Page 91 (1/2)

The taxi halted "Twenty-seven fifty," the driver said

It was like being splashed by cold water I hurriedly rearranged irl--Natalie? Nadine?--was already waiting on the steps to her building, se was rattling overhead; I thought we e overpass More grappling at the door and she pushed me away

"Wait here" Her face was flushed; she was breathing very fast "I have soone before I could object Standing on the sidewalk, I tried to reasseht’s events Grand Central, the hours of hopeless waiting My desolate walk through the icy streets The war andher hand onour hasty, inevitable exit I could res, yet none of them seemed completely real Abandoned in the cold, I felt a rush of panic I did not want to be alone with hts How could she have done it? How could Liz have leftthere, train after train? If the door didn’t buzz soon, I kneould literally detonate

A few agonizing minutes passed I heard the door open and turned in ti She was older, heavyset, perhaps Hispanic Her body, buried in a bunchy down coat, was hunched against the wind She had failed to notice rabbed the door just before it closed

The lobby encased me with its sudden warmth I scanned the mailboxes Nicole Forood, apartment zero I descended the stairs to the basele door awaited I knocked with my knuckles, then, when no one responded, with s had annealed to a pure desperation, alain when I heard footsteps inside The co of a New York aparth for irl’s face on the other side of the chain She had taken off heran otherwise plain face, flawed by traces of acne Another itation was such that my brain could not compute the data

"Why did you leave o"

"I don’t understand"

Her face was as rigid as a blind ’s coirl who had laid siege to ame? I wanted to blow the chain off its anchors and burst through the door Maybe that hat she wanted me to do She sort of seemed the type

"It’s late I shouldn’t have left you out there, but I’ to shut the door now"

"Please, just let o after that"

"I’ain soo"