Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [80]
“All right,” I said. “Tell me where you are. I’ll meet you there and I’ll take you to a safe—”
“I don’t want you. I want Lucky! No! No! I want the weird guy, the one who knows all about this shit! The Doc! And I want to know what the fuck to do!”
“The first thing you have to do is calm down,” I said sharply. “Get a hold of yourself.”
Lopez’s arms fell away from me as he realized this was a serious matter. Anxious to avoid his perceptive gaze, I kept my back turned to him as I continued the conversation.
Danny shouted, “You find that weird old guy, and you bring him to me! Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“You tell him I want protection from that . . . that thing! That doppelgangster!”
“All right,” I agreed. “I need to know where you are.”
“Why? So you can have that thing whack me?” He sounded close to hysterics.
“So I can bring—” Remembering that Lopez was standing right behind me, I rephrased what I’d been about to say. “So I can do what you’ve asked.”
“I ain’t asking, I’m telling you!”
Danny seemed intent on making it hard for me to want to save his life.
“Understood,” I said. “So where can I find you?”
“I’m goin’ to the mattresses!”
“And where would that be?” I prodded.
“Can that doppelgangster tap phone calls?”
“No.” At least, I didn’t think so.
“I’m gonna be in my cousin Vinny’s ventilated wine vault. Safest place in the world. There’s a steel door with a combination lock. Nothing and no one can get to me there.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s in the cellar of Vinny’s wine shop, you dumb broad!”
I scowled. “Which would be where?”
He gave me an address in Brooklyn Heights. Since Lopez was watching me, I memorized it rather than writing it down. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“You bring the Doc,” Danny ordered again.
“Yes. Absolutely.” Since I suspected Danny would be heavily armed when we arrived, I added, “And I beg you to stay calm.”
“Are you nuts?”
“This is no time to panic,” I said firmly.
“I just been cursed with death by a doppelgangster! If ever there was a time to panic, it’s now.”
As he slammed the phone down on me, I supposed he had a point.
With a sigh, I hung up the receiver and turned to face my would-be lover. “I’m really sorry about this,” I began.
“Something bad has happened,” he guessed.
“I have to go. Right now,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh. It’s okay. Take a breath.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll come with you.”
“What? No!” Seeing his surprise at my horrified reaction, I took that breath, as he had advised. Then I tried to pull my scattered thoughts together. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Let me help you.” His face was serious, his gaze earnest, his sex drive forgotten for the moment.
I silently cursed the Evil that was dragging me away from this man right now.
I wanted to avoid lying to Lopez. So, choosing my words carefully, I said, “I can’t bring a stranger with me. It wouldn’t be appreciated.”
“Then I’ll wait outside for you, or in a cab or something.”
I shook my head. “No, this will take a while.”
“Esther—”
I kissed him. After a moment of surprised immobility, he slid his arms around me and kissed me back. I knew it was a dirty trick, kissing him so he’d stop talking about this; but it certainly wasn’t as if I didn’t want to kiss him. And go right on kissing him. For hours.
While we kissed, I tried to calculate how long it would take me to go get Max, go to Brooklyn, pry Danny Dapezzo out of his cousin Vinny’s wine vault, and get him back to the bookstore in the Village. At which point, I would cheerfully abandon Lucky and Max to question Danny about the doppelgangster and come up with a plan of action, while I returned to my interrupted plans with Lopez.
I tried to calculate it, but it wasn’t possible to think while Lopez was kissing me. Not possible at all.
Trying to regain my breath when he let me go, I settled for saying, “Look, this should only take a few hours. We’ll meet here again tonight, okay?”
At that point, I decided, I would have to tell him the truth about where I had gone today—and why. But right now, I was in a hurry and didn