Ness was silent. She was pouting! Why do all women pout?
Davida said, “You will clean that up for me, won’t you?”
“Christ!” Ness grabbed the arms of the chair and hurled his body upward. He took out a whisk broom and swept the broken pieces into a wastebasket, then held the receptacle in the air. “All done, Davida! All your garbage neatly swept away—”
“Michael—”
“If you want my help, stop power-tripping me!”
“Fair enough.” Davida tapped her foot. “I made an appointment to see him. Just to talk … try and reason …”
“And?”
“I don’t know and that’s the problem.” Davida began to pace. “I was waiting in the limo. I wasn’t there. I sent a delivery boy—”
“Who?”
“It’s not important.” She covered her mouth with a liver-spotted hand, then dropped it to her side. “The whole thing was taking too long, so I left. I called you as soon as I got back.”
“Christ! Why didn’t you come to me in the first place?”
“Believe it or not, it was out of concern for you. I didn’t want to involve—”
“A little late for that.”
“Michael, after the screwup with Lilah, I was trying to protect you! If something broke out, I didn’t want you around. I happen to care about you. If I were a different person, I might even love you.” She crushed out her cigarette. “But I’m way too selfish for that.”
Ness ran his hands over his face and wondered why his life sucked. “Has anyone tried to contact you?”
“No.”
“No, no one called? Or no, you didn’t pick up the phone or check for messages?”
“No calls, no one left me any messages. That’s why I think it’s very bad. Either he decided to shaft me … or something really bad happened.”
“When did this take place?”
“About two hours ago. Please handle it for me, Michael. Get help if you want. Just make sure I get what I want and I’m clear. Do whatever you have to do.”
Ness stared at the lone ice cube in his tumbler. Now she was getting all desperate on him. “I have limits.”
“Michael, I’m not asking you to commit murder … just …”
Ness waited.
“If there’s a … problem … clean up for me, please?”
“I love your euphemisms.”
“I don’t even know if there is a problem. Just handle what needs to be handled.”
“I thought you didn’t want to get me involved.”
“Things change, dammit! I suggest if you want to keep your job here—”
“And here comes the mean old threats.” Ness laughed softly. “Be my guest, Davida. Expose me. I don’t care anymore.”
But he did care! He hoped Davida wouldn’t see through his bluff.
Davida said, “Kelley might—”
“Oh, fuck you, Davida! You want a favor, don’t throw my past or my sister in my face.” He stood, slowly walking over to her. Man, she was a terror, but the bitch did have her good points. And he was about to exploit one of them right this f-ing minute. He slipped his arms around her waist. “You want my help?”
“You know I do.”
“Then beg me, Davida.”
“Michael—”
“Fucking beg me!”
There was a moment of silence.
Davida whispered, “Please, Michael.” She placed her hands on his chest and gently pushed him onto the divan. “Please help me.”
Ness felt his breathing quicken. “Show me how much you want my help.”
Davida let her kimono fall open as she dropped to her knees before him. “Please, please help me.” She wrapped her fingers around the waistband of his gym shorts and pulled the shorts down to his ankles. “You know I need you.”
Ness closed his eyes as she stroked his inner thigh.
“Say yes,” Davida whispered. “Say yes, you’ll help me.”
“Yes, I’ll help you.”
She parted his knees and lowered her mouth between his legs. Slowly, slowly, he gave way to her, running his hands through blue-black hair thickened stiff with spray. Irony of ironies, only with this old demonic bitch could he let himself go. It was all a sick game of domination—another role for Davida but one she played well. Sometimes she’d lead, today it was his turn. But they both knew who had whom by the proverbial balls.
He moaned. If you’re gonna be raped, lie back and enjoy it, man.
Goldin unwrapped a Nestlé’s Crunch bar.
“One of the few vestiges of my childhood. Slowly, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m on the dark side of thirty. Things I did that I used to consider cute are now just plain pathetic.”
“You’re stalling, Mr. Goldin.”
“Perry.”
“You’re stalling, Perry.”
“Yes, I am.” He took a bite of his candy bar. “Okay. Here we go. Take a good look at me. I was—and still am—everything that Lilah’s family didn’t want. I’m opinionated, I’m left-wing, I’m not interested in making impressions, I don’t care about money, I don’t care how I look, I don’t do honest labor, and I won’t tolerate being patronized. And in that family, I was patronized constantly and dished it back. They didn’t take kindly to that.”
“Lilah was rebelling when she married you.”
“Obviously. Lilah’s upper-crust WASP, I’m a walking Jewish stereotype. And maybe I was rebelling when I married her. But there was a hell of a lot more to it than simple rebellion. I was crazy about her. Lilah was a knockout—still is, I imagine.”
He looked to Decker for confirmation. Decker nodded and Goldin took another bite of his candy bar.
“She was also great in bed. Absolutely sensational. It surprised me, because she was young when we started up.”
“How young?”
“She told me she was nineteen, but I found out later that she wasn’t even eighteen. I’m eight years older than she. But Lilah had prior experience from somewhere. Man, she bowled me over with her looks and her sexuality. I was so hot for her, I would have done anything to get her. I even volunteered to apply to medical school for her. She and her mother had this thing for doctors.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Yeah, the old lady was always on some kind of drug regimen. She used her sons as candy men—legal meds of course. God forbid, I should cast aspersions on anyone’s medical ethics.”
“Did you go to medical school?”
“No, it wasn’t necessary.” He took another bite of chocolate. “Lilah took me as is. She told me I had passion, ideas, and ideals. Not to mention character and warmth.”
He laughed.
“Anybody would have seemed warm compared to those ice floes. Nobody but nobody in that family ever showed any affection or tenderness. Just anger and hysterics. I’ll tell you, my first marriage was an excellent training ground for