlest of gestures, and the waiter scurried over with the check. Jack reached to take it but she waved him off. 'On Grave Enterprises,' she told him. As they reached the street, she took his hand, shook it, and let her hand linger in his. Again he was both unnerved and aroused by her highly charged touch. 'Maybe we can have dinner some night,' she said. 'And talk about less depressing things.'

'I believe Kid was killed,' he told her.

'So I understand. But I still don't understand why.'

'Because of the plans he was making for his future. Because drugs were found in his system and I don't believe he'd take them willingly. Because I knew him and I know how important life was to him.'

'And if you're right? Then what?'

'Then I'm going to find out what happened.'

Her hand was still in his. He felt her fingers move against his palm. 'Let me steer you away from two very serious mistakes you could make,' Eva Migliarini said. 'One would be to involve my husband in any of this. That would be a very big mistake. But the other one would be even bigger. That would be if you make me angry.' She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips lingered just a second longer than necessary. They were warm and they sent a jolt of electricity through his entire body. 'That's a threat, Jack.'

He watched her step up into her car, saw her leg snake inside and disappear. He watched as the driver pulled away and the car turned at the next corner, moving out of view. He reached up and touched the spot on his cheek where her lips had touched him. He felt as if his skin had been seared. As if he'd been branded.

He rubbed the spot with two fingers of his right hand, then brought his hand down in front of his face. He looked at the small red smudge that had been transferred to his fingertips, and Jack understood that he had taken his first and mystifying step into Kid's unknown world.

What he didn't understand was the way he felt.

It was much the same sensation as during his initial workouts with Kid. It was painful. It was often unbearable.

But he liked it.

THIRTY-SEVEN

This time Sergeant McCoy's reaction to his appearance at the Eighth Precinct was not nearly as neutral as on his first visit. This time she was clearly not a happy camper.

'This is my husband, Mr. Keller. We're on our way out to dinner. He just picked me up so I wouldn't have to ride uptown alone. Wasn't that nice?'

'Very nice.'

'Elmore, this is Jack Keller.'

'Nice to meet you,' Jack said. 'Or to see you again. I know we met at the restaurant.'

Elmore McCoy looked astonished that Jack remembered but his wife immediately said, 'Close your mouth, honey-bunch. I told him we were there when I first met him. He may be good but he's not that good.' Elmore McCoy now looked disappointed but the good sergeant didn't seem to pay that much attention. 'Would you give us two minutes,' she said, 'and then I'll be ready to go.' Her husband nodded and left them alone by her desk.

'Sergeant-' Jack began but she cut him off immediately.

'I think I'll do the talking now,' she announced, 'because I meant it when I said I only had two minutes. But this won't take long 'cause I just want to make one thing clear: whatever you're doing, stop.'

'How do you know what I've been doing?'

'How do you think? We already got a call from the lovely Mrs. Migliarini saying that you were harassing her. Believe me, Jack – and I'm gonna call you Jack because this is so fucking dumb I can't bring myself to call you Mr. Keller – you do not want to be harassing any member of the Migliarini family. It just is not something you want to do. She talked about pressing charges against you for breaking and entering and, believe me again, that would probably be the nicest thing she could do in this situation.'

'Do you know that she owned the apartment that Kid fell from?'

'I'm a police officer, goddamnit, of course I know! What the hell do you think I do with my time? But did you