Nightlife: A Novel

27

Calvin Dunn sat in a winged armchair in the farthest corner of the Sky Inn lobby, so that his back was against the wall in the corner next to the stone fireplace. There was no fire tonight, because the temperature had been in the nineties today, and the heat lingered in the brick walls of the building. Calvin Dunn read the newspaper.

It seemed to him that the story of the female serial killer had already begun to get overripe in Flagstaff. It was not on the front page anymore. There were enough car accidents and killings of local people by their friends and neighbors to keep the cops busy and provide the reporters with copy. Nobody seemed excited anymore by the girl’s visit to town. She was like a cloud that had passed overhead without getting anybody wet.

He lifted his eyes over the newspaper and watched the young man at the front desk. It was after two A.M. and the last guest had come into the lobby an hour ago, but the clerk was always busy looking busy, trying to keep himself in line for a promotion to—what? Head night clerk? He was the only night clerk. This time of night he was running low on things to do, so he polished his counter with a can of Pledge and a hotel washcloth. He was aware of Calvin Dunn’s presence, and looked up at him occasionally.

Calvin Dunn folded his newspaper under his arm, stood up, and walked to the desk.

The clerk said, “Can I help you, sir?”

“Do you happen to be the one who checked in that girl I’ve been reading about in the newspapers?”

“Yes, sir. That was me.”

Calvin Dunn looked interested. “That must have been something. What was she like?”

It was a momentous question, one the young man had probably been asked many times at first, but that people had stopped asking since the girl had disappeared. “She was really nice looking. That was the first thing I noticed, the first thing anybody would notice. But then, when I asked her for a credit card, she said she didn’t use them. She didn’t look like the kind of person who doesn’t use them. She didn’t look poor, or political, or anything.”

“She’s a criminal,” said Calvin Dunn. “I would have expected a criminal would be eager to use a credit card—somebody else’s, of course.”

“I wouldn’t really know,” said the clerk. “But she had a purse full of cash. I could see it when she paid for her room. I thought for a minute that maybe she was, like, a movie star who didn’t want to be recognized.”

“Happen to see a gun?”

“No. I’m sure she probably had one, but she didn’t let me see it.”

“You know, you might have been killed.”

“I know,” said the young man. He seemed pleased that at last somebody had realized it.

“The thing is, you were brave to turn her in.”

“Not really,” he said. “I was at home, and I happened to see her picture on television. I called the police from my apartment.”

“That’s what I mean. You were the only one who recognized her, and turned her in.” He paused. “The only one.”

“I was?”

“Yeah,” said Calvin Dunn. “She’s probably given a lot of thought to you during the past couple of days. Of course, there were other people later who said they remembered her going by one place or stopping in another. You and I know that it’s mostly because people hate it when anything big happens right in front of their noses and they don’t see it. So they convince themselves that they did see it. The point is, you were the only one who really did notice and got the police after her.”

The young man seemed uncomfortable. “Are you a police officer?”

“No,” said Calvin Dunn. “I work for the family of one of the victims.”

“I wondered why you were sitting by the fireplace reading the newspaper so late at night, so I thought you were the police, watching me.”

“You’re not far off.”

The young man looked into his eyes and understood. “You’ve been waiting for her, haven’t you? You think she’s going to come back here and try to kill me.”

Calvin Dunn said, “The thought had crossed my mind.”

“Oh, man.”

“It’s just a precaution. The police are watching the bus station and the car rental places and the airport and even the highway entrance ramps. They’ve got all the rational places covered. They know what she looks like, and if she shows up where they are, they’ll probably get her.”

“You sound as though you don’t think she will.”

“She’s got another side besides the rational one, and that makes all the difference. She looks as though she wouldn’t say boo to a goose, but once in a while, she pulls out a big old pistol and shoots a guy through the head. That shows that she doesn’t necessarily do what other people would do.”

“But she wouldn’t get anything from killing me.”

“It’s hard to say what she got from killing those other people either. Some killers get a thrill out of it, and some are just pissed off.” He shrugged. “I’m a little surprised that the police haven’t considered the same thing. They’re acting as though they think she’s already a thousand miles from here.”

“You don’t think she is?”

“I don’t know, and neither do they.”

“Are you planning to stay here until my shift ends?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” said the young man. “Make yourself comfortable.” He held out his hand. “My name is Donald Holman.”

Calvin Dunn shook his hand. “I know that. Calvin Dunn.”

“You know, the light up here in the lobby is better for reading. Hardly anybody sits by the fireplace in the summer.”

“I noticed that. But it’s the only place where someone outside can’t see me through the windows.”

“Oh. Yeah. Well, if you need anything while I’m on duty, just let me know.”

“You know, there is just one thing. Do you, by any chance, have a woman staying here named Catherine Hobbes?”

Donald looked troubled. “I’m really not supposed to talk about any of the people staying here.”

“I didn’t ask for her room number or anything. I could go over to the house phone over there and ask the operator to connect me with her room.”

“I know,” said Donald. “It’s a silly rule. She is staying here. She flew in from Portland to interview me a few hours after I reported Tanya. After that Detective Hobbes checked in, and one of the local cops told me she wanted to be in this hotel because she likes to see everything that Tanya Starling sees.”

“Maybe that works for her. What it does for me is put you both in one place, and that makes this the place to be.”

Donald frowned. “You think she’s in danger too?”

Calvin Dunn shrugged. “She’s a detective hunting for a serial killer, she’s in a strange town where the serial killer is—or was—and the killer knows her name. The thing that keeps cops alive isn’t that they’re especially smart, which most of them aren’t, or tough, which a few of them are. It’s that they come in bunches, an inexhaustible supply, like ants. But she’s here alone.”

“I guess you’re right. She’s probably as much of a target as I am.”

Calvin Dunn was leaning on his elbows at the counter with his arms folded. He straightened, and his right hand opened his coat to reach into his inner pocket. Donald saw the knurled handgrips of the big pistol in its shoulder holster, but the coat closed again and Calvin Dunn held a thin stack of hundred-dollar bills. “Tonight I expect to be in sight of you until your shift ends, but maybe I won’t be tomorrow. This is five hundred, and here’s my card. I would like you to call my cell phone number any time Detective Hobbes goes out or has a visitor. If you happen to overhear anything, I can promise you a lot more.”

“Gee, I don’t know . . .”

“Please take it. She’s a dear friend of mine, and she’s just too proud and stubborn to let me protect her.” Then he had Donald’s wrist in a grip that wasn’t hard, but it was so strong that Donald was afraid to let any of his muscles contract for fear the grip would tighten and break his wrist. Dunn put the money into his hand, then released him.

“I shouldn’t be taking this money, or spying on a policewoman.”

“It’s for her own good, and yours. This way I can keep an eye on both of you at once.”

“But I don’t feel right about taking the money.”

“I’m going outside to look around the parking lot now,” said Calvin Dunn. “And don’t worry about my money. The only reason to have money is to help your friends.”