“I asked him. He just laughed again and walked
out. Alex, I’m worried. I was just on my way to the
residents’ dorm. To make sure he was okay.”
I tried to talk her out of it but she was resolute.
She had an infinite capacity for guilt. Someday
she’d make someone a wonderful doormat.
It was ciear she wanted me to accompany her to
his apartment, and tired as I was, I agreed to go
with her, in case things got hairy. And on the-off
chance Valcroix really had an ace and might show
it.
The residents’ dorm across the boulevard from
the hospital was a utilitarian affair, three stories of
unfinished concrete over a subterranean parking
lot. Some of the windows had been brightened up
with plants and-flower arrangements resting on
sills or hanging from macrame harnesses. But that
didn’t stop it from looking like what it was: low-cost
housing.
An elderly black guard was stationed at the doorm
there had been rapes in the neighborhood and the
residents had screamed for- security. He looked at
our hospital badges and let us pass.
Valcroix’s apartment was on the second floor.
“It’s the one with the red door,” said Beverly,
pointing.
The corridor and all the other doors were beige.
Valcroix’s was scarlet and stood out like a wound.
“Amateur paint job?” I ran my hand over the
wood, which was rough and bubbled. A segment
froTM a doper comic had been pasted to the doorm
furry people popping pills and hallucinating in technicolor,
their fantasies sexually explicit and ex-cessivg.
“Uh huh.”
She knocked several times. When there was no
answer she bit her lip.
“Maybe he went out,” I-suggested.
“No. He always stays home when he’s not on call.
That was one thing that .bothered me about our
relationship. We never went out.”
I didn’t remind her that she’d spotted him in a
restaurant with Nona Swope. No doubt he was one
of those men as stingy about giving as he was greedy
about taking. He’d do the least amount possible to
enter a woman’s body. With her lowered expectations,
Beverly would have been his dream. Until he
got bored with her.
“I’m worried, Alex. I know h’s in there. He
could be OD’ed on something.”
Nothing t said alleviated her anxiety. Finally, we
went downstairs and convinced the guard to use
his master key on the red door.
“I don’t know ’bout this, Doctor,” he said, but he
unlocked the apartment.
The place was a sty. Dirty laundry was piled on
the grubby carpet. The bed was unmade. On the
nightstand was an ashtray brimming with mari-j
uana roaches. Nearby was an engraved roach clip
in the shape of a pair of femate legs. Medical books
and more doper comics coexisted in the paper bliz-
IP pounds OOD TEST 225′
zardthat ‘covered half the living room flOor. The
kitchen sink was a swamp of dirty dishes and cloudy
water. A fly Circled overhead.
No one was home.
Beverly walked through and unconsciously began
straightening up. The guard looked at her quizzically.
“Come on,” I said with surprising vehemence.
“He’s not here. Let’s get out.”
The guard cleared his throat.
She covered the bed, took a last look around, and
left.
Outside the dorm she asked if we should call the
police.
“What for?” I demanded sharply. “A grown man
leaves his apartment? They’d never take it seriously.
And for good reason.”
She looked wounded and wanted to discuss it
further but I begged off. I was weary, my head
hurt, my.joints were sore; it felt like I was coming
down with something. Besides, my altruism account
Was already badly overdrawn.
We crossed the street in silence and parted ways.
By the time I got home I felt really lousy–feverish,
logy, and aching all over. There was a bright spot–an
express letter from Robin confirming he departure
from Tokyo in a week. One of the Japanese executives
owned a condo on Kauai and he’d offered her
the use of it. She was hoping I could meet her flight
in Honolulu and se aside two weeks for fun and’
sun. I called Western Union and wired a Yes on all