Backtracker (28 page)

"
So you
'
re not planning on staying very long, huh
?
"
Dave asked distractedly as he scanned the premises.

"
I doubt it,
"
tossed Larry, ambling toward a door at the end of the hall.

"
How much longer will you be around, then
?
"
wondered Dave.

"
Beats me,
"
sighed Larry.

"
It doesn
'
t sound like you
'
re going to be here for very long, from the way you
'
re talking.
"
Stopping at the door beside Larry, Dave watched as the guy slid a key into the keyhole. At first, he was surprised by the number of keys on Larry
'
s key ring; there were only two. He quickly realized, however, that those were all the keys that Larry needed, since he
didn
'
t
have a car: one for the downstairs entrance and one for the door to his room.

"
Well, I don
'
t usually stay in one place for very long,
"
Larry said as he pushed the door open.
"
I never know when I
'
m going to leave until I finally hit the road.
"

"
Oh, right,
"
nodded Dave.
"
I remember you saying that you only stay in a place till you get to like it.
"

"
Exactly,
"
affirmed Larry. Stepping through the doorway, Larry reached for a switch on the wall just past the threshold.

A ceiling light flashed on and Dave suddenly had a clear view of Larry
'
s home. As Larry led him into the place, Dave looked around, absorbing every detail...what details there were.

To say the least, the accommodations were
Spartan
. The room was small and square, perhaps twenty feet on a side. As far as Dave could see, there were no closets or doorways leading to adjoining chambers; the only extra space was in a tiny cubbyhole of a bathroom immediately to his right.

There were only three pieces of furniture in the whole room. A low cot occupied one corner; in another corner, opposite the foot of the cot, there was a simple wooden table. A straight
-
backed chair sat beside the table, its back to the wall; the chair was painted lime
-
green, a color which clashed with the dark brown of the table.

A cot, a table, and a chair; aside from those items, there
wasn
'
t
one stick of furniture in the place. There was hardly any clutter, either, though Larry had no closets or dressers in which to keep his belongings. Dave saw an old hot plate and a pot on the table; three cans of soup were lined up beside the hot plate, but the table was otherwise bare. A grimy pair of sneakers was neatly arranged on the floor by the bed, toes touching the wall; a khaki duffel bag squatted alongside the shoes, its mouth cinched shut.

A pot and a hot plate, three cans of soup, a pair of sneakers and a duffel bag; those were the only objects in the room besides the three pieces of furniture. There were no decorations, either, no mirrors or pictures on the walls. Two walls were blank, broken only by cracks in the dirty plaster; a third wall was interrupted only by the bathroom doorway. The cot and table lay lengthwise against the fourth wall; between them was a window, about two feet wide, but the window had no curtains or even a blind.

And that was it. There
was nothing
else to see. Larry
'
s hideout, which Dave had been so anxious to examine, was a cramped and barren burrow. It
wasn
'
t
at all as Dave had envisioned it;
he'd
expected a more colorful place, hectic with mess and artifacts, scattered with photos and mementos of Larry
'
s rich past...not the empty, featureless room in which he now stood.

As soon as
he'd
taken his first look around, Dave knew that he would find no clues in Larry
'
s room. Whatever secrets the man had, they
wouldn
'
t
be divulged by the impersonal void of his home.

The day of investigation was going to be a total loss after all.

"
Well, go ahead and use the john,
"
said Larry, waving at the bathroom.

Ending his inspection of the room, Dave remembered the charade which had gotten him into the place.
"
Thanks
!
"
he sputtered, rolling his eyes with mock discomfort.
"
Bombs away
!
"
he cried as he dove into the bathroom.

Closing the door behind him, Dave found a light switch and flicked it upward. Immediately ending the act which
he'd
put on for Larry
'
s benefit, he calmly looked around the tiny nook.

Again, there
was
n
o
t
hing of interest. A sink butted against the wall, its porcelain jaundiced with age; the metal spigot above it was crusted with grime, as were the spoked, old
-
fashioned faucet knobs. Beside the sink, a yellowed commode hugged the wall, its seat held only by a single hinge. The rest of that cupboard of a bathroom consisted of a shower stall; the narrow stall looked newer than the other fixtures, because its white sides
hadn
'
t
yet turned yellow, but it looked as if it had been put together haphazardly, because there were gobs of dried caulk all over it. There was no shower curtain, and no bar upon which a curtain could be hung.

There was no mirror or medicine cabinet in the room, nothing but the
stripped, essential fixtures.
As in the main room,
there was little clutter:
on the rim of the sink, there was a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, a razor and can of Barbasol; a roll of toilet paper perched atop the tank of the commode; a neatly folded towel and a bar of soap lay on the floor of the shower stall.

