“No, don’t touch that!” It was a scream.
Diane looked at Kelly, startled. “What?”
“Leave the lights on.”
Diane asked scornfully, “Are you afraid of the dark?”
“Yes. I’m—I’m afraid of the dark.”
Diane said patronizingly, “Why? Did your parents tell you scary bogeyman stories when you were a little girl?”
There was a long silence. “That’s it.”
Diane went to her own bed. She lay there for a minute, then closed her eyes.
Richard, darling, I never believed that someone could die of a broken heart. I believe it now. I need you so much. I need you to guide me. I need your warmth and your love. You’re here somewhere, I know you are. I can feel you. You’re a gift that God loaned me, but not for long enough. Good night, my guardian angel. Please don’t ever leave me. Please.
In her bed, Kelly could hear Diane quietly sobbing. Kelly’s lips tightened. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. And tears began to roll down her cheeks.
Chapter 27
WHEN DIANE AWAKENED in the morning, Kelly was sitting in a chair, facing a wall.
“Morning,” Diane said. “Did you get some sleep?”
There was no response.
“We have to figure out what our next move is. We can’t stay here forever.”
No response.
Exasperated, Diane said loudly, “Kelly, can you hear me?”
Kelly spun around in her chair. “Do you mind? I’m in the middle of a mantra.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t—”
“Forget it.” Kelly rose. “Did anyone ever tell you you snore?”
Diane felt a small shock. She could hear Richard’s voice saying, on the first night they had slept together, Darling, did you know you snore? Let me put it another way. It’s not really a snore. Your nose sings delicious little melodies through the night like the music of angels. And he had taken her in his arms and—
“Well, you do,” Kelly said. She walked over to the television set and turned it on. “Let’s see what’s happening in the world.” She began to channel surf and suddenly stopped. A news show was on the air, and the host was Ben Roberts. “It’s Ben!” Kelly exclaimed.
“Who’s Ben?” Diane asked indifferently.
“Ben Roberts. He does the news and interview shows. He’s the only interviewer I really enjoy. He and Mark became great friends. One day—” She suddenly stopped.
Ben Roberts was saying:
“…and in a bulletin just in, Anthony Altieri, the purported Mafia head who was recently acquitted in his murder trial, died this morning, of cancer. He was…”
Kelly turned to Diane. “Did you hear that? Altieri’s dead.”
Diane felt nothing. It was news from another world, another time.
Diane looked at Kelly and said, “I think it would be better if you and I split up. The two of us together are too easy to spot.”
“Right,” Kelly said dryly. “We’re the same height.”
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant. But I could put on whiteface and—”
Diane was looking at her, puzzled. “What?”
“Just kidding,” Kelly said. “Splitting up is a great idea. It’s almost a plan, isn’t it?”
“Kelly—”
“It’s certainly been interesting knowing you, Mrs. Stevens.”
Diane said curtly, “Let’s check out of here.”
THE LOBBY WAS crowded with a convention of women checking in and half a dozen guests checking out. Kelly and Diane waited in line.
Out on the street, looking into the lobby, Harry Flint saw them and moved out of sight. He picked up his cellular phone. “They just came down to the lobby.”
“Good. Did Carballo get there, Mr. Flint?”
“Yes.”
“Do exactly as I told you. Cover the entrance to the hotel from both corners, so that no matter which way they go, they’re trapped. I want them to disappear without a trace.”
KELLY AND DIANE had finally reached the cashier’s desk.
The cashier smiled. “I hope you’ve had a pleasant stay here.”
“Very pleasant, thank you,” Diane said. We’re still alive.
AS THEY WALKED to the lobby door, Kelly asked, “Do you know where you’re going now, Mrs. Stevens?”
“No. I just want to get away from Manhattan. What about you?”
I just want to get away from you. “Back to Paris.”
The two of them stepped outside and carefully looked around. There was the usual pedestrian traffic and everything seemed normal.
“Good-bye, Mrs. Stevens,” Kelly said, a note of relief in her voice.
“Good-bye, Kelly.”
