“That guy has been in the club,” she finally said. “Like in the past couple of weeks.”
“You think he recognized you?”
“Of course he did. But he couldn’t give us a single sip of water because he didn’t want his wife asking questions. Asshole.”
After that, Keri didn’t want to talk. I hummed a few bars of “Enter Sandman” to block the screeching sound in my brain. Pretty soon we turned left, which as far as I could tell was north.
“Anyway,” she finally said. “I think we’re almost there.”
A few minutes later, at an intersection of two major roads, we turned east. The houses on our left were larger than others we had seen and were guarded by a stone wall about seven feet high.
“This isn’t Jimmy’s neighborhood,” Keri said, “but we have to walk through it to get there.”
By then it must have been nine in the morning. On any other Saturday we would have seen kids on bicycles, dads mowing front yards, families in minivans headed to soccer games. Instead the streets were littered with stalled cars but few pedestrians. I wondered if people remained indoors because they were afraid or because there was nowhere to go.
Eventually we reached the entrance to another neighborhood, where a couple of gates stood open, and Keri smiled.
“This is it! I remember that tree!”
Between the entry and exit gates stood a mesquite tree with a shape that made it look vaguely like a hand reaching for the sky. Like someone pleading to God. Keri hugged me and kissed me directly on the lips.
“We found it! Holy shit, we found it!”
The houses in this neighborhood looked so much alike that when we arrived at Jimmy’s, neither of us was completely sure it was his. The most convincing bit of evidence was the black BMW coupe parked in the open garage.
“Jimmy drives a car like that,” I said. “Let’s see if he’s home.”
We hurried to the front door and knocked. Then waited. There was no answer.
“He has to be here,” Keri said. “Right?”
“We drove to Cinnamon in his BMW.”
I knocked again, louder this time. When no one answered, I tried opening the door. To my great surprise it was unlocked.
“Hello?” I said. “Jimmy? You home?”
When there was no answer, I took Keri’s hand and led her through the door. The entryway was two stories high, overseen by a gaudy, gold chandelier I recognized from before. All the shades and blinds had been drawn and it was very dark. We crept forward, in the direction of the living room. It sounded like someone was snoring. Then a man stepped in front of me, feet spread wide, and with both hands pointed a pistol at my nose.
“Stop right there, motherfucker!”
I put up my hands. The gunman was Bart, Jimmy’s strongarm. His black hair was a mangled mess and I could smell BO even from this far away. It was the second time in two days someone had pointed a gun at me, and again I felt that strange and disconnected sense of superiority.
“Dude,” I said. “It’s me, Aiden. I was with you on Thursday night. I’m Jimmy’s friend from Houston.”
Even though the light was poor, I could see Bart’s eyes were bloodshot. His stance was unsteady and his hands wobbled perceptibly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re Bart. You brought Jimmy ninety grand while I was sitting with him. Then we partied all night long. This is Keri. She was there, too.”
Bart’s resolve wavered and he peeked around me.
“All right. Fuck.”
He lowered the weapon and Keri breathed a hurricane sigh of relief.
“It’s been a strange fucking time since then,” he said. “You’re looking for Jimmy, I take it.”
“Yes,” I said. Keri stepped out from behind me. I put my arm around her waist to make sure Bart knew what was up. “Also, we’re hungry. Y’all have any food?”
“There’s cereal and chips and shit in the pantry. I don’t know if any of the meat is still good. We cooked steaks on his grill yesterday afternoon.”
“Where’s Jimmy?”
“He should be upstairs in bed. We have some visitors from the club. Amy is with Jimmy, and Chelsea’s still, um, asleep on the couch there.”
“Y’all partied like rock stars?” asked Keri.
“You could say that. Anyway, help yourself to whatever you like. I’m gonna lie down for a bit. Jimmy will be up later.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“I remember now,” said Bart. “Jimmy was wondering where you went. Pretty amazing you found your way here.”
“Keri led the way.”
“Yeah,” she said. “And we’ve got an idea we want to run by Jimmy.”
“What is it?”
“Oh,” I said. “It’s not that big a deal. We’ll just get something to eat and wait on Jimmy.”
Bart’s eyes narrowed. He looked at Keri and back at me. He wasn’t used to being on the outside of things that concerned his boss.
And if I’m honest, it gave me pleasure to wield this tiny bit of power over him. It was a feeling I wanted to build upon over the coming days.
After that, Keri and I marched straight to the kitchen. In the pantry I found a package of Crystal Light lemonade and mixed myself a tall, powerful glass. I love to make it strong, so bitter it puckers your lips.
Then we built ourselves a breakfast of Ritz crackers and peanut butter and potato chips. Even after I felt full, I knocked back six Oreos, probably the most I’ve eaten in one sitting. They were a little stale, though, and double-stuffed. Double-stuffed Oreos are stupid. Why mess with perfection?
After we ate, Keri and I wandered into the living room. Chelsea was still out cold.
“What’s up with her?” Keri asked Bart, who was on the couch with arm over his head.
“Heroin.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. I checked her pulse three times already. She was pretty stressed last night and smoked more than the rest of us.”
“Jesus Christ,” said Keri. “Chelsea will take as much as you give her. You should have cut her off.”
“I’m not her dad.”
“Yeah, all you care about is her cunt.”
Bart sat up then, and I was about to intervene when I heard something above us. I looked up and saw Jimmy at the top of the stairs. He smiled and grabbed a handful of his disheveled hair.
“Look what the cat dragged in!”
Jimmy’s face was sallow and pouchy and his eyes were barely open. But as he descended the stairs, it was clear his enthusiasm was undiminished.
“I can’t believe you guys made it. I mean, shit. Isn’t this the fucking balls?”
He swept his arms upward in a grand gesture.
“What’s it like out there?”
“We slept in yesterday,” I said, “and by the time we went looking for food, the grocery stores and restaurants had been picked clean. Today it’s a lot quieter. I think people are starting to realize help isn’t coming.”
“The fuck you say. This isn’t Baghdad. We don’t just leave the lights off around here.”
When Keri and I looked at each other, it was the first time I had seen Jimmy’s electric smile falter. Like ever.
“What? You don’t seriously think they’re going to leave it like this.”
“Who is ‘they?’” I asked him.
“The government. The police. Engineers, baby!”
By now, Bart was sitting up on the couch, watching us. He didn’t look surprised. I suspected he had feared the worst but withheld his concerns.
“When we were at H.E.B.,” I told Jimmy, “this nerdy kid explained to us what really happened. It’s not some small thing, man. It has to do with that star in the sky.”
“Well shit,” said Jimmy. “We already knew that.”