HE LOOKED THE same as the last time I'd seen him, at the bar the night I was pick pocketed His long hair was messy and greasy, and he had about a week's worth of beard growth. He was wearing a light blue short-sleeved button down shirt, but he'd missed a couple of buttons and I could see his wife-beater tank top and sweaty chest hair. His body odor a combination of sweat and Old Spice had permeated my office.
"How'd you get in here?" I asked, although this was the last thing I cared about.
"I told the girl up front you were doing an article about me," he said.
"This is a business magazine, right? So how 'bout you do a thing about the blackmailing business? Come in, interview me, I'll tell you exactly how it's done."
"What do you want?"
He laughed, then said, "Besides all your money?" and continued laughing. Finally he calmed down and said, "What do I want? That's a good one. Please, man. If you make me laugh any more I'm gonna pull something." He stared at me seriously, then said, "If I really wanted you to put me in your magazine you'd have to do it. If I wanted you to run around this office screaming, "Suck my hairy cock! Suck my hairy cock!" you'd have to do that too!"
Kenny's voice tended to boom, and I was afraid other people in the office might overhear what he was saying.
"But I gotta admit, you had me scared there for a while," he said.
"When the cops came to me and told me about Charlotte, I thought you did her. I mean, it woulda made sense. She comes to you with the pictures, asks you for the money, then you whack her. Actually, you should thank me for saving your ass. That first night the cops were coming down heavy on me, they thought I did Charlotte and Ricky. They had me in lockup overnight. I was almost gonna finger you for both raps, but then the cops came to me and said they found out your little girlfriend did Charlotte. At first I didn't know what to think; then I was glad 'cause I knew you were still my butt boy for Ricky's murder."
"I didn't murder him," I said.
"And I'm Mother fuckin' Teresa," Kenny said. "Tell me, was this a hobby for you and your psycho bitch girlfriend? You went around town killing people for kicks?"
"I think you should get out of here," I said.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"I don't think you understand what's going on here," he said. "I control you now, not the other way around, you fuckin' prick. I tell you what to do and you do it. Maybe I should make you take your pants down and run around here that'd be a fuckin' riot." Kenny laughed.
"You gotta give me credit I was pretty swift, wasn't I? I mean taking them pictures in the first place. I knew something was going on that night, the way Charlotte was acting, all fucked up, but I didn't know what. Then, when I got her outside, I got her to spill it. You shoulda seen her, shittin' bricks. She thought I was gonna take you both down; then I told her I was just gonna go after you 'cause you killed Ricky. I told her we could take you for everything you're worth, and look what happened I am!" Kenny laughed. "I told her,
"Just make sure he takes the body down alone and I'll take care of the rest." Of course, she went along with it when she realized she could make a few bucks. Holding money in front of her was like putting a dick in front of Linda Lovelace's mouth. Yeah, Charlotte was a sweet little whore, all right, I'll give her that much. I'll miss her; I really will miss her. She knew how to suck cock like a pro, and you don't see that in a lot of whores these days. Most whores use their teeth and start biting on you like you're a fuckin' hot dog. But Charlotte knew how to deep-throat it, all right. She took it up the ass, too. You gotta respect a whore for that. A lot of whores these days won't let you anywhere near their assholes."
Kenny laughed again, then said, "Charlotte tell you about my will?"
I didn't bother answering.
"I made up a will," he went on. "I paid a lawyer to do it, so it's real official and everything. When I die an envelope gets opened. I wrote out the whole thing how I saw you kill Ricky, how you said you'd kill me if I went to the cops. I got copies of the pictures in there too, with your name and everything. So you see how you can't win, Davey boy. You better hope I live a long life, because when I die you go to jail. Until then, you gotta do whatever the fuck I tell you to do. I don't know if you knew this, but there's no statute of limitations on murder. I could die thirty years from now and they'd still put you away."
I looked at Kenny deadpan for several seconds, then said, "I don't have any money." I let this sink in, then added, "I gave everything I had to Charlotte that night, and I don't know what happened to it, if she spent it on drugs or whatever, but I don't have any more. That's the God's honest truth."
Kenny's eyes narrowed. "Listen to me, you fuckin' dick. I don't think you understand what's going on here. I'm the one calling the shots, not you. You think I don't know you're full of shit? I know more than you think I know, and don't you worry, I'm gonna make you pay for what you did. Charlotte was a nice little whore and I'll miss her, but Ricky was my homeboy. We dropped out of high school together I knew him twenty years and loved him like a brother. You took my brother away from me, you scumbag, and I'm gonna make you pay for it."
"It was an accident," I said. "He was coming after me»
"I did some research," Kenny went on, ignoring me. "I called here the other day, and my friend the receptionist told me you're the associate editor just got promoted. Congratulations, by the way. So then I went to the library you know, the big one on Fortieth and they got this book there. You look up somebody's job; they tell you how much they make.
The book says an associate editor takes in thirty-five to seventy-five a year. So I figure you're probably making fifty a year now, give or take. After Uncle Sam, you probably take home about two grand a month.
I don't want you to go broke that won't help me any. What I'm gonna do is take half. I figure if I leave you with a thousand a month you'll be able to pay your bills, buy some food, and I'll get the rest."
"My rent's sixteen-fifty a month," I said.
"That's your problem, not mine," Kenny said. "If you can't get by, you'll have to get a night job, scrub floors or some shit. But you'll get by somehow, and as long as you get by, I get by. See how this is gonna work?"
"What if I lose my job?" I said.
"I guess you'll have to find another one. But first just to get us started I want that twenty grand."
"I don't have twenty grand."
"Get it."
"I can't get it. I have nowhere to get it from."
"You must got retirement money, a 401 (k) or some shit like that."
Last time I checked, I had about fifty thousand dollars in my 401(k), and I also had a Roth IRA with about fifteen grand.
"Sorry," I said. "I got wiped out when the market crashed."
"You must got something in it."
"Maybe a couple grand."
"Take it out and give it to me."
"I can't. There're forms to fill out paperwork. It could take a few days to get the money, and I'll have penalties and»
"Look, I don't wanna hear any more of your bullshit," Kenny said. "I want at least two grand tonight. If you don't bring it, I'm gonna go to the cops. You think I'm fucking around?"
Kenny stood up. I couldn't tell if his gut was bigger than I'd remembered or if he just had bad posture.
"Tonight," he said, "ten o'clock Tompkins Square Park."
"I can't tonight," I said.
"Yes, you can," he said. "You know, it's kind of 4 don't know the word funny. Not funny, but you know what I mean. That's where Charlotte said you were gonna dump Ricky's body and now that's where you're gonna be making your payoffs. Hopefully every time you go there it'll remind you what you did, you piece of shit. The last Friday of every month you're gonna be there with my thousand bucks, but tonight it's gonna be two grand or I'm going to the cops. Ironical. That's the word I was looking for. It's ironical."