Kelly turned to the left and started walking toward the corner. Diane looked after her a moment, then turned to the right and began walking in the other direction. They had taken no more than half a dozen steps when Harry Flint and Vince Carballo suddenly appeared at opposite ends of the block. The expression on Carballo’s face was vicious. Flint’s lips were turned up in a half-smile.
The two men began closing in on the women, pushing their way through the pedestrians. Diane and Kelly turned to look at each other, panicky. They had been ambushed. They both hurried back toward the entrance of the hotel, but the doorway was so crowded that there was no way for them to get back inside. There was nowhere to go. The two men were getting closer.
Kelly turned to Diane, and as she watched, stunned, Diane smiled and waved cheerily at Flint and then at Carballo.
“Have you gone crazy?” Kelly whispered.
Diane, still smiling, took out her cell phone and spoke into it rapidly. “We’re in front of the hotel now…. Oh, good. You’re around the corner?” She grinned and gave a victory sign to Kelly. “They’ll be here in a minute,” she said loudly. She looked at Flint and Carballo and said into the phone, “No, there are only two of them.” Diane listened and then laughed. “Right…. They’re here? Okay.”
As Kelly and the two men looked on, Diane stepped off the curb into the street, scanning the oncoming cars. Diane started signaling to an approaching car in the distance and excitedly waved it over. Flint and Carballo had stopped, puzzled by what was happening.
Diane pointed to the two men. “Over here,” she shouted into the oncoming traffic, waving wildly. “Over here.”
Flint and Carballo looked at each other and made a quick decision. They turned back to where they had come from and disappeared around the corners.
Kelly was staring at Diane, her heart pounding wildly. “They’re gone,” she said. “Who—who were you talking to?”
Diane took a deep breath to steady herself. “Nobody. My battery is dead.”
Chapter 28
KELLY WAS STARING at Diane, dumbfounded. “That was great. I wish I had thought of that.”
Diane said dryly, “You will.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Get out of Manhattan.”
“How?” Kelly asked. “They’re going to be watching all the train stations—airports, bus stations, car rental—”
Diane thought for a moment. “We can go to Brooklyn. They won’t be looking there.”
“Fine,” Kelly said. “Go ahead.”
“What?”
“I’m not going with you.”
Diane started to say something and then changed her mind. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Mrs. Stevens.”
Diane said, “Well, then, we—Good-bye.”
“Good-bye.”
Kelly watched as Diane hailed a taxi and started to enter it. Kelly stood there, hesitant, trying to make a decision. She was standing alone on an unfamiliar street, with nowhere to go, and no one to go to. The taxi door closed, and the cab started to move.
“Wait!” Kelly shouted.
The taxi stopped. Kelly hurried up to it.
Diane opened the door, and Kelly stepped in and settled back in her seat.
“What made you change your mind?”
“I just realized I’ve never seen Brooklyn.”
Diane looked at Kelly a moment and shook her head.
The driver asked, “Where to?”
“Take us to Brooklyn, please,” Diane said.
The taxi started. “Anyplace special?”
“Just drive around.”
Kelly looked at Diane incredulously. “You don’t know where we’re going?”
“I’ll know when we get there.”
Why did I come back? Kelly was asking herself.
During the ride, the two of them sat silent, side by side. In twenty minutes, they were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
“We’re looking for a hotel,” Diane told the driver. “I’m not sure which—”
“You want a nice hotel, lady? I know just the one. It’s called the Adams. You’ll like it.”
THE ADAMS HOTEL was a five-story brick building with a canopy in front and a doorman in attendance.
When the taxi pulled up at the curb, the driver asked, “Does this look okay?”
Diane said, “This looks fine.”
Kelly said nothing.
They got out of the taxi, and the doorman greeted them. “Good day, ladies. Are you checking in?”
Diane nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you have luggage?”
Diane said glibly, “The airline lost our bags. Is there anyplace around here where we can shop and pick up some clothes?”
“There’s a very nice ladies’ shop at the end of the block. Perhaps you would like to check in here first. Then we can have your things sent directly to your room.”
“Fine. Are you sure they’ll have a room for us here?”