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And, of course, from Keller

Suppose he just walked up and thumped aith the brass door knocker? Somebody would open the door And as to say it wouldn’t be the man himself?

Keller, as ordinarily inclined to take his tione straight to the honated victi the bell The door was opened by the man in the photo they’d sent Keller, who’d proirl at the Hertz counter said, "So soon? Is there soe in plans, and flew back to New York

Keller couldn’t believe the duty of opening the front door would fall to the abbot, not even in more ordinary circumstances So Keller would have to deal hoever came to the door, and then there’d probably be other people to deal with before he got to O’Herlihy

He turned his back on the

Keller had lived for years in an Art Deco apart on First Avenue in the 40s He had rented the apart went co-op Since then it had appreciated enorh he supposed it must have dropped some in the current recession

Not that it mattered, because he was pretty sure he didn’t own it anymore How could he? He hadn’t paid the maintenance since his world turned upside down and left hi for his life It had probably taken the co-op board a while to figure out how to proceed, but they’d have long since worked it out, and so there now

It was, he thought, stupid to walk over there, stupid to show his face in his old neighborhood But he couldn’t seem to help hi about O’Herlihy, thinking about sta about Julia and Jenny--his feet insisted on carrying him to the block he used to live on, and planted him in a doorway directly across the street

There was a light on in his

He felt very strange Years and years ago, he’d had occasion to walk down the suburban street where he’d lived as a boy By then it had been ages since he and his o back, and that unplanned visit hadn’t had much impact Someone had painted it another color, he’d noted, but the old basketball backboard was still e It seeh he couldn’t have said just how

And he’d turned away and never given the place another thought

Now, though, it was somehow different He hadn’t moved out of this apartment He was just there, and then one day he wasn’t He’d sneaked back in the dead of night, slipped the doorman a few bucks to look the other way, and went upstairs to retrieve his stamp collection Only he was too late for that…

And so he’d gone off, never to return Until nohen he was suddenly back in New York He wasn’t Keller anymore, and he didn’t live here any here, anyway?

He walked halfway across the street until he could get a look at the door the unifor, but as far as Keller couldelse familiar about him It had been a couple of years, and a certain amount of staff turnover was to be expected And if Keller didn’t recognize the guy, why should the guy recognize Keller?

He probably wouldn’t That didn’t necessarily et past hiet close to hiet his hands on hiht off the lobby He could put the guy in the package roo

And then all he’d have to do was go upstairs, and give the doorbell a poke--no knocker on his door, not unless the new tenant had added one "Hi, I’hbor froot water co--"

Then the door would open, and there’d be athere--or a man and a woman, or two men, or tomen, it hardly mattered And he didn’t have a weapon, but he had his hands, and that was all he’d need

He drew back into the shadows, flattened hi behind him Across the street, the doorarette break He still didn’t look fa why he’d been conte hio upstairs and kill soood reason at all

The iht want to call it--was gone now Go home, he told himself sternly

He stepped over to the curb, held up a hand for a cab One caht lit, and headed his hereupon Keller shook his head and waved him off Keller wasn’t able to see the expression on the driver’s face, but he could i

He walked all the way back to his hotel, and he took his ti there On the way, he stopped for a slice of pizza and ate it standing at the counter, drank a cup of coffee at the diner that had been his regular breakfast place He bought a newspaper at a deli, dropped it unread into the next trash can he cahout just what he was doing