The bathroom was bare and blank, but Dave had expected no more after his first look around Larry
'
s place. Clearly, no clues would be found in these stark and purely functional environs.

After running some water and flushing the toilet for effect, Dave emerged from the bathroom. Larry was now busy at the table, stirring soup in the pot on the hot plate.

"
Supper time, huh
?
"
Dave said nonchalantly, taking a step toward the table.

"
Uh
-
huh,
"
nodded Larry.
"
Tomato surprise a la Campbell
'
s.
"

"
Mm
-
mm good,
"
smirked Dave, sliding his hands into the pockets of his coat.

"
You better believe it,
"
Larry said sardonically.
"
Want some?
"

"
No thanks,
"
Dave said politely.
"
My mom probably has something in the oven for me already. Anyway, I
'
ve got a lot to do yet.
"

"
Okay, then,
"
shrugged Larry.

"
I
'
ll see you tomorrow, I guess,
"
said Dave.

"
All right,
"
nodded Larry.
"
See you later.
"

And that was the end of it. Dave left the room and closed the door behind him, then carefully picked his way through the darkness of the hall and stairs.

As he headed home, he considered his visit to Larry
'
s place, his failure to learn anything new. He felt frustrated about the whole thing, annoyed by Larry
'
s stonewalling tactics and the blankness of his room. All day,
he'd
eagerly awaited this trip, hoping to pinch even the tiniest truth from Larry...and
he'd
come away with nothing.

Of course, one good thing had come from the venture. Larry
'
s evasions and lies had convinced Dave that he should continue to investigate; the guy was definitely hiding something...perhaps the psychic powers which Dave suspected that he possessed. Though Dave had no idea of how he should proceed, he knew that
he had
to proceed.

Soon, he promised himself, Larry Smith would no longer be a mystery.

*****

Chapter
14

"
Hey, Billy,
"
said Dave Heinrich, leaning his elbows on the table.
"
Did you notice anything weird about Larry the other night? At the party, I mean.
"

"
Welll,
"
drawled Billy Bristol, chomping on a French fry,
"
he was talking to you, and I guess
that
'
s
pretty weird.
"

Dave shook his head and gave Billy a withering look. He was annoyed by Billy
'
s teasing, because he needed to get some straight answers from the jokester. Just as
he'd
looked forward to checking out Larry
'
s apartment the day before, so too had he eagerly anticipated a talk with Billy today.

After his visit to Larry
'
s place, Dave had done some thinking about what the next step in his investigation should be;
he'd
concluded that it would be a good idea to talk to some of the people who had been around Larry. Though Larry had been in town for only a short time, not long enough for anyone to know him well, Dave felt that it might be helpful to learn other people
'
s impressions of the mystery man. Perhaps new details would emerge, telling samples of Larry
'
s behavior which Dave
hadn
'
t
personally witnessed, crucial clues in the accounts and gossip of his friends.

Naturally, the first person to whom
he'd
gone was Billy Bristol. After the day
'
s classes, Dave had hurried to the steakhouse, getting there a full twenty minutes before his shift was to start;
he'd
found Billy sitting alone in a corner booth, eating a burger and fries before his own shift, which would also begin at three
-
thirty.

Dave was just now getting to the meat of his inquiry; he hoped that his friend would settle down and tell him something significant before their shift started and their duties demanded attention.

"
Seriously, Billy,
"
Dave pressed urgently.
"
Did you think there was anything strange about him?
"

"
Everybody
was pretty strange Saturday night,
"
chuckled Billy, reaching for another fry.
"
Then again, they always
are
at
my
parties.
"

"
Well, that
'
s true,
"
nodded Dave.
"
Did you notice anything stranger than usual, though? Particularly about Larry.
"

"
Hmmm,
"
muttered Billy, crinkling his features into a thoughtful frown.
"
Not really,
"
he shrugged at last.
"
Then again, I was mighty wasted.
"

"
Huh,
"
grunted Dave.
"
What about the cop? Didn
'
t you think there was something freaky about that whole thing with the cop?
"

"
Well, yeah,
"
grinned Billy.
"
Cops
never
come to my parties. I mean, the guy wasn
'
t even invited.
"

"
Besides that,
"
pressed Dave.
"
Besides the fact that he showed up, didn
'
t you think there was anything weird about it?
"

"
Definitely
!
"
Billy piped glibly, plucking the half
-
eaten burger from his plate.
"
He didn
'
t
bust us!
"
Lunging forward, the wiry guy attacked his hamburger, ripping a great hunk from the sandwich.

Sighing impatiently, Dave decided that it was time to be mor
e direct in his questioning.
He wanted to find out if Billy shared his suspicions or could reinforce them.
"
Do you remember when we were all sitting in the kitchen, and Jeff got there
?
"
he asked.

