Part 33 (1/2)

”This doesn't sound like you! You'll keep trying. There are headhunters and agents and managers. And you have a fallback.”

”My trust fund? That doesn't kick in until I'm thirty-five. I lied about getting it now so you wouldn't worry so much about me living on tips.”

”Not that fallback,” Henry says. He puts his arm around her shoulders. Months have gone by and only now does he have his arm around Thalia in full view of neighbors and pedestrians on West 75th Street.

”You know what I think?” she says. ”I think you're wis.h.i.+ng some real-life guy will take me on that shopping trip to Tiffany's, and soon you'd be walking me down the aisle of Saint Nicholas. Will you admit to that?”

”No, I will not.” He smiles. He points to the maisonette. ”Because what if I got that wish, and your husband didn't want to live downstairs?”

”Are you kidding? If I ever get married it'll be to a starving artist or a slacker. In fact, your three and a half rooms will be the main reason he proposes.”

Henry nods, then manages a ”Good.”

”You okay?” she asks. ”Did I make you nervous? Don't be. I'm going to redo my resume and get a job. I want to pay my own way.”

Henry says, ”I appreciate that. But at the same time, I hope you won't give up on your craft. I think you have talent. More than talent; you have that indefinable quality-”

Her phone vibrates, a growl from the stone step. Thalia, looking puzzled, doesn't answer immediately.

”Not Leif?” Henry asks.

She holds up the phone. ”Krouch Carton,” he reads.

34. The Waikiki.

IT IS THE LESS gracious Krouch, Glenn Junior, barreling right to the point: He needs the lowdown from Thalia on Henry Archer. Is he trustworthy? Discreet? And what's in it for a gay ex-husband, this campaigning for Denise?

Thalia says, ”I don't know what you're talking about. And by the way, nice of you to check in on me every millennium or so.”

”Henry Archer? Your stepfather, right? You didn't know he came to see us about your mother?”

Thalia says-delivering up her best Katharine Hepburn-”How odd, yet how chivalrous! You can most certainly trust Henry. In fact, this upright citizen is sitting right next to me, on the veranda, not an inch away.”

”s.h.i.+t. Obviously you can't talk-” says Glenn.

”Yes, I can.” Without waiting for an answer, Thalia says, un-muted, ”Here. Talk to Glenn, my charming stepbrother.”

Without preamble, and with her orange Razr phone to his ear, Henry says, ”I hope the reason you were calling my references is because there's been movement in your position.”

Glenn says, ”Hold on a sec.” A corrugated box promotion fills the air until Glenn comes back to announce, most unconvincingly, ”I decided to do what's right.”

”Which means what?”

”We should talk. In person.”

Henry says, ”Tomorrow? I'll check with the firm to make sure there's a conference room available and I'll call you back to confirm.”

”No,” says Glenn. ”I'll call you. I'm the executor. I don't want Tommy dragged into this. Bye.”

Thalia takes her phone back and claps it shut. ”It would appear to the casual observer,” she says, ”that you've met with at least one of my stepbrothers to discuss your ex-wife. When did this all come about?”

Henry says, ”I went to Long Island City, once. For ten minutes, two weeks ago.”

”So I've got Glenn Krouch Junior from that cast of characters calling me about Henry Archer, from this subset. And, silly me-I had no idea they'd ever met! You know what this reminds me of? It's like when a character from Days of Our Lives shows up on All My Children.”

”It's not so far-fetched,” says Henry. ”Your mother turned to me for legal advice. I went to the factory to see if the sons would show her a little mercy.”

”On which topic?”

”Money. Housing. I thought I'd begin with an appeal to their sense of fair play and generosity, if any.”

He expects Thalia will say, ”Ha!” but instead she says, ”That might work with Tommy. Glenn, on the other hand, is an a.s.shole.”

”Yet he called,” says Henry. ”And he says he wants to do the right thing.”

”Isn't life interesting?” says Thalia. ”Just as I'm struggling with how to recognize what the right thing is, along comes an ill.u.s.trated example in the unlikely form of Glenn Krouch Junior, torturer in his youth of small animals.”

”Maybe he's genuinely concerned. Maybe he heard from the brokers that she's in a bad way-”

”Or maybe he's hearing from the ghosts of husbands past...” and adds, in an otherworldly voice, ”'Glenn Junior, you must help Denise. Yes, it's Dad. Why do you doubt your own ears?'”

”I'm not getting my hopes up,” says Henry. ”Nothing ever gets accomplished in the first round of negotiations.”

”Are you going to bring your client?”

”G.o.d no,” says Henry.

Present in the law firm's smallest conference room are Glenn Krouch Jr. and a silver-haired, ponytailed man in a gray pinstriped suit and white sneakers, whose name, Eddie Pelletier, does not immediately register. ”Mr. Pelletier is here in what capacity?” Henry asks Glenn.

”Blackmailer,” grunts Glenn.

”He's kidding!” says Eddie. ”I'm helping Denise, and so are you, right?” He reaches across the table to shake Henry's hand. ”She said you were on her side, and you got this ball rolling.”

Henry asks, ”You're here on Denise's behalf ... how?”

”He's f.u.c.king her!” says Glenn. ”If she gets the apartment, he gets a roof over his head.”

Eddie says, ”That's uncalled for. I think we should keep this professional and, if possible, let bygones be bygones.” He turns to Henry. ”Here's what he's referring to: Denise and I, after some big hurdles, are making a go of it. I happen to know that the kids were offended that the friends.h.i.+p started before their dad pa.s.sed, and I also happened to be married. I admit there was some to-ing and fro-ing in that department, but that's now settled. As for why this, now, today: My history with the family business puts me in a unique position to help Denise.”

”How?” asks Henry.

”Extortionist,” says Glenn.

”His dad and I were in business together at one time,” Eddie says. ”And even though the partners.h.i.+p broke up, the friends.h.i.+p didn't.”

Henry puts his pen down on his yellow legal pad. ”If it's about business, I need to know why I was called. And why is Mr. Krouch using terms like blackmail and extortion?”