Sirens, page 25
used the word she had used -'was drawn in the victim's blood. No suspect
was apprehended! He went back to the refrigerator, took another long
swig at the Perrier. ' months later, again on the thirteenth, the ated
body of a twenty-five-year-old woman was dis- beneath one of the piers
along the Embarcadero. Again, @peculiar emblem was found, this time
crudely drawn on inside of her thigh. the time the third victim was
found - a twenty-sevenld model - the San Francisco police had brought in
psychiatrists who specialized in criminal psychoology.' Bonesteel
grunted. '. All they could up with was that the killer would probably
strike again ree months' time on the thirteenth. They said he must be
mouth twisted in the parody of a smile.
"The fooled ' all. He struck in May, again a three-month al, but this
time on the eleventh! He dropped the empty e into the wastebasket by the
side of the refrigerator. ' e the San Francisco cops mad. Especially
since the model's e was found by an army colonel's wife inside the
Presidio. ' some bright light at the Chronicle came up with an e.
Using the emblem as a hook, he began to refer to the ler as Modred, the
black knight from King Arthur's court..'was just the thing the public
responds to. It stuck.' Daina got up. ',@.'What do you want?' Bonesteel
said. ' a club soda.' ''ll get it.' He knelt in front of the
refrigerator. @Id like it very cold,' Daina said. ' ice is right there!
@He scooped up a handful, poured in the club soda, handed the glass.
@How do you know all this?' She wanted to see if he would her
everything. imodred's fourth victim was discovered in La Habra! '
County. That's quite a way from here. Isn@t it a e out of your
jurisdiction?' Bonesteel shook his head. ''m like those shrinks in one
way. s kind of thing's my meat. Only I'm out stepping in the shit day
while they're leaning back in their leather-covered rcaloungers, filling
their pipes.' He crossed his arms over his t. ' La Habra thing was early
last year. The sixth was ly this year in Anaheim. Your friend, Miss.
Mcdonell, was e seventh! He stood up. ' you see why there's really 218
219 nothing you can do to help.' ' you any closer to finding ... him?'
'?' He gave her a thin smile. ' wish I knew.
The more data we accrue, the better chance we have of course. But' - he
shrugged - ' one knows what hes up to, not the county boys, not me.
Only Modred knows. The shrinks tell us he's trying to communicate, in
his own twisted way. We just haven't figured out what language he's
using. It's tough.' Daina threw her head back. ' meanwhile women like
Maggie die one after another.' Her eyes blazed. ' the hell don't you do
something!' There was nothing to say and Bonesteel, watching her,
allowed her bitter words to fall, one by one, into silence until the
tiny sounds from outside - a muffled laugh, hands clapping, the clash of
metal against metal, a car's engine starting up - stole in on them. ''m
sorry,' Daina said, putting her drink down. ''m tired and angry and I
don't know what to do about it.' ''s not,'he said,'just a job to me."
Something harsh and guttural in his voice made her look up quickly, just
in time to see the feral yellow flare far back in the blue-grey of his
eyes. To Daina it seemed like it might be a banner she had become
familiar wiffi. She looked at him again, as if she were seeing him for
the first time. ' you find Modred?'she said. ', Miss. Whitney, I'll find
him.' Abruptly, he seemed tired. He could not be more than thirty-eight
or -nine, she thought, but now he looked more like fifty.
"I find them all. That's what I do.' His words were conveying more to
her. She did not know what it was but it made her shiver. ''t you call
me Daina, Bobby?' He had told her that no one called him that.
Perhaps it was the name that held him in check. ' right,' he said
softly. '.' She held out her hand. ''ll let me know?' Bonesteel reached
behind her, toasting them both with her glass. ' Morte de Modred.' The
ice danced in the glass as he drank. had come and taken Marty's body
away - as well as the _,,others - and Baba would not let her find out
where he io be buried or which home in Bensonhurst the funeral was be
at. ' yo think, mama,' he said, ' c'n jus' show in there? Huh! Yo do
what I tell yo, forget ' it, hear? She tried to do as he asked but it
was impossible. She saw and again in her mind's eye Marty's face,
shocked and aged, as he was slammed back against the office wall, splash
of blood as bright as a tropical bird's plumage, a grunting such as a
mating animal might make. -She could not forget the tiny kindnesses he
had lavished on ' can't help it,' he would say to her, not at all apolo-
ly. ''ve got three sons. I always wanted a daughter.' desire to say
good-bye to him one last time was strong and Baba's words brought home
to her the completeness "their isolation from the mainstream of society.
