CHAPTER 25

7:45 A.M. Tuesday

Dave Gross said: “You are a schlemiel, Johnny.”

Sandra Tyson said: “I think he’s a schnook.”

I said: “Schnook or schlemiel, I want another cup of black coffee, baby.”

I was on my tail and staring up at the early-morning sky. A little breeze from the river bit at my nose. Sandra’s terrace mattress was soft and sweet to my weary butt, but nothing on earth could kill the needled hammering behind my ears. They had taken me for bandaging to a Long Island hospital, where the doctor then gave me a small shot to quiet me down. But that was a century ago, after Dave rode into the Tyson driveway with a few friends from the Nassau County Police Department.

Together we watched Sandra’s figure move off the terrace toward her kitchen.

“You owe that little girl your life,” Dave said. “If she hadn’t called me, you’d be stiff and cold, Johnny.”

“A thoughtful wench,” I said. “What happened to Gloria and the ape?”

“Crazy, that broad. She tried to stand off the two cops. She ran for the woods and they brought her down, not hurt bad, but bad enough to level her.”

“And the gorilla?”

“He was tough to put away, Johnny. When the Cobb girl went down with a bullet in her shoulder, Keck flipped. Never saw anything quite like it. He fought like a steer to get next to her. One of the cops took him on and finally leveled him. But he cried like a baby when it was all over. Pitiful.”

“Poor slob. He was nuts about her.”

“And she had quite an imagination, that girl. Can you imagine keeping an ape like Keck on the hook? She should have played it smart and had Keck kill Tyson. He would have done it for her and no questions asked.”

“I had it figured that way at first,” I said. “Until I heard that tape in Mineola.”

Sandra came in with some more coffee. She sat me up and held me while I sipped and swallowed and fought to rub the cobwebs out of my eyes. Dave continued to bawl me out for making the trip to Tyson’s place alone and we argued it for a while until Sandra interrupted.

“The doctor said you need peace and quiet, Johnny.”

“I was just leaving.” Dave smiled. “Try not to move for a day or so, Johnny.”

“That won’t be easy,” Sandra said, and let him out through the living room.

When she returned I was sitting up by myself. She eased me back against the pillows and sat beside me, running a gentle hand over my brow. Beyond her pretty head, a couple of gulls were playing tag in the morning sun. A tug hooted and burped somewhere down on the river. A little cloud rose up out of nowhere and drifted slowly across the sky. From far away on a distant street, a horn honked. And then Sandra’s face blotted it all out and I could see only her, so close that her freckles showed.

“Relax,” she said.

“I need more coffee, baby.”

“Coffee will only keep you awake.”

“I don’t feel like sleeping.”

“You will in a little while.”

“Will I?”

“Move over, Johnny darling,” she said.

So I did as she said, of course.

And eventually I fell asleep.