By ten o'clock, the bars were starting to fill up with their strange smorgasbord of rough trade and out-of-town business types. What Philly lacked in quantity, it certainly made up for in breadth of depravity and innovation: from underwear lap dances to maraschino cherry dances. In the BYOB places, the law permitted customers to bring their own liquor, which allowed full nudity on the premises. In some of the places where alcohol was served, the girls wore a thin latex covering that made it look like they were nude. If necessity was the mother of invention in most areas of commerce, it was the lifeblood of the adult entertainment industry. One BYOB club, the Show and Tell, had lines around the block on weekends.
By midnight, Byrne and Victoria had visited half a dozen clubs. No one had seen Julian Matisse or, if they had, they were too afraid to acknowledge it. The possibility that Matisse had left town was becoming more and more likely.
At around one o'clock, they arrived at a club called Tick Tock. It was another licensed club that catered to that second-tier businessman, the guy from Dubuque who had concluded his business in Center City and found himself drunk and horny and diverted on his way back to the Hyatt Penn's Landing or the Sheraton Society Hill.
As they approached the front door of the freestanding building, they heard a loud discussion between a big man and a young woman. They were in the shadows at the far end of the parking lot. At one time, Byrne might have intervened, even off duty. Those days were behind him.
The Tick Tock was a typical urban strip club-a short runway bar with a pole, a handful of sad and sagging dancers, a two-watered-down- drink minimum. The air was dense with smoke, cheap cologne, and the primal smell of sexual desperation.
A tall, skinny black girl with a platinum wig was on the pole when they walked in, dancing to an old Prince song. Every so often she'd get down on her knees and crawl the area in front of the men at the bar. Some of the men waved money; most didn't. Every so often she'd pick up the bills and hook them on her G-string. If she stayed in the red and yellow lights she looked passable, at least for a downtown club. If she stepped into the white light, you could see the mileage. She avoided the white spotlights.
Byrne and Victoria stayed at the back bar. Victoria sat a few stools away from Byrne, giving him his play. The men were all very interested in her until they got a good look. They did their double takes, not entirely ruling her out. It was still early. It was clear they all felt they could do better. For the money. Occasionally a business type would stop, lean in, whisper something to her. Byrne wasn't worried. Victoria could handle herself.
Byrne was on his second Coke when a young woman approached, sidled up next to him. She wasn't a dancer; she was a pro, working the back of the room. She was on the tall side, brunette, wore a charcoal pinstriped business suit and black stiletto heels. The skirt was very short, and she wore nothing under the blazer. Byrne figured her routine was to fulfill the secretary fantasy a lot of these visiting businessmen had for their office mates back home. Byrne recognized her as the girl being pushed around in the parking lot earlier. She had the flushed, healthy complexion of a recently transplanted country girl, perhaps from Lancaster or Shamokin, someone who hadn't been at this long. That glow will certainly fade, Byrne thought. "Hi."
"Hi," Byrne replied.
She looked him up and down, smiled. She was very pretty. "You are one big guy, fella."
"All my clothes are big. It works out well."
She smiled. "What's your name?" she asked, having to shout over the music. A new dancer was up, a chunky Latina in a strawberry-red teddy and maroon pumps. She danced to an old-school song by the Gap Band.
"Denny."
She nodded, as if he had just given her a tip on her taxes. "My name's Lucky. Nice to meet you, Denny."
She said Denny with an emphasis that told Byrne she knew it was not his real name, and, at the same time, that she didn't care. Nobody at the Tick Tock had a real name.
"Nice to meet you," Byrne replied.
"Whatcha up to tonight?"
"Actually, I'm looking for an old friend of mine," Byrne said. "He used to come here all the time."
"Oh yeah? What's his name?"
"His name is Julian Matisse. Know him?"
"Julian? Yeah, I know him."
"Know where I can find him?"
"Yeah, sure," she said. "I can take you right to him."
"Right now?"
The girl looked around the room. "Gimme a minute."
"Sure."
Lucky made her way across the room, over to where Byrne figured the offices were. He caught Victoria's eye and gave her a nod. After a few minutes, Lucky returned. She had her purse over her shoulder.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"Sure."
"I generally don't provide such services for free, ya know," she said with a wink. "Gal's gotta make a living."
Byrne reached into his pocket. He pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, tore it in half. He handed one half to Lucky. He didn't have to explain. She grabbed the half, smiled and took him by the hand, said: "Told ya I was Lucky."
As they headed to the door, Byrne caught Victoria's eye again. He held up five fingers.
They walked a block to a crumbling corner building, the type of structure that was known in Philly as a Father, Son and Holy Ghost-a three-story row house. Some called it a trinity. Lights burned in a few of the windows. They walked down the side street and around back. They entered the row house and walked up the rickety stairs. The pain in Byrne's back and legs was excruciating.
At the top of the stairs, Lucky pushed open the door, entered. Byrne followed.
The apartment was crackhead-filthy. Stacks of newspapers and old magazines lined the corners. It smelled like rotting dog food. A broken pipe in the bathroom or kitchen had left a damp, briny odor throughout the space, warping the old linoleum, decaying the baseboards. There were half a dozen scented candles burning throughout, but they did little to mask the stench. From somewhere nearby a rap song played.
They walked to the front room.
"He's in the bedroom," Lucky said.
Byrne turned toward the door to which she was pointing. He glanced back, saw the infinitesimal tic on the girl's face, heard the creak of the floorboard, caught the flickering reflection in the window overlooking the street.
As far as he could tell, there was just one coming.
Byrne timed the impact, silently counting down as the heavy footsteps approached. He sidestepped at the last second. The guy was big, broad- shouldered, young. He slammed into the plaster. When he recovered, he turned, dazed, came at Byrne again. Byrne planted his feet and brought the cane up and out with all his strength. It caught the guy in the throat. A clot of blood and mucus flew out of his mouth. The guy tried to regain his balance. Byrne hit him again, this time low, just below the knee. He screamed once, then folded to the floor, scrambling to get something out of his waistband. It was a Buck knife in a canvas sheath. Byrne stepped on the man's hand with one foot, kicked the knife across the room with the other.
The man was not Julian Matisse. It had been a setup, a classic ambush. Byrne had all but known that it would be, but if word just happened to spread that a guy named Denny was looking for someone, and that you fucked with him at your own peril, it might make the rest of the night and the next few days move a little more smoothly.
Byrne looked at the man on the floor. He was clutching his throat, gasping for air. Byrne turned to the girl. She was shaking, backing slowly toward the door.
"He… he made me do it," she said. "He hurts me." She pushed up her sleeves, revealing black-and-blue bruises on her arms.