They Don't Play Stickball in Milwaukee

Another Planet

The end began with Guppy’s most elegant exclamation: “He’s gone!”

Guppy had gotten back from work at 7:00 P.M. with a bag of groceries and the New York City papers. He seemed edgy, which was saying something for Guppy. With his dark puppy-dog eyes and calm, sweet expression, he often appeared unaffected by the pressure. Not tonight. It was as if he had sensed what was coming. His report to John and me about the Riversborough scuttlebutt was terse and discouraging.

The cops had tracked down the trucker who’d given me the lift back into town. And after coming up dry north of the border, the cops were now prepared to believe I was still in the vicinity of Riversborough. They had, as John had earlier mentioned, begun canvassing whole sections of town. It wouldn’t be long, Guppy said, before they got to his neighborhood. We agreed that the cops, lacking a warrant, were unlikely to find the old bomb shelter. Even so, Guppy was unnerved.

“For chrissakes,” MacClough prodded, “if there’s somethin’ else, you gotta tell us now. We can’t afford for the cops to show up here and catch us with our pants around our ankles.”

“I am afraid,” he said, “that we are in danger of being found out.”

“Why?” I was more than curious. “How?”

“Apparently, it has raised some suspicions with the constabulary that the waiter at the Manhattan Court Coffee House remembered me speaking with you that day and that you asked after me.”

“Coincidence,” MacClough dismissed. “Klein musta talked to a hundred people since he got here. I don’t think the cops suspect any of them.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. MacClough, I don’t think you are fully aware of all the specifics. You see, Mr. Klein came to me the day of the murder. A woman customer reported seeing him at the bookstore only a short while after he left.”

MacClough’s face soured. “Shit!”

“By your expression,” said Guppy, “I can see you understand the full implications of these two incidents.”

“Is this guy from India or another planet?” MacClough wondered half-jokingly. “I was a fuckin’ NYPD detective. Of course I understand. We gotta get you outta here, Klein, and fast. You,” he pointed to Guppy, “get Zak and tell him he’s got five minutes to get his ass in gear.”

“But-” Guppy began.

“But nothin’. There’s a good shot the cops are gonna show up here with a warrant in hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an unmarked car sitting out front right now. So move,” John shouted at our host.

This time, Guppy did not question John’s reasoning and ran to fetch my nephew. MacClough and I just stared at one another. What was there to say? I knew that my life as a free man was about to end.

“I’m just going to give myself up.”

“Christ, Klein, not that shit again.”

“No, John, I have to. I’m not going to get caught slinking around. I owe it to Kira to tell my story with my head up. If they catch me trying to escape, no one will listen. The whole world’ll think I’m guilty.”

“The whole world already does.”

“I’m sorry, MacClough, I’ve gotta do this.” I started to move to the bulkhead door.

He grabbed me, straining more than he should have to to hold on. I noticed his skin and the whites of his eyes were jaundiced. I wanted to ask him what was the matter, but I knew he wouldn’t tell me. He had something to say and he meant for me to hear it.

“Listen, Dylan.” That got my attention. He only called me that when he was serious. “I guess maybe I understand about you wanting to turn yourself in. I wanted to do it after the Hernandez case, but your brother talked me out of it. And he was right to do it. It was the right thing for me and it was the right thing for the department.”

“So, you did kill him.”

“That’s for another telling,” he said.

“You’re not my brother, John, and I didn’t kill anyone. So let go of me and let me do what I have to do.”

“Can’t you figure out what I’m tryin’ to say? You can’t give yourself up, because they’ll never let you live long enough to tell your story. There won’t be any arraignment or trial. They’ll find you hanging in your cell before the sun comes up. Or maybe some vigilante will whack you on the way into the station. Maybe the the local cops’ll shoot you and claim you went for one of their guns. It’s been known to happen. Whoever’s behind this has power and influence. And if they went this far to stop you, they can’t afford to let you have your day in court. You walk into that police station and you’re sentencing yourself to death.”

“I’ll do it through Larry-”

“Bad idea. Too late, anyhow.”

“Maybe we’re over-reacting,” I proposed halfheartedly. “We don’t know how long the cops questioned Guppy for. Maybe he took their questions the wrong way. If the cops really suspected him, wouldn’t they have barged in here already?”

“You’re whistling in the graveyard, Klein.” MacClough knocked my theory down. “They wouldn’t barge in. They’d have no way of knowing whether you were armed or how heavily armed. They wouldn’t know if you and the Gupster were here alone or whether you had reinforcements. No, they’d wait for you and grab you on the way out.”

“You mean kill me on the way out.”

“Maybe, but not likely, not unless you resisted. They’d probably wait until they had you in private.”

“God, that’s a comfort.”

MacClough pulled his.38 and signaled me to be quiet. The bulkhead door flew open and a panicked Guppy stepped through.

“He’s gone!”

“Who’s g-”

“Zak!” Guppy gasped. “Zak is nowhere to be found in the house.”

“What is it with the fuckin’ Kleins, the gene for martyrdom dominant in your family or what?” Johnny’s face twisted with worry and what looked to be hints of pain.

“Guppy, can you run through all those Isotope Web sites and chat rooms?”

“I thought we were in a rush?”

“We are,” Johnny said, “but do it anyway.”

I knew the way MacClough thought. He was looking for something specific. And after only two minutes of scanning, Guppy found what MacClough had been hunting for.

“Oh my god!” Guppy barely got the words out. “Look.”

This is what he pointed to on the screen:

Your nephew’s here for a visit. Love Valencia. He says there is no disc, but we cannot take that risk. Bring it inn and we’ll trade you for him. If not, he’ll fade away.

Their mispelling of “inn” was not lost on us. One or all of us were about to jump into the lion’s mouth to pull Zak’s head out.