The manager gave him another confused look, then relief took over. “Oh. Okay.” He smiled. “You had me going there.”
“I gathered. You’ve got a transient inside?”
“Uh, yeah. Well, a guy, anyway. I don’t know if he’s a transient or not.”
“Does he stink?”
“Huh?”
“Does the guy inside stink?”
The manager shook his head.
“No? Well, maybe he isn’t a transient, then.” He reached inside and grabbed his flashlight and slid it onto his belt. “Let’s find out.”
The manager led him to the row of glass doors, past a bug-eyed girl in the ticket kiosk and into the lobby. Two teenagers in mock tuxedos with black ties stood at the snack bar watching them.
There was no sign of anyone else in the lobby.
Chisolm looked at the manager and turned up his palms.
The manager swallowed and turned to the employees at the snack bar. “That guy in the army jacket-where’d he go?”
The boy behind the counter shrugged, but the girl pointed. “He said he was going to find his baby. I think he went into three.”
The manager looked at Chisolm. “Three is our smallest screen. It’s this way.”
Chisolm held out his arm. “Lead on.”
The manager turned and strode purposefully away. Chisolm followed.
As he walked, the manager looked over his shoulder. “We show second run children’s features on this screen.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. So maybe the guy is looking for a runaway kid or something.”
“Did you ask him?”
“No, sir. He wouldn’t tell us why he wanted in. He was just talking constantly about finding his baby and not listening to a word that I said. That’s why I-“
As they rounded a corner, Chisolm saw a pair of doors at the end of a short hallway. One was swinging open and a bearded man in his forties limped out.
“Where’s my baby!” he shouted at the manager.
The manager froze, which allowed Chisolm to stride past him.
“Hey, partner,” Chisolm said. “What’s going on?”
The man’s eyes were frantic and when they lighted on Chisolm, it was several moments before a flicker of recognition for his uniform registered in them.
“Shit,” he muttered.
Chisolm ignored the profanity and closed space with the man. Once he was an arm’s length away, he gave the man his most disarming smile. He knew that when he did that, the thin white scar that ran the length of his face stood out.
“What’s going on tonight?”
The man swallowed and glanced nervously over his shoulder. “Nothing,” he muttered.
Chisolm kept his smile up, but watched the man’s hands. They hung limply at his sides, visible and empty.
“Well, there’s something going on,” he told the man, “because the cops are here.”
That brought a rueful grin from the man. “True enough,” he said.
“What’s your name, friend?” Chisolm asked. He could smell the faint odor of alcohol on the man, but not the rotten, permanent smell that most transients carried. And although the bottoms of his jeans were dirty, he didn’t have the days upon days of dirt look about him.
“Kevin,” he said.
“Kevin?” Chisolm noticed his hair was uncombed and his eyes seemed a little unfocused. He began to wonder if the guy was more of a Signal Forty-eight, a mental.
“Yeah. Kevin.”
“Kevin, what’s the deal here? The manager said you came in looking for someone.”
Kevin shot the manager a dirty look, the kind reserved for snitches.
“Who’re you looking for, Kevin?”
“My baby,” he mumbled.
“Boy or girl?”
“Boy,” Kevin said. “Three months old.”
Chisolm raised his eyebrows. “Three months old and he walked in all by himself?”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make fun, motherfucker. It’s a serious matter.”
Chisolm forced his smile to remain in place. “Fair enough, Kevin. What’s your baby’s name?”
“What do you care?”
“It’s my job to care. Besides, who doesn’t care about kids?”
Kevin grunted.
“What’s your boy’s name?”
“Kyle.”
“Okay, good. Nice name. Who’s Kyle with tonight?”
“His whore mother,” Kevin said, his voice rising slightly. His fists clenched and unclenched.
Chisolm ignored the epithet. “What’s her name?”
“Cindy the Fucking Whore.”
“Does she have a last name, Kevin?”
“Harrison.”
Chisolm tilted his head toward the manager, keeping his eyes on Kevin. “Son, I want you to go to the front of the theater and tell your concession clerks to tell my partner where I’m at when he comes in. Then I want you to find Cindy Harrison for me. Got it?”
“Yessir,” the manager said, his voice breaking. He turned and scuttled off in a rush.
Chisolm turned back to Kevin. “You’re a little upset about something, huh, Kevin?”
“It’s not your business.”
“Most days, you’d be right,” Chisolm said. “But unfortunately, not today. Not here in a public place. Now I’ve got to figure out what’s going on and solve the problem. That’s my duty.”
Kevin shook his head and said nothing.
Chisolm examined his olive drab jacket. “You buy that at the Army-Navy Surplus store on Division?”
Kevin’s eyes flared. “Hell, no! This is my jacket. I’ve had it since Parris Island.”
“Marine?” Chisolm asked.
“Yeah. Seventy to Seventy-one.”
“Well, then Semper Fi,” Chisolm said.
Kevin fixed him with a suspicious look. “You were in the Corps?”
“No. Army.”
“Really?” Kevin’s voice was full of doubt. “When?”
“Sixty-nine to seventy-one.”
“In the Army?”
Chisolm nodded.
“You go to the ‘Nam?”
“Mekong Delta.”
Kevin considered him for a long moment. “I was in Saigon. Except when I was out in the bush.”
“Which was all the time, I bet,” Chisolm guessed.
“You know it, brother.” Kevin smiled in spite of himself, but the smile quickly faded and was replaced by suspicion again. “What unit were you with?”
“S-F,” Chisolm said.
“Special Forces? Really?”
Chisolm nodded. “Two tours.”
“No kidding?” Kevin nodded his head in appreciation. “Most of the Army guys I came across were pussies, but you Green Berets came through for us a few times.”
“Marines saved our asses a few times, too.”
The two men stood quietly for a minute. Chisolm hoped that he’d made enough of a connection with the man to keep him from drifting off into suspicion and anger again.
“What can I do to help you here tonight, Kevin?”
Kevin stared at him for another long moment, then shook his head clear of his reverie. “Not a fucking thing,” he said. “I’m here to get my baby back from the whore that took him from me.”
“You know Cindy is here at the theater?”
He nodded. “I saw her walk in when I rode by on the bus. She’s here.”
“You two married?”
“Not anymore.”
“How long have you been divorced?”
“You’re a nosy fucker, aren’t ya?”
Chisolm smiled. “Peril of the job, I suppose.”
“Well, it’s none of your business. None of this is.”
Kevin started toward Chisolm and tried to walk past him.
Chisolm sidestepped and grabbed onto Kevin’s wrist and elbow. In one smooth motion, he swept his foot forward with as much force as he could muster, intending to take the man to the ground. His foot made contact with Kevin’s calf. There was a hollow thunk and Kevin fell forward like a rock. His lower leg jutted out at against his pants in an unnatural angle.
Kevin grunted but didn’t cry out. He landed on his face and his chest and tried to roll. Despite being surprised at the injury he had caused, Chisolm followed through on his takedown by dropping his weight onto Kevin’s upper back, leaning his shin across the back of his neck.
He heard the man curse, but paid no attention. Chisolm was transfixed by the compound fracture he seemed to have caused.