Out of Sight

"I had one just like it-well, it was the same idea, but I had to get rid of it."

"You did?"

"It smelled."

"Having it cleaned didn't help, huh?"

She said no. She asked him, "What do you do for a living, Gary?" and saw his eyes change, become almost solemn.

He said, "How far do we go with this?"

It stopped her, threw her off balance. Karen said, "Not yet.

Don't say anything yet. Okay?"

He said, "I don't think it works if we're somebody else. You know what I mean? Gary and Celeste, Jesus, what do they know about anything?"

She knew he was right, but had to take a moment before saying, "If we're not someone else then we're ourselves. But don't ask me where we're going with it or how it ends, okay?

Because I haven't a fucking clue. I've never played this before."

The way he said, "It's not a game," she knew he meant it.

"Well, does it make sense to you?"

He said, "It doesn't have to, it's something that happens. It's like seeing a person you never saw before-you could be passing on the street-and you look at each other…"

Karen was nodding.

"You make eye contact without meaning to."

"And for a few moments," Foley said, "there's a kind of recognition."

You look at each other and you know something."

"That no one else knows," Karen said.

"You see it in their eyes."

"And the next moment the person's gone," Foley said, "and it's too late to do anything about it, but you remember it because it was right there and you let it go, and you think, What if I had stopped and said something? It might happen only a few times in your life."

"Or once," Karen said.

"Why don't we get out of here."

"Where do you want to go?"

Karen looked up. The advertising guys were getting ready to leave, dropping napkins, pushing their chairs back, taking forever. Philip looked over, and then Andy. Andy waved. Karen watched them leave the table finally and make their way out.

It was quiet. She looked at Foley in the slim-cut navy-blue suit, his white shirt with its button-down collar, his burgundy and blue rep tie-the conservative business executive-looked in his eyes and said,

"Let's go to my place."

"Your room?"

"My suite. I showed my credentials and they upgraded me."

"You must do pretty well, in your business."

"I don't know, Jack. The way things are going I may be looking for work."

NINETEEN

Here was Maurice, White Boy Bob, Ke

She got to meet this Gle

When he came, Maurice told him he was late and Gle

Gle

He told how he came up behind a salt truck and got blasted with it, like shrapnel hitting the car. He told how a woman pulled out in front of him and when he braked did a three-sixty, spun all the way around.

He said you couldn't see anything and said driving in that ice and snow was fucking work, man, it wore you out.

"You done?" Maurice said.

"If you done we can get on with business."

"I'm not driving," Gle

"I hope to tell you you not driving," Maurice said, and looked over.

"Moselle, you want something?"

"My grocery money."

"That's what we going to get. Put our mittens on, our masks, case we want to do some siding… There. I look like a Ninja?"

"You going to see Curtis, aren't you?"

"We be back, oh, 'bout two hours," Maurice said.

"Where's my little Tuffy dog? I want to kiss her good-bye."

"You going to see Curtis," Moselle said.

Maurice wigged hearing about his dog and Gle

Maurice said don't worry, he'd find him, but never said how. He punched the dashboard with his fist a few times keeping himself primed, Gle

Jesus, these guys. Maurice said, "We ready? Check your weapons."

Gle

Ke

"An Army.45 will stop all jive," and Maurice had been told about Huey P. and the Black Panthers when he was a kid. He said to Gle

Gle

"The man, Frankie, his wife Inez and a nigga works for them name Cedric," Maurice said. "

"Less they have company, huh?"

As soon as they were out of the van they moved in a hurry, went past the side of the house single file, Ke

"Go ahead," and Ke

Maurice said, "Cedric, my man. You thought I forgot about you, huh?"

He pulled Cedric out of the doorway to walk in front of them to the living room, telling Gle

White Boy was in the living room turning a lamp on, cold air coming in from a big front window smashed to pieces. He said, "They went upstairs." Maurice said, "White Boy, take Cedric here and put him in front of you." They went up a stairway that turned once to reach the second floor and now they were in a wide hallway of doors, all closed.