“Are you telling me that Aimee Biel called you first?”
“I saw her in school. She said we needed to talk.”
“About what?”
He shrugged. “She just said we needed to talk.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Why didn’t we what?”
“Talk. Right then and there.”
“We were in the hall. There were people all around. She wanted to talk privately.”
“I see. So you called her?”
“Yes.”
“And what did she say?”
“It was weird. She wanted to know about my grades and extracurricular activities. It was more like she wanted to confirm them. I mean, we know each other a little. And everyone talks. So she already knew most of that stuff.”
“That’s it?”
“We only talked for, like, two minutes. She said she had to go. But she also said she was sorry.”
“About?”
“About my not making Duke.” He put his head down again.
“You got a lot of anger stored up, Roger.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Tell me then.”
“Forget it.”
“I wish I could, but see, you called me.”
Roger Chang studied the alley as though he’d never really seen it before. His nose twitched, and his face twisted in disgust. Finally he found Myron’s face. “I’m always the Asian geek, you know? I was born in this country. I’m not an immigrant. When I talk, half the time people expect me to sound like an old Charlie Chan movie. And in this town, if you don’t have money or you’re not good at sports… I see my mother sacrifice. I see how hard she works. And I think to myself: If I can just stick it out. If I can just work hard in high school, not worry about all that stuff I’m missing, just work hard, make the sacrifice, it will all be okay. I’ll be able to move out of here. I don’t know why I focused on Duke. But I did. It was, like, my one goal. Once I made it, I could relax a little. I’d be away from this store….”
His voice drifted off.
“I wish you’d have said something to me,” Myron said.
“I’m not good at asking for help.”
Myron wanted to tell him he should do more than that, maybe get some therapy to deal with the anger, but he hadn’t walked a mile in the kid’s shoes. He didn’t have the time either.
“Are you going to report me?” Roger asked.
“No.” Then: “You could still get in on wait-list.”
“They’ve already cleared it.”
“Oh,” Myron said. “Look, I know it seems like life and death now, but what school you make isn’t that important. I bet you’ll love Rutgers.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He didn’t sound convinced. Part of Myron was angry, but another part — a growing part — remembered Maxine’s accusation. There was a chance, a decent chance, that by helping Aimee, Myron had destroyed this young man’s dream. He couldn’t just walk away from that, could he?
“If you want to transfer after a year,” Myron said, “I’ll write a letter.”
He waited for Roger to react. He didn’t. So Myron left him alone in the stench of the alley behind his mother’s dry cleaning store.
CHAPTER 39
Myron was on his way to meet up with Joan Rochester — she was afraid to be home when her daughter called in case her husband was around — when his mobile phone rang. He checked the caller ID and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the name ALI WILDER pop up.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
Silence.
“I’m sorry about before,” Ali said.
“Don’t apologize.”
“No, I sounded hysterical. I know what you were trying to do with the girls.”
“I didn’t want to get Erin involved.”
“It’s all right. Maybe I should be concerned or whatever, but I just really want to see you.”
“Me too.”
“Come over?”
“I can’t right now.”
“Oh.”
“And I’ll probably be working on this until late.”
“Myron?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t care how late.”
He smiled.
“Whatever the time, come by,” Ali said. “I’ll be waiting. And if I fall asleep, throw pebbles at my window and wake me up. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Be careful.”
“Ali?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
There was a little intake of air. Then, with a little song in the voice: “I love you too, Myron.”
And suddenly, it was as if Jessica were a wisp of smoke.
Dominick Rochester’s office was a depot for school buses.
Outside his window was a plethora of yellow. This place was his cover. School buses could do wonders. If you transport kids in the seats, you could pretty much transport anything else in the undercarriage. Cops might stop and search a truck. They never do that with a school bus.
The phone rang. Rochester picked it up and said, “Hello?”
“You wanted me to watch your house?”
He did. Joan was drinking more than ever. It could have been from Katie’s disappearance, but Dominick was no longer so sure. So he had one of his guys keep an eye. Just in case.
“Yeah, so?”
“Earlier today some guy stopped by to talk to your wife.”
“Earlier today?”
“Right.”
“How much earlier?”
“Couple of hours maybe.”
“Why didn’t you call then?”
“Didn’t think much about it, I guess. I mean, I wrote it down. But I thought you only wanted me to call you if
