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“He just showed up. I didn’t invite him! He got here right after your mom did, and they’ve been going at it for twenty minutes now. Are you coming? ’Cause if they don’t calm down, I’m go
“No! Jesus, don’t do that!” My mom and dad carted off in handcuffs? I’ll never live it down. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” She hung up and looked at Sansone. “I have to leave.”
He followed her into the front parlor, where she pulled on her coat. “Will you be back tonight?”
“Right now, she’s not being too cooperative. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
He nodded. “I’ll keep her safe till then.”
“Safe?” She gave a snort. “How about you just keep her from ru
Outside, the night was cold and clear. Jane crossed the street to her Subaru and was just unlocking it when she heard a car door slam shut. She looked up the street to see Maura walking toward her.
“What’re you doing in the neighborhood?” Jane asked.
“I heard he found Lily Saul.”
“For what it’s worth.”
“You’ve already interviewed her?”
“And she’s not giving away anything. This doesn’t bring us one step closer.” Jane glanced down the street as Oliver Stark’s van pulled into a parking place. “What’s going on here tonight?”
“We’re all here to see Lily Saul.”
“We? Don’t tell me you’ve actually joined these freaks?”
“I haven’t joined anything. But my house was marked, Jane, and I want to know why. I want to hear what this woman has to say.” Maura turned and headed toward Sansone’s house.
“Hey, Doc?” Jane called out.
“Yes?”
“Watch yourself around Lily Saul.”
“Why?”
“She’s either crazy, or she’s hiding something.” Jane paused. “Or both.”
Even through Korsak’s closed apartment door, Jane could hear the thump of disco music, like a heartbeat throbbing in the walls. The man was fifty-five years old, he’d had a heart attack, and “Staying Alive” was probably a good choice for his theme song. She knocked, dreading the thought of Korsak in a leisure suit.
He opened the door, and she stared at his shimmering silk shirt, the armpits damp with circles of sweat. The collar was unbuttoned, the neckline open far enough to reveal a gorilla’s thatch of chest hair. The only thing missing was a gold chain around his fat neck.
“Thank God,” he sighed.
“Where are they?”
“Still in the kitchen.”
“And still alive, I assume.”
“They’ve been yelling loud enough. Geez, I can’t believe the language outta your ma’s mouth!”
Jane stepped through the doorway, into the psychedelic light show of a spi
Then she heard, over the bouncy beat of “Staying Alive,” two voices yelling in the kitchen.
“You are not staying here, looking like that. What the hell? Do you think you’re seventeen again?”
“You have no right to tell me what to do, Frank.”
Jane walked into the kitchen, but her parents didn’t even notice her, their attention was so completely focused on each other. What did Mom do to herself? Jane wondered, staring at Angela’s tight red dress. When did she discover spike heels and green eye shadow?
“You’re a grandmother, for God’s sake,” said Frank. “How can you go out wearing a getup like that? Look at you!”
“At least someone’s looking at me. You never did.”
“Got your boobs practically hanging outta that dress.”
“I say, if you got it, flaunt it.”
“What are you trying to prove? Are you and that Detective Korsak-”
“Vince treats me very well, thank you.”
“Mom,” said Jane. “Dad?”
“Vince? So now you call him Vince?”
“Hey,” said Jane.
Her parents looked at her.
“Oh Janie,” said Angela. “You made it after all!”
“You knew about this?” said Frank, glaring at his daughter. “You knew your mom was ru
“Ha!” Angela laughed. “Look who’s talking.”
“You let your mom go out dressed like that?”
“She’s fifty-seven years old,” said Jane. “Like I’m supposed to measure her hemline?”
“This is-this is inappropriate!”
“I’ll tell you what inappropriate is,” said Angela. “It’s you, robbing me of my youth and beauty and tossing me on the garbage heap. It’s you, sticking your dick in some stray ass that just happens to wiggle by.”
Did my mom just say that?
“It’s you having the gall to tell me what’s inappropriate! Go on, go back to her. I’m staying right here. For the first time in my life, I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m going to par-tee!” Angela turned and clacked on spike heels out of the kitchen.
“Angela! You come right back here!”
“Dad.” Jane grabbed Frank’s arm. “Don’t.”
“Someone’s gotta stop her before she humiliates herself!”
“Humiliates you, you mean.”
Frank shook off his daughter’s hand. “She’s your mother. You should talk some sense into her.”
“She’s at a party, so what? It’s not like she’s committing a crime.”
“That dress is a crime. I’m glad I got here before she did something she’d regret.”
“What are you doing here, anyway? How’d you even know she’d be here?”
“She told me.”
“Mom did?”
“Calls to tell me she’s forgiven me. Says I should go ahead and have my fun, ’cause she’s having fun, too. Going out to a party tonight. Says my leaving was the best thing ever happened to her. I mean, what the hell is going on in her head?”
What’s going on, thought Jane, is that Mom is having the ultimate revenge. She’s showing him she doesn’t give a damn that he’s gone.
“And this Korsak guy,” said Frank, “he’s a younger man!”
“Only by a few years.”
“You taking her side now?”
“I’m not taking any sides. I think you two need a time-out. Stay away from each other. Just leave, okay?”
“I don’t want to leave. Not till I have this out with her.”
“You really don’t have the right to tell her anything. You know that.”
“She’s my wife.”
“What’s your girlfriend go
“Don’t call her that.”
“What should I call her? The bimbo?”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand that Mom’s finally having some fun. She doesn’t get enough.”
He waved in the direction of the music. “You call that just fun? That orgy out there?”
“What do you call what you’re having?”
Frank gave a heavy sigh and sank into a kitchen chair. He dropped his head into his hands. “What a mess. What a big, fucking mistake.”
She stared at him, more shocked by his use of the F word than by his admission of regret.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said.
“What do you want to do, Dad?”
He raised his head and looked at her with tormented eyes. “I can’t decide.”
“Yeah. That’s going to make Mom feel great, hearing that.”
“I don’t know her anymore! She’s like some alien with her boobs pushed up. All those guys are probably staring down her dress.” Abruptly he stood. “That’s it. I’m go
“No, you’re not. You’re go
“Not while she’s still here.”
“You’ll only make things worse.” Jane took his arm and guided him out of the kitchen. “Just go, Dad.”