"So he committed these murders to get something when he didn't even know what the something was?" she said, her incredulity perfectly plain.
"Oh, he did more than murder. He hid the bodies in the past-"
"Oh come on."
"I swear. He'd killed some of the most important people in the world. More important than the pope or the president. He had to hide the bodies where they'd never be found. He chose a place called Trinity."
"What's that?"
"The when's more important than the where," Tesla said. "Trinity's where the first A-bomb was detonated. Sixteenth of June, nineteen forty-five. in New Mexico."
"And you're telling me that's where he took the people
'd murdered."
"That's where he took 'em. Except-"
"What?"
"Once he was there, he made a mistake-a little mistakeand he got himself trapped."
"Trapped in the past?"
"Right. With the bomb ticking away. So-he made a loop of time, that went round and round on itself, always keeping that moment at bay." Phoebe smiled and shook her head. "What?" said Tesla.
"I don't whether you're crazy or what, but if you made all this up, you should be selling it. I mean, you could make a movie for TV-"
"It's not a movie. It's the truth. I know, because I was there three times. Three times, in and out of Kissoon's Loop."
"So you actually met this guy?" Phoebe said.
"Oh sure, I met him," Tesla replied.
"And-?"
"What was he like?" Phoebe nodded; Tesla shrugged. "Hard to find the words," she said.
"Try." "I've spent five years trying not to think of him. But he's there all the time. Every day something-something dirty, something cruel, maybe just the smell of my own shit-reminds me of him. He wasn't much to look at, you know? He was this runt of a guy, old and dried up. But he could turn you inside out with a look. See inside your head. See inside your guts. Work you, fuck you." She rubbed her palms together, to warm them, but they wouldn't be warmed.
"What happened to him?" "He couldn't hold the moment." Phoebe looked vacant. "What?" "The little loop of time that kept the bomb from being detonated," Tesla explained, "he couldn't hold it."
"So the bomb went off?" "The bomb went off and he went with it."
"You were there?"
"Not right there, or I would have gone up with him. But I was the last out, I'm sure of that." She settled back in her chair. "That's it. Or as much of it as I can tell you right now."
"It's quite a story."
"And you don't believe a word of it."
"Some bits I almost believe. Some bits just sound ridiculous to me. And some bits-some bits I don't want to believe. they frighten me too much."
"So you won't be coming with me to Erwin's house?"
"I didn't say that," Phoebe replied.
Tesla smiled, and dug into the pocket of her leather I jacket.
"What are you looking for?"
"Some cash," she said. "If you're willing to dare Lix with me, the least I can do is pay for the pizza."
As the streets started to empty, Erwin began to regret his contretemps with Dolan. Though his feet ached, and he felt weary to his imagined marrow, he knew without putting it to the test that phantoms didn't sleep. He would be awake through the hours of darkness, while the living citizens of Everville, safe behind locked doors and bolted windows, took a trip to dreamland. He wandered down the middle of Main Street like a lonely drunk, wishing he could find the woman he'd whispered to outside Kitty's Diner. She at least had heard him, if only remotely whereas nobody else with a heart beating in their chest., even glanced his way, however loud he shouted. There'd been something special about that woman, he decided. Perhaps she'd been psychic.
He did not go entirely ignored. At the corner of Apple Street he encountered Bill and Maisie Waits, out walking their two chocolate labradors. As they approached Erwin the dogs seemed to sense his presence. Did they smell him or see him? He couldn't be sure. But they responded with raised hackles and growls, the bitch standing her ground, the male dashing away down Apple Street, trailing his leash. Billwho was in his fifties and far from fit-went after him, yelling.
The animal's response distressed Erwin, He'd never owned a dog, but by and large he liked the species. was being a phantom so profoundly unnatural a state that the nearest whiff of him was enough to make the beasts crazy?
He went down on his haunches, and softly called to the bitch.
"It's okay... it's okay... " he said, extending his hand, "I'm not going to hurt anybody-" The animal barked on ferociously, while Maisie watched her husband pursue the other dog. Erwin crept a little closer,' still murmuring words of reassurance, and the bitch showed signs of hearing him. She cocked her head, and her barking became more sporadic.
"That's it," Erwin said, "that's it. See, that's not so bad, now is it?" His open hand was now maybe two feet from her nose. Her din had lost all its ferocity, and was now reduced to little more than an occasional bark. Erwin reached a little further, and touched her head.
She stopped barking entirely now, and lay down, rolling onto her back to have her stomach scratched.
Maisie Waits looked down at her. "Katy, what on earth are you doing?" she said. "Get up." She lugged on the leash, to raise the animal, but Katy was enjoying Erwin's attentions too much. She made a little growl as though vaguely remembering that her stroker had frightened her a minute or two before, and then gave up even on that.
"Katy," Maisie Waits said, exasperated now, then, to her husband, "Did you find him?"
"Does it look like I found him?" Bill gasped. "He's headed off down towards the creek. He'll find his way home."
"But the traffic-"
"There is no traffic," Bill said. "Well, hardly any. And he's got lost before, for God's sake." Bill had reached the corner of the street now, and he stared at the recumbent Katy. "Look at you, you soft old thing," he said fondly, and went down on his haunches beside the dog. "I don't know what spooked him that way."
"Me," Erwin said, stroking the bitch's belly along with Bill. The dog heard. She pricked her ears and looked at Erwin. Bill, of course, heard nothing. Erwin kept talking anyway, the words tumbling out. "Listen, will you, Waits? If a mutt can hear me you damn well can. Just listen. I'm Erwin Toothaker-"
"As long as you're sure," Maisie was saying.
"Erwin Toothaker." "I'm sure," Bill replied. "He'll probably be home before He patted Katy's solid belly, and got to his feet. "Come us. on, old girl," he said. Then, with a sly glance at his wife: "You too, Katy."
Maisie Waits nudged him in the ribs. "William Waits," she said in a tone of mock outrage.
Bill leaned a little closer to her. "Want to fool around some?" he said to her.
"It's late-"
"It's Saturday tomorrow," Bill said, slipping his arm around his wife's waist. "It's either that or I ravish you in your sleep."
Maisie giggled, and with one quick jerk on the leash got Katy to her feet. Bill kissed Maisie's cheek, and then whispered something into his wife's ear. Erwin wasn't close enough to hear everything, but he caught pillow and like always. Whatever he said, Maisie returned his kiss, and they headed off down the street, with Katy casting a wistful glance back at her phantom admirer.
"Were you ever married, Erwin?"
It was Dolan. He was sitting in the doorway of Lively's Lighting and Furniture Store, picking his nose.
"No, I wasn't."
"Mine went off to Seattle after I passed over. Took her seven weeks and two days to uproot and go. Sold the house, sold most of the furniture, let the lease go on the store. I was so mad. I howled around this damn town for a month, weeping and wailing. I even tried to go after her."