Icarus

doesn't mean she killed him, does it? Even if you find her, it doesn't prove anything.'

'Maybe not. But I won't know till I find her.'

Jack didn't say anything after that. The waiter came and broke the silence and Jack paid the check. As Grace started to stand, Jack spoke. 'Kid told me he spoke to the Destination. The new Destination. She told him a secret that bothered him a lot. And he told her things about himself. Some of the things were disturbing. Was that you?'

'It might have been.' She sank back into her chair, closed her eyes briefly, and nodded. 'I've got a secret or two. And he told me things. And they scared me.'

'What things?'

'Things that still scare me.'

'Tell me.' But she shook her head. When he realized he would get no more information about that conversation, he asked, 'Do you know the other women he was seeing? Did he ever mention their nicknames?'

'Like who?'

'Samsonite?'

'No.'

'She fits with what you were saying. He said she works in a club, she wants to be a singer. In the meantime she deals.'

'There are a lot of those. Who else?'

'The Murderess?'

She picked her head up, her blue eyes flashing. But the spark was immediately extinguished and she shook her head yet again. A brief pause, then, 'Did he tell you why he called her the Murderess?'

'No. But Kid's nicknames were fairly pointed.'

'I guess it would be too obvious if it was her, wouldn't it?'

'I don't think anything is too obvious right now.'

Another silence settled in. It was broken when Grace reached across the table, touched his arm, and said, 'You're going to go looking for them, aren't you?' The briefest of smiles. 'I mean, once you check out my alibi.' Jack nodded and she went on. 'I know the club scene. Almost as well as Kid did. Let me help you find Samsonite.'

'Why would you do that?'

Grace Childress stood now and ran a hand through her short, coppery hair. 'That'll be one of my secrets,' she said.

– '-'-'THE NEXT MORNING was a workout with Bryan. They were out on the balcony and Jack felt strong as he was put through his paces. He updated Bryan on his quest, told him about finding Leslee, the Entertainer, in her apartment, and Bryan was astounded by that. He told Jack he'd never seen a dead body before and he seemed genuinely troubled that Jack had had to experience it. Jack then told him about tracking down Grace, who turned out to be the Destination as well as the Rookie. He told him that they were going to hit a few clubs that night, searching for Samsonite and possibly even the Murderess. Again, Bryan apologized as he realized he must have known who she was from the gallery below the gym, just had never made the proper connection. As always, Bryan seemed interested but slightly confused. Jack was never sure how much information he was actually absorbing. He asked a few questions, said he was amazed at Jack's ability to track these people down, gave Jack the names of a few clubs Kid used to frequent, hoping that might be helpful. As the end of the hour approached, Jack was sweating and he felt invigorated, more than satisfied. But he noticed that Bryan seemed sad. Or sadder than usual.

'That's good,' he said, as Jack started his second set of squats. He counted off with each one, as if he'd lose count unless he said the number out loud. 'Six… seven… very good… Fuckin' A. You are Hercules Unchained, man.'

'I've heard that one before.' Jack finished his final squat, leaned against one of the weight machines to catch his breath.

'Yeah. Me and Kid, we used to tell each other that, down in the cellar, you know, to pump ourselves up.' Bryan paused. He started to speak, stumbled over the first two words. Jack looked up and saw how nervous he was. 'I-I s-saw him last night,' Bryan managed to say. 'Kid.'

'What?'

'Yo, it wasn't him or nothin'. Just a guy who reminded me of him. And for a second, I kinda forgot he was dead.' The sadness hit him full force now. 'I miss him,' he said. 'Kid was the only person I could talk to.'

'Dom.'

'Huh?'

'For me, that's Dom. He was my father's best friend, now he's mine. I've been telling him things since I was twelve. Anything I've ever thought, Dom knows.'

'Yeah, that was me and Kid. I didn't have to speak, even. He could always tell what I was thinkin'. Ever since we were little.'

'You're lucky. Not many people ever have friends like that.'

'Yeah, I'm gonna miss that. I really am.'

– '-'-'JACK PICKED GRACE up at twelve-thirty that night. He couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a short white silk dress and white lace stockings that left very little to the imagination. And she couldn't help but notice that he was noticing.

'I'm not used to starting this late,' he told her as she hopped into the cab and gave the driver an address in Tribeca.

'Hope you drank a lot of coffee because all we're going to catch right now is the early crowd. For the real players, you're going to have to stay up a little later.'

On the way downtown, he gave her all the information he had on Samsonite. She didn't seem surprised at what she heard. She was more surprised when he'd finished the rundown and she looked up to find him staring at her.

'What?' she said. And then before he could answer, 'Ohhh. I get it. You feel like you know me. You know all about me because of what Kid's said.' When he nodded, she said, 'Well, I know a lot about you, too.'

'Do you?'

'All the key things, courtesy of Kid. I didn't know it was you at the time… but it was definitely you. You're disgustingly rich…'

'Oh, yes. Disgustingly.'

'You went from twenty-four-percent body fat down to fourteen…'

'Twelve.'

'Sick, insane Knicks fanatic…'

'Guilty.'

'You've been pretty much a celibate shut-in since your wife was killed…'

Jack jerked his head up sharply. His eyes widened as he stared at her.

'Whoops,' she said, when she saw his expression. 'That was a fairly tasteless thing to say, wasn't it? I'm sorry.'

'Is that what he said?'

'Is it true?'

Jack nodded, slowly and grimly.

'I am sorry,' she said, and reached over to touch the top of his shoulder. Then: 'Was it that terrible, what happened down there? Do you want to talk about it?'

'No,' Jack said. 'I don't. And I can't.'

'Kid talked about it all the time. He was obsessed with it.'

'Was he?'

'He talked about you all the time, too. You were his idol.'

'What I was, maybe. Not what I am now.'

'I don't think so, Jack. I think he wanted to be you in any of your incarnations.' She grinned, moved one finger to touch his lips to gently change his solemn expression into a smile. 'Kind of spooky, isn't it?'

'What?'

'You and me. You're his idol, and if I'm the Destination, I'm his perfect woman. His two ultimate fantasies coming face-to-face, colliding in space… Didn't they do a Star Trek about that once?' The cab pulled to a stop in the