“What happened to all the stuff in the apartment?”
“I stopped paying the rent when I was in jail. I do not know where everything is. My clothes, my books and pans. Who knows? Who cares? I have not lately had much use for a copper salmon poacher.”
I had been pacing back and forth, sucking on my wound, as I asked my questions. Now I sat down right across from him, looked at him carefully as I said, “Why is Velma Takahashi paying for your defense?”
“I do not know.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“But you must, Victor. I do not know. Truly. She came to visit me. I knew her, she was a friend of Leesa’s from her days at Marrakech, and we maybe played a bit, if you understand, but we were never really friends. In fact, I always thought she resented me.”
“Why?”
“I broke up the team. They were quite the team, and a team after our separation, too, if you listened to the rumors. So I was surprised that she came to visit. She said she only wanted to see how I was getting along. I lied to her and said I was fine. But I was not fine. Who is fine in this place? And I think she could see that. And somehow it affected her, I do not know. She looked at me, I had a bruise on my face from something that happened in the shower, and I could see tears in her eyes. Like somehow the bruise, it was her fault. And then she told me she would help me any way she could, that she would pay for a new lawyer if I needed.”
“How did you light on us?”
“I saw your name in the paper, Victor. I asked around. When I thought you were the one, I decided to write. I have done some fishing in my life. You catch nothing with an empty hook. From what I heard about you, I knew what I needed to get your interest. I called Velma and asked for a check.”
“As bait?”
“Yes, of course. Dangling on a hook. And here I am with another chance at life.” He grinned, like a cat with a fish tail sticking out of its teeth. “And it worked, did it not?”
“I guess it did.”
“Anything else?”
I thought a bit. “There is one thing more that has been bothering me. Why do you chef guys always undercook my steak?”
“You must be careful with the meat,” said François. “There is a point where the taste and texture are perfect. You go beyond that point, the muscle it clenches and everything is ruined. It is like eating leather.”
“But what if I like it well done?”
“Then you, Victor, are a barbarian.”
At least he wasn’t lying about that.
“He’ll make an awesome witness,” said Beth after they had taken François Dubé back to his cell. We were still in the room, both of us standing now, waiting for someone to lead us out.
“Sure he will,” I said.
“The jury will eat him up like a crème brûlée.”
“Maybe, if they go for that French thing. Personally, I find it annoying, like a cat in the corner coughing up hair balls and meowing orders.”
“A cat?”
“Don’t the French remind you of cats? Insufferably superior, willfully independent. And they lick themselves clean after they eat.”
“Stop it.”
“No, I’ve seen it, really.”
“He’ll do great,” said Beth. “If he’s telling the truth.”
“The big if.”
“He admitted the affairs,” she said.
“With a great amount of pride, I might add.”
“And if he had really used the gun, why would he bring it back to his apartment, and why would he consent to the search?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe he is telling the truth. What do you think, Victor?”
I felt the scab in my mouth with my tongue. I had worried it so hard during the interview the edges had come loose. I had been playing with my scab because the whole interview had made me itch all over. Every answer only raised more questions. Like his alibi on the night of the murder, which was no alibi at all. Like his story about how he met his wife, and his relationship with Velma Takahashi, both of which seemed to contradict what Mrs. Cullen had told me outside the courtroom. And his side of the separation seemed a little too pat, didn’t it? But then again the strange sadness he had seen in Velma’s eyes matched what I had seen there, too.
“He’s lying,” I said. “He’s hiding something, I just don’t know what.”
“Always the skeptic.”
“Come on, Beth. You’ve heard it enough from me. What’s the first precept of the legal profession?”
“Clients lie.”
“Very good. There are some things I’m going to want to check out.”
“Like what?”
“Like the records of the divorce proceeding. And I’ll need to visit that club he talked about, Marrakech.”
“You think you might find something there?”
“No,” I said, “but it sounded like a pretty good place to pick up women.”
Beth laughed as I fiddled with the scab.
“But first,” I said, “what we need to do is to talk to Mia Dalton about… arrgh.”
“Victor? What is it, Victor?”
I gagged on something and searched around futilely for a tissue. In desperation, I spit whatever had come loose into my hand. I couldn’t help but give it a look.
An uneven circle of blotchy scab, about the size of a tooth.
“Victor, are you okay?”
I gagged again before gaining enough control to say, “I think so.” I took a deep breath and a pure, scorching pain buckled my knees.
“Victor,” said Beth, rushing over to me. “What is it?”
I grabbed hold of her arm and felt the blood rush from my head as a great white wooziness overtook me.
Next thing I knew, there was music, lush and ethereal, and a white light lay an arm’s length before me, like a vision of another and better world.
And strangest of all, it shone into my mouth.
26
“A dry socket,” said Dr. Bob. “See, the clot is gone, and now the bone of the jaw is exposed, with all its jangling nerves. I warned you, Victor. Didn’t I warn you? But apparently you were too bullheaded to listen. Now we have a problem. You were worrying the clot with your tongue, weren’t you?”
“Arrghighahoo.”
“Of course you tried not to, everyone tries not to, but some are too weak to resist. You had a soda pop, I’d wager, or a beer. Didn’t I give you explicit instructions? Even with my best efforts, the failures of others sometimes get in the way and the unexpected happens. It is hard to describe how frustrating that can be. Yet this, too, can be solved, have no fear.”
Telling me to have no fear while in a dentist chair was like telling Marley’s ghost to look alive.
“Any changes in your medical or personal situation since last we met?”
“Ayyaaw,” I said.
“Other than the pain in your jaw, of course. No? Good. So I assume that means you still are not in a fulfilling sexual relationship. I know, these things take time, but maybe I can help. Open wider. We’ll need to clean the hole before I apply the dressing. The water might tingle a bit. Yes, yes, very good. Why is your leg shaking like that? That didn’t hurt too much, did it? Stop nodding your head, please, you’re making it hard for me to see. Now, let me just dry it with a quick burst of air.”
He reached in with his air nozzle and blew dry the hole. My shoe flew against the wall.
Dr. Bob turned his head to inspect the scuff mark. “Second time that happened this week.”
He opened a small, squat jar, and the smell of cloves wafted through the room. He took a long piece of gauze off his tray with a metal forceps, dipped the whole thing in the jar. It came out smeared thickly with a brown ooze.
“Now open wide, this is sometimes a bit tricky. Yes, I’ve managed to help many of my patients find more than just a bright, shiny smile. Hold on, now, I have to pack this tightly in, section by section. The smell is rather nice, but the ointment tastes suspiciously of earwax. Tense your neck as I push down. Excellent. I’ll wipe away the tears from your cheek. It will be over very soon.”