Being an w had its bad aspects as well as its good ones. take her mind
off it, she asked Baba how he had been to do what he had done to the two
men but he had just deep in his chest and told her a story about a fight
bad once had with a trio of anxious white Marines. ', t'be arrogant,
mama,' he said, '' sho, as shit yo gon whupped. Them Marines found that
out from me the hard ),@Thus the days and nights of utter peace had been
pierced this time of unadulterated fantasy, when she had been to lock
away the bleakness of the quotidian world within se flesh she had
encysted herself, was coming to an end.
wolf had been at the door and for a while she had barred most
successfully. But as the green leaves of summer tually darkened to
russet and gold, foretelling the onset of she could once again hear the
howling, the insistent ching of his heavy forepaws and, at last, the
splintering the wood. ut today it was only a pounding on the door to
Baba's ce. Sergeant Martinez came in. He was a man who looked wide as he
was tall. However, no one could possibly mistake bulk for fat. He had no
neck and this made him appear as he were continually strangling inside
his policeman's orm. His face was made up of a series of broad planes
220 221 that held no shadows. The bridge of his wide nose and his round
cheeks were heavily dusted with freckles and his eyes were a pale blue
as if the blazing sun of his native Puerto Rico had bleached most of the
colour from them. He slammed the door behind him@ took several paces
into the room towards Baba. ' ought to run your black ass into the
station right now.' Baba looked up from his work, staring coolly at the
cop. ',' he said softly, ' yo, doin' here? Ain't yo@ time ol the month.'
' mind the lip, chico. All that's gonna change as of today.' He shifted
his hips so that his revolver's large leather holster jutted out rudely.
' goddamn shoot-out's making a helluva stink at the precinct.' ' down,'
Baba said. He put his hands flat on the desk. To his left, the back wall
was still dark with Marty's dried blood, ignored as if it were a mural
by a painter who has dropped from favour. ' down, hell!' Martinez stuck
his chin out belligerently.
Baba had once told Daina he thought the cop had picked up the habit from
watching old gangster films. He thought it made him look tough. '
captain's talkin' ' gettin' involved himself.' He beat forward it the
hips so that his head and bull shoulders were over the desk top.
"You know what that means? Madre de Dios!' ', yeh,' Baba said. ''ll be
the end o' yo' little racket here.' Blood came to Martinez' face, making
his freckles fade. ' little racket,' he said carefully, ' all that's
keepin' your black ass in business.' ' know,' Baba said in precisely the
same tone of voice he had used with the two gunmen before he had
destroyed them. ''s sumthin yo never tire of remindin' me of.' "Cause
you need the remindin!, n -' He stopped short but Baba supplied the word
he had been about to say: '.' ' got this white guapa,' he said thickly,
pointing in Daina's direction, ' think you're somethin' special.' It was
the first time he had acknowledged her existence. He shook his head from
side to side. ' you ain! t nuthin but a piece o' -J gotta scrape off the
heel of my shoe from time ttime.
all you gotta remember.' He stood straight up now. yeh, an' one other
thing you gotta remember: you pay "twice a month now.' He stuck out his
hand, a pig's hoof. you pay, hijo malo, judgment Day.' or a long moment,
Baba said nothing, declining even to Daina could see Martinez' increased
breathing through uniform jacket. A thick trickle of sweat crawled down
the of his sideburn, crossing his freckled face. o know the trouble with
yo, Martinez,' Baba said after 4,;hne. ' been so long thinkin' o'
yo'self as a white man, beginnin, epick up white traits.' !;",,You see
these eyes, hijo malo?' He pointed. ''re blue, ? Blue. You see this
hair? No kinks. I ain't no nigga.' Baba. said quietly, ' worse than a
nigga. Ain't that whitey tells you down the station house?' He saw the
man stiffen. ', yeh, they's some pressure now tput a ' yo spics on right
now but yo knows where it's really at, , baby. Sho nuf.' e cop's eyes
got small and hard. ' better watch your nigga.) aba ignored him.
"Yo picked up whitey's greed, Martinez, ies gon get yo into a heap o'
shit yo, not careful with yo'self - ody on the force's got sumthin goin,
so why not yo, ? But theres a difference, baby. Whitey's got the muscle
ckup his vices. Yoain! t. Yo jus' affithy spic, low rnan on totem pole."
,.'El dinero,' Martinez said hotly. His thick hand hovered in air,
opening and closing as if with a will of its own. His beneath his cap
was wet and glistening with sweat. ora!' Slowly Baba stood up, shook his
head. ' come back at the o' the month like always, yo gets yo' bread.
Ain't worth while t'pay yo mo'.' "We'll see how you feel about that
after I run you in.' "Yah, yah, yah. I see.' Baba nodded. ', this gone
look fine. Porto Rican cop on the take.' He licked his lips as if
anticipation of breaking the story. ' read real well. ptain! s jus'
waitin' for sumthin like this tbounce yo' ass out door.' 222 223
Martinez' hands balled up into fists. His face went dark with blood and
he shook a little. ', baby,' Baba said sadly. ' in this t'gether ... yo
from one end an' me from the other. Yo doan want no change, now do yo?'