"
Mm
-
hm,
"
Billy nodded as he chewed enthusiastically.

"
Well, do you remember how Jeff was bitching about the parking? He was moaning because he couldn
'
t get a spot close to the trailer, and then Larry asked if that was how we always parked. Remember?
"

"
Uh, sort of,
"
Billy said tentatively.
"
I remember Jeff bitching, but he
'
s
always
bitching.
"

"
Aw, come on,
"
persisted Dave.
"
Jeff was griping about the parking, and then Larry started talking about it, and he asked us if we ever had trouble from the cops over it. Remember? After you got done with the cop, you congratulated Larry for guessing what was gonna
'
happen.
"

"
Oh yeah
!
"
perked Billy.
"
That
'
s right! He was talking about the cops coming, and then they did!
"

Dave felt a flicker of triumph at finally spurring Billy
'
s memory.
"
Well, don
'
t you think that was all pretty weird? I mean, Larry predicted
exactly
what happened. He predicted that a cop would come by, and he predicted exactly
why
he
'
d be there.
"

"
No he didn
'
t,
"
disagreed Billy.
"
He just wondered if anything like that ever happened before. He didn
'
t say it
would
happen.
"

"
Yeah, but he was right on the money,
"
Dave said excitedly.
"
I mean, he talked about cops hassling us about parking on the road, and then
bang
!
A cop hassles us about parking on the road! Let
'
s face it, that was pretty amazing!
"

"
Not really,
"
said Billy.
"
It was just a coincidence.
"

"
I don
'
t think so,
"
Dave declared forcefully, shaking his head.
"
I think Larry knew what was going to happen.
"

"
Uh
-
oh,
"
chirped Billy, grinning broadly.
"
You still think he
'
s
psychic
, don
'
t you? Like you said at the party, right?
"

"
I don
'
t know,
"
shrugged Dave.
"
He
'
s
something
, that
'
s for sure.
"

"
Maybe he
'
s got super E.S.P. powers
!
"
Billy whispered loudly.
"
Maybe he can read
minds
, huh? Wow! I better make sure I never play
poker
with him.
"

"
Cut it out,
"
frowned Dave.
"
I
'
m being serious here.
"

"
I wonder if he can move stuff around with his mind,
"
gasped Billy.
"
Geez! He could bus the whole
dining room
without moving a muscle.
"

"
Listen,
"
snapped Dave.
"
It
'
s no
joke
,
okay? I really think there
'
s something...I don
'
t know...
weird
about that guy.
"

Billy retreated a bit, but Dave could tell from the twinkle in his eyes that he was still quite amused.
"
Look,
"
he chuckled.
"
That psychic stuff only happens in movies and comic books, man. Real people can
'
t do it.
"

"
How do
you
know people can
'
t do that stuff
?
"
argued Dave.
"
Just because you haven
'
t met anyone who
can
, that doesn
'
t prove there
isn
'
t
anyone.
"

"
Nobody
knows anyone who
'
s really psychic,
"
Billy said glibly.
"
There
'
s lots of
phonies
, but if somebody was the real thing, he
'
d be
famous
!
Everybody
'
d wanna
'
know
about him!
"

"
Not necessarily,
"
said Dave.
"
Maybe, if somebody could see the future or read minds or that kind of thing, they
'
d keep it secret. Maybe they wouldn
'
t
want
anyone else to know.
"

"
Yeah, but think of all the
money
they could make if they were famous,
"
interjected Billy.
"
They could write books, be on TV, star in movies, and everybody in the
world
would pay to see them or read about them. It
'
d be a
goldmine
, y
'
know?
"

"
Think how much money they could make if nobody
knew
,
though,
"
countered Dave.
"
They could make a fortune on Wall Street, because they
'
d know ahead of time which stocks were gonna
'
be good. They
'
d know exactly which real estate to buy, because they
'
d be able to tell which places would be worth the most in the future. Hell, they could even get rich on game shows, because they
'
d know what all the answers would be! If everybody else
knew
they could see the future, they wouldn
'
t be able to get away with that stuff!
"

"
Yeah, but you
'
re talkin
'
about Larry, right?
He
sure isn
'
t rich. If he was, he wouldn
'
t be working
here
, man.
"

"
Maybe he has some other reason for covering up, then,
"
suggested Dave.
"
Maybe he just wants his privacy. If he was psychic, and everybody knew about it, people would be bugging him twenty
-
four hours a day, trying to get him to tell them what the future
'
s gonna
'
be.
"

Billy started to say something, then stopped; he smirked at Dave and shook his head.
"
You
'
re nuts, you know that
?
"
he laughed.
"
You
'
re really convinced Larry
'
s got some kind of E.S.P. powers, aren
'
t you?
"