A Long Line of Dead Men Read online

Page 20

 

  "You were talking about Kalishs death. "

  "It didnt scare me. Thats what were talking about, isnt it? Fear, fear of dying. They say mans the only animal that knows hes going to die. Hes also the only animal that drinks. "

  "You think theres a connection?"

  "Im not even sure I buy the first part. Ive had cats, and I always had the feeling they were as aware of their mortality as Ive ever been of mine. The difference is theyre fearless. Maybe they dont give a shit. "

  "I cant even tell how people feel about things," I said. "Let alone cats. "

  "I know what you mean. You know why I felt no fear when Phil died? It couldnt be simpler. I didnt own a car. "

  "So you couldnt-"

  "Die the way he did. Right. I had the same reaction years later when Steve Kostakos crashed his plane. Do I fly a plane? No. So do I have to worry about it? Certainly not. "

  "And when James Severance died in Vietnam?"

  "You know," he said, "that wasnt even a shock. One year he didnt show up for the dinner and we learned he was in the service. The next year we learned he was dead. I think I expected it. "

  "Because he was in combat?"

  "That must have been part of it. That fucking war. Whenever somebody went over there, you figured he wasnt coming back. It was easy to feel that way about Severance. I dont know how much of this is hindsight, but it seems to me that there was something about him. An aura, an energy, whatever you want to call it. Im sure theres a New Age way of putting it, but my wifes not here to tell us what it is. Have you ever met anyone and somehow just sensed he was doomed?"

  "Yes. "

  "You got that feeling with Severance. I dont want to imply I had premonitions of an early grave for him, just that he was… well, doomed. I cant think of another word for it. " He tilted his head back, squinting at a memory. "You said you thought I was an odd choice for that group. I wasnt, not really. I was more like the rest of those guys than youd imagine now. Most of the courtroom armor, a lot of the media image, it all came later. It may have grown naturally out of the person who attended that first dinner in 61, but it wasnt in place then. I was like the rest of the members, older than most but just as earnest, every bit as intent on playing the game of life and getting a decent score. I fit in just fine. " He drained his glass. "If there was a good choice for odd man out, it was Severance. "

  "Why?"

  He thought for a moment before speaking. "You know," he said, "I didnt really know the man. I try to picture him now and I cant bring the image into focus. But it seems to me that he was on a different level from the rest of us. "

  "How?"

  "A lower link on the food chain. But thats just an impression, founded on three meetings three decades ago, and maybe it would have changed if hed lived long enough to grow into himself and shed some of the emotional puppy fat. He didnt have the chance. " He drew a breath. "But no, his death held no fear for me. I wasnt slogging through rice paddies getting shot at by little guys in black pajamas. I was busy helping other young men stay out of the army. " He put his glass on the table. "Then Homer Champney died," he said, "and in a sense the party was over. "

  "Because you thought he was going to live forever?"

  "Hardly that. I knew he was mortal, like everybody else. And I knew he was failing. So I had no reason to be shocked. When a man in his nineties dies in his sleep, its not a tragedy and it cant come as a great surprise. But you have to understand that he was a remarkably dynamic human being. "

  "So I gather. "

  "And he was the end of an era, the last of his line. Phil and Jim were accidents, they might as well have been struck by lightning. A bolt from the blue, zap, kerblooey. Once Homer was gone, though, it was our turn in the barrel. "

  "Your turn?"

  "To do our own dying," he said.

  We talked about coincidence and probability, about natural and unnatural death. "The easiest thing in the world," he said, "would be to hand this off to the media and let them run with it. Of course it would be the end of the club. And it would subject us all to more police and press attention than anyone should have to put up with. If this is all a coincidence, a cosmic thumb in the eye for the actuarial tables, we all get our world turned upside-down for nothing. "

  "And if theres a killer out there?"

  "You tell me. "

  "If hes one of you fourteen," I said, "a full-scale investigation might tag him. With enough cops asking questions and cross-checking alibis, hed have a tough time staying in the dark. There might not be enough evidence to go to trial with, but theres a difference between clearing a case and winning it in court. "

  "And if hes an outsider?"

  "Then its a little less likely theyd get him. I would think the investigation and the attendant publicity would scare him off, though, and keep him from killing anyone else. "

  "For the time being, you mean. "

  "Well, yes. "

  "But the bastards in no hurry, is he?" He leaned forward, gesturing expansively with his long-fingered hands. "My God, the son of a bitch has the patience of a glacier. Hes been doing this for decades if hes been doing it at all. Scare him off and what happens? He goes home, pops a tape in the VCR, brews up a pot of coffee, and waits a year or two. The media has the attention span of a fruit fly. Once the storys died down, its time for him to arrange another accident, or stage a street crime or a suicide. "

  "If the cops got on to him," I said, "he might be scared off permanently, even if they never had enough to bring charges against him. But if he never even got scooped up in the net, Id say youre right. Hed just bide his time and start in again. "

  "And even if he didnt, he wins. "

  "How do you mean?"

