Wireman cracked his beer, sipped it, then... Wireman cracked his beer, sipped it, then leaned
forward"And what about you? Is Perse your
spirit-guide, as well? Has she been intensifying
what you do?"
"Of course she has," I said"She's been testing
the limits of my ability and extending them - I'm
sure that's what Candy Brown was aboutAnd she's
been picking my materialThat's what the Girl and
Ship paintings were about
"And the rest of your stuff?" Jack asked
"Mostly mine, I thinkBut some of it-" I stopped,
suddenly struck by a terrible ideaI put my glass
aside and almost knocked it over
"What?" Wireman asked"For God's sake, what?"
"You need to get your little red book of
cheap rolex watches phone
numbers
He went and got it, then handed me the cordless
telephoneI sat for a moment with it in my lap,
not sure who to call firstBut there
is one rule of modern life even more ironclad than
the one which states that there's never a cop
844
around when you need one: when you really need a
human being, you always get the answering machine
That's what I got at Dario Nannuzzi's home, at
Jimmy Yoshida's, at Alice Aucoin's
"Fuck!" I cried, slamming the disconnect button
with my thumb when Alice's recorded voice started
in with "I'm sorry I'm not here to take your call
right now, but-"
"They're probably still celebrating," Wireman said
"Give it time,
louis vuitton online amigo, and it'll all quiet down
"I don't have time!" I said"Fuck! Shit! Fuck!"
He put a hand on mine, and spoke soothingly"What
is it, Edgar? What's wrong?"
"The pictures are dangerous! Maybe not all, but
some, for sure!"
He thought about it, then noddedLet's
think about thisThe most dangerous ones are
probably the Girl and Ship series, right?"
"YesI'm sure that's the case
"They're almost certainly still at the gallery,
waiting to be framed and shippedEven the word was
scary"I can't let that happen
845
"Muchacho, getting sidetracked is what you can't
let happen
He didn't understand this wasn't a sidetrack
Perse could whistle up a great
gucci travel bag wind when she
wanted to
I found the number of the Scoto and dialed itI
thought it was just possible that someone might be
there, even at quarter of eleven on the night
after the big shindigBut the ironclad rule held,
and I got the machineI waited impatiently, then
pressed 9 to leave a general message
"Listen, you guys," I said, "this is EdgarI
don't want you to send any of the paintings or
drawings out until I tell you, okay? Not a single
oneJust put a hold on em for a few daysUse any
excuse you have to, but do itIt's very
important
I broke the connection and looked at Wireman
"Will they?"
"Considering your demonstrated earning power?
chanel clutch bags You
betAnd you just spared yourself a long, involved
conversationNow can we get back to-"
846
"Not yet My family and friends would be the most
vulnerable, and the fact that they'd gone their
separate ways afforded me no comfortPerse had
already demonstrated that her reach was longAnd
I had started meddlingI thought she was angry
with me, or frightened of me, or both
My first impulse was to call Pam, but then I
remembered what Wireman had said about sparing
myself a long, involved conversationI consulted
my own untrustworthy memory instead of Wireman's
little bookand for once, under pressure, it
came through
But I'll get his answering machine, I
submariner rolex tho