Martinez seemed on the point of saying something but at the last second
he bit his lip and, crashing his great fist down on the desk top,
stalked out of the office. Baba sighed deeply, sat back in his chair,
his hands behind his head. He swivelled around to look at Daina,
shrugged his immense shoulders. ''t his fault, I s'ppose. Whitey treats
him like a used scumbag. Doan ever let yo'self be treated like that,
mama.' He turned, looked out the wire-laced window at the grimy spangled
fagades of the buildings across Fortysecond Street. ', they's taken away
the on'y thing he had left: his pride.' Just before noon the light crane
toppled and almost killed three of the production crew. The cast had the
rest of the day off. Daina and Yasmin left a furious Marion on the set.
It had taken him five hours to get the lighting correct. ' away from
here, all of you!' he had cried, not unkindly. He was about to lay into
the engineers aiid he felt that no one else should be privy to such
flogging. The cast and the crew worked hard for him and he was, in turn,
intensely loyal to them. It was a smoggy day, the atmosphere thick and
wet, when one wonders what airborne filth is settling on one's skin, and
Daina found herself wanting to be near the sea; the city, even with all
its flamboyant spread-outness, was making her claustrophobic. But the
sky above the beach at Malibu was perfectly clear, which was, Daina
thought, typical LA weather. When it was lousy here, the sun was shining
in Beverly Hills and vice versa. She parked the Merc by the side of the
road at the vacant lot and the two of them stripped to their underwear,
swam out to Rubens' boat. ' envy you,' Yasmin said as she towelled off
her hair. The deck pitched slightly beneath their bare feet. ' really
do.' She threw out her olive-skinned arms. ' mean to have all this - S.,
too. I hope you enjoy it while you have it.' Her s dark eyes were
shadowed. Daina was aware of the thrust of her large breasts beneath her
flesh-coloured ra. The sight reminded her of the campus at Carnegie- but
the sudden heat at the tops of her thighs made her of Lucy: that halo of
red hair, those perfect breasts and two of them alone in one room. Stop
it! she ordered lfl turning away. Her cheeks burned with a kind of she
was at a loss to explain or even comprehend. e it from me,' Yasmin was
saying. ' ought to know. is fleeting.' She gave a laugh that was more
musical it had been perhaps intended to be. said nothing, her mind far
away, busied herself with off. The breeze was stiff out here. Watching
the sunlight g off the tops of the waves like skeins of gold thread,
wished she could ride those waves out into the deeps. felt a warm palm
on her shoulder and it made her jump. electric thrill went down her spme
and died away.
are you all right?' scented Yasmin's faint spice close behind her and
for a minute her eyes closed, her nostrils dilating. When she around,
her face was entirely composed. She smiled. she lied. ' was just
thinking, if I looked out that way d see Chris and Maggie's house."
min's hand remained where it was, building up heat them. ' mustn't think
of that,' she said. ''s not to store up such sad thoughts.' She put out
her other turned Daina all the way around to face her, putting 's back
to that part of the shore where the house lay. "that moment, Daina
thought Yasmin's face was exquisitely alive, full of a compassion no man
could possibly licate. ' is the time for you to be strong.
There is no in weakness. We continue. We live. That's all that ith that,
a peculiar weakness came into Daina's knees. had felt this sensation
once before, in college on a steamy t in late May in the midst of
final-exam week. She had seeing Lucy's brother, Jason, a golden-haired
boy full of cle and stamina. They had tried to stay away from each
during that hectic week but even final-exam anxiety 224 225 could not
stem their lust. On a night when Lucy had made plans to study at a
friend's, Jason had come over. Never had his lovemaking seemed so
exciting, never had she found herself so lost within her own passion.
And then, as he rode deeply inside her, she heard the door to the
bedroom open, thought she could discern thee soft pad of bare feet amid
the gruntings. She felt the weight of someone else in the bed with them.
Afterwards she told herself over and over that she had only been dinily
aware of these things, that most of her being had been involved in the
highly sybaritic pursuits. She felt soft hands caressing her back in
just the way that moved her most, spiralling downward to her buttocks.
They were cupped, spread slowly apart, long fingers in the wet crease,
moving up and down, up and down in concert with Jason's increasingly
lustful thrustings. She moaned, beside herself with pleasure, and it was
then she had felt the breasts against her spine, the hard nipples
brushing her skin and the thick bush of hair insinuating itself between
her spread lobes. She pulled her lips from Jason's, turned her head, saw
Lucy's face shining, alight with lust, so close to hers that the other
girl bent her head only a friction, covering Daina's lips with her own.
The feet of Lucy's slithery tongue, her hot panting breath inside her
own mouth, was somehow the limit of intimacy. It caused Daina to
shudder. And with that bodily reaction, self-consciousness came. My God,
she thought wildly, what am I doing? With a soft cry, she tore herself
away from Lucy's clinging mouth, her stinging nipples. She wrapped her
fingers around the base of Jason's rampant penis, pulling him out of
her. He groaned deep down in his throat and she felt him begin to jerk
in her hands. ' she cried. ', no, no!' And leaped off the twisted
sheets, running from the room, her palms hot and sticky from the initial
jets of his orgasm. Remembering it again, Daina was overcome with shame.
Not so much that it had happened but at the thought that she had known