  "Because the clubs over. The newspaper stories would be enough to kill it, dont you think? Its anachronistic enough, fourteen grown men assembling annually to see whos still alive. I dont think wed be able to find the heart for it after a little attention from our friends in the press. "

  He got up and fixed himself a fresh drink, just pouring the whiskey straight into the glass, sipping a little of it on his way back to the couch. The Chinese food had cleared his head. He wasnt slurring words now, or showing any effect of the alcohol.

  He said, "It cant be one of the fourteen. Are we agreed on that?"

  "I cant go all the way with you. Ill say its unlikely. "

  "Well, I have an edge. I know them all and you dont. " A rope of gray curls had fallen across his forehead. He brushed it back with his hand and said, "I think the club ought to convene. And I dont think we can afford to wait until next May. Im going to make some calls, get as many of us here as I can. "

  "Now?"

  "No, of course not. Monday? No, I may not be able to reach some of them until Monday. This time of year people get away for the weekend. Tuesday, say Tuesday afternoon. If I have appointments I can clear them. How about you? Can you be here Tuesday afternoon, lets see, say three oclock?"

  "Here?"

  "Why not? Its better than my office. Plenty of room for fifteen people, and well be lucky to get half that number here on such short notice. But even if you just have five or six of us all here in one room-"

  "Yes," I said. "It would be useful from my perspective. "

  "And from ours," he said. "All of us ought to know just whats going on. If were in danger, if somebodys stalking us, we damn well ought to be aware of it. "

  "Is there a phone I can use? Let me see if I can sell this to my client. "

  "In the kitchen. On the wall, youll see it. And Matt? Let me talk to him when youre done. "

  "Hildebrand went for it," I told Elaine. "He seemed relieved. "

  "So youve still got a client. "

  "I did as of a couple of hours ago. "

  "What did you think of Gruliow?"

  "I liked him," I said.

  "You didnt expect to. "

  "No, I brought the usual cop prejudices into his house with me. But hes a very
disarming guy. Hes manipulative, and hes got an ego the size of Texas, and his client list adds up to a powerful argument for capital punishment. "

  "But you liked him anyhow. "

  "Uh-huh. I thought he might turn ugly with drink, but it never happened. "

  "Did his drinking bother you?"

  "He asked me that himself. I told him my best friend drinks the same brand of whiskey he does, and drinks a lot more of it. And when it comes to killing people, I said, his score is somewhere between Warren Madison and the Black Death. "

  "Thats a good line," she said, "but it doesnt really answer the question. "

  "Youre right, it doesnt. If I was going to take his inventory-"

  "Which of course youre far too spiritually advanced to do. "

  "- Id have to say hes a drunk. Id say he knows it, too. He controls it, and obviously he can keep it together enough so that his life still works. He gets the big cases and he wins them. Incidentally, I learned something. I always wondered how he made a living representing clients who havent got any money. "

  "And?"

  "The moneys in the books and lectures. The defense works almost entirely pro bono. But theres a lot of self-interest operating, because by getting the hot cases hes hyping the book sales and goosing the fees for his public appearances. "

  "Thats interesting. "

  "Isnt it? I asked him if there was anyone he wouldnt represent. Mafia dons, he said. White-collar sharpies, like the Wall Street insider-trading guys and the savings-and-loan swindlers. Not that they were necessarily the worst human beings in the world, but he had no affinity for them. I asked him if hed represent a Ku Kluxer. "

  "What did he say?"

  "He said probably not, if it was your basic Dixie segregationist or some White Power type from the Midwest. Then he said it might be interesting defending those skinheads they arrested in Los Angeles, the ones who wanted to start a race war by killing Rodney King and shooting up the AME church. I forget how he got there, but he had them all established as disenfranchised outsiders. But, he said, they probably wouldnt want a lawyer named Gruliow. I still havent answered your question, have I? No, his drinking didnt bother me. He didnt get sloppy or nasty, and once wed eaten he didnt even show the effects of the booze. On the other hand, Id been planning to drop in on Mick at Grogans tonight, and I think Ill put that off until tomorrow or Saturday. "

  "Because youve been around enough booze for one day. "

  "Right. "

  "I never met him myself," she said thoughtfully, "but I could have. "

  "Oh?"

  "Hes a big john, or at least he used to be. All that New Left rhetoric, well, he was certainly a staunch supporter of the working girl. You know who had a whole string of dates with him? Connie Cooperman. "

  "Of blessed memory. "