"Look, maybe…"
"He needs a puppy now, Burke. To make him feel safe. I…promised him."
"You got a blanket for her?" I surrendered.
121
The gypsy cab pulled a little to the left when I tapped the brakes, but otherwise it stumbled along well enough. I looped over the Triboro, caught the FDR south. It was down to two lanes…some construction project…and the yutz in the Lincoln in front of me decided to take his half out of the middle, blocking and guarding so I couldn't get past.
The puppy yawned, half sleeping in her blanket on the front seat. I admired the slick way Terry had hijacked me into delivering her— the Mole was teaching him science, but Michelle had given him art.
Horns blared behind me. I extended my arms in a "what can I do?" gesture and let them blast away.
No cassette player in this heap. I found the all-news station, listened to the body count that passes for electronic journalism in this town. Ninety-one degrees, humidity eighty-eight percent. Some ballplayer was demanding a few more million bucks a year to do whatever he did. Gas prices going up— politicians demand a complete investigation. Body of a baby found in Bowery Bay, just off La Guardia Airport. City-Wide Special Victims Task Force Chief Wolfe says indictments will be sought against those responsible once autopsy is completed.
I lit a smoke, thinking about spirits.
122
Just past eleven. The guy who opened the back door to Mama's nodded at me, ignoring the bundle in my arms. He glanced over my shoulder, pointed at the gypsy cab, said something I couldn't understand, pointed to me. I nodded. He made a "wait here" gesture, came out with a small pot and a brush. Painted some Chinese characters on the trunk of the cab— looked like whitewash, nice calligraphy. He bowed— okay now. You park in Max the Silent's spot and they don't know your car, the neighborhood recycling program goes right into action.
I showed Mama the puppy. She patted its body, clucking at the plumpness. Opened its mouth, raised its tail.
"Good puppy, Burke. Strong."
"Yeah. It's for Luke. A gift."
"Okay. Puppy hungry?"
"Probably. Let's let the kid feed her, okay?"
"In basement. With the woman."
"We'll wait."
123
No lunchtime customers yet— one of Mama's thugs in place at the door, across from the register. Mama was scratching behind the puppy's ears with one hand, the other waving in front of the dog's nose. The pup's eyes were locked on Mama's waving hand.
"Train dog this way," she said. "Rub hand in liver, dog follow everywhere."
Something to that. Something Blossom told me about pheromones, the copper-estrogen smell still sharp in my nostrils whenever I thought of her.
"Hi, Burke!" Luke bounded into the front room, Teresa trailing in his wake.
"Hello, Luke. How's it going?"
But the kid wasn't looking at me anymore, his face rapt with the wonder of the puppy.
"What a puppy! He's yours, Burke?"
"No. The puppy is yours. A gift from your friend Terry. And it's a girl, not a boy."
"Can I…?"
Mama handed him the pup. Luke sat on the floor, cuddling the dog, pushing his face into the animal's snout, giggling when the pup licked his face.
"She likes me. What's her name?"
"She's your pup, kid. So you name her, okay?"
"Okay," the child said, his face all concentration, patting his dog. "Prince," he said. "Prince. Prince the Puppy. My good old puppy."
He was rocking back and forth on the floor, holding the puppy, face wet with tears. "Don't take Prince!" he screamed, rolling over, trying to shield the pup with his body. Teresa started toward him. The front door opened, three men in business suits. Mama barked something at the waiter standing across from the register. He leaped up, his body between the customers and us, chesting them out the door into the street, door closing behind him. Two more of her men ran from the kitchen, the first one pulling an automatic from under his white coat. Teresa had the boy in her arms. The kid was sweat-drenched, mouth open, no sound, veins popping on his neck.
Luke went rigid. Teresa crooned, stroking him like he had the puppy. The boy's eyes closed. A shudder shook him. The puppy stood next to him on its stubby legs, guarding.
Luke's eyes opened. His fine hair was matted to his scalp, blood in one palm from his nails.
"It's okay, Luke," Teresa said to him. "A bad dream, that's all. You're safe. The puppy's safe."
"My puppy…"
"Ssssh, child. It's all over now."
"They killed his puppy." Toby's little wiseguy voice coming out of Luke's body. "They hung it upside down. They cut it open. The man with the hood, he cut out the heart and he ate it. He said he'd cut out Luke's heart too. If he ever told. Luke swore he never would. Luke's a little fucking pussy."
I dropped to my knees, my hand on the back of Luke's head, the way you support a baby who can't hold his head up yet. "Tell what, Toby?"
"Baby baby baby," the child babbled. A murderer's mantra. I watched his eyes. The shift came. "Baby," the voice hissed. "Bad baby. Killed my puppy. Baby wouldn't play like they wanted. I am…"
He launched himself off the floor, scrambling for one of the table settings. Where they had knives. I took him down, smothering his rage with my body, smelling his blood.
He went rigid again. Then I felt him soften beneath me, let him loose. He shook himself, sweat droplets flying. Teresa was talking to him. One of Mama's waiters swept the restaurant with the barrel of his pistol, looking for the evil with a blind eye.
124
Luke sat on Mama's lap, sipping from a glass of ice water. One of the waiters put a Closed for Repairs sign in the window— no customers today. The puppy plodded around on the tabletop, investigating all the smells.
"Luke, listen to Mama," the dragon lady said, soft-voiced. "Nobody hurt puppy. Nobody, understand? You take puppy with you. Everyplace you go, people watch you. Safe, okay?"
"Sure, Mama," the kid said, watching the puppy lick up a mixture of tuna flakes and rice from a saucer.
I stepped away from the table, spoke to Teresa in a corner.
"Dissociation. Trauma-memories. He was reliving, reexperiencing."
"Did he have a puppy…before?"
"I don't know. Now's not the time to ask him. He comes back more quickly now…we're getting closer."
"Is it safe to leave the puppy with him?"
"You saw for yourself. It's babies he thinks are the enemy…a part of him, but he doesn't see that yet."
"Remember what we talked about…? I want to bring that woman tomorrow. To talk to you. Not here, but a place close by. One of Mama's people will take you there, okay?"
She nodded.
I went to the pay phone in the back.
"This is SAFE. How can I help you?"
"You buy my clothes yet?" I asked Noelle.