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Gus said they re ready to retire.
They weren t ready last month when I dropped in over there. Howie, I ve got to tell you something.
There are times when you push to cut corners when it don t make sense. You think you re doing me a
favor by trying to kick them out of a big apartment so that you can get good rent for it. I know all about
that, but for what I pay them, letting them have more space is a bargain. Sometimes you overstep
yourself. This is one of them. Make nice with them. Give them a raise, but makesure they stay! And now
that we re on the subject, when you deal with them and with the other supers, keep something in mind.
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You represent me, but you renot me. Clear? Very clear?
Of course. Howard Altman s vocal cords started to form the name Derek. Instead he said humbly,
Very clear, Mr. Olsen.
I m glad to hear it. Anything else?
Howard had planned to tell his boss that Carolyn MacKenzie had been in the Kramers apartment on
Wednesday asking questions about her missing brother, but he realized it would be a mistake. In his
present mood, Olsen would decide that he should have been told at once, that Howie didn t understand
what was important. Besides that, over the past decade whenever Olsen talked about the MacKenzie
disappearance, he went ballistic red in the face, his voice raised sharply.
That kid takes off in May, he would rant. The apartments were all rented for the next September.
Half of them were canceled. The last place MacKenzie was seen was in my building, so his parents
thought there might have been some nut hanging out in the stairwell&
Howard realized that his boss was studying him intently.
Howie, you look like you have more on your mind. Do you?
Nothing at all, Mr. Olsen, Howard said firmly.
Good. You been reading about that missing girl? What s her name, Leesey Andrews?
Yes, I have. It s very sad. I was watching the news before I left this morning. I don t think they expect
to find her alive.
These young women should stay out of these clubs. In my day, they sat home with their mothers.
Howard reached for the check as the waitress placed it beside Olsen. It was a ritual they went through
every week. Ninety percent of the time Olsen let him pick it up. When he was annoyed, he did not.
Olsen grabbed the check. I don t want the Kramers to leave, Howie, understand? Remember last year
you stepped on the toes of the super on Ninety-eighth Street? His replacement stinks. If the Kramers
leave, maybe you should look for another job. I hear my nephew is out of work again. He s not stupid, in
fact, he s pretty damned smart. Maybe if he had your cushy apartment and salary, he d pay a little more
attention to me.
I hear you, Mr. Olsen. Howard Altman was furious at his employer, but much more so at himself. He
had played it all wrong. The Kramers had been as nervous as cats on a hot tin roof when Carolyn
MacKenzie showed up the other day. Why? He should have been smart enough to find out what was
upsetting them. He made a silent vow to get what it was out of them before it was too late. I want my
job, he thought. Ineed it.
Neither the Kramers nor Carolyn MacKenzie were going to cause him to lose it!
24
Hope is fading that Leesey Andrews will be found alive, Dr. David Andrews read as the latest news
report scrolled across the bottom of the television screen. He was sitting on the leather couch in the den
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of his son s Park Avenue apartment. Unable to sleep, he had gone in there sometime in the predawn
hours. He knew he must have dozed off at some point, because shortly after he heard Gregg leave to
make his rounds at the hospital, he became aware that a blanket was tucked around him neatly.
Now, three hours later, he was still there, alternately dozing and watching television. I should get
showered and dressed, he thought, but he was too weary to move. The clock on the mantelpiece
showed that it was quarter of ten. I m still in pajamas, he thought that s ridiculous. He looked up at the
television screen. What had he just seen on it? I must have read it because the setting is on mute, he
realized.
He groped for the remote control, which he remembered placing on the cushion so that he could adjust
the volume in an instant if something came on about Leesey.
It s Sunday, he thought. It s been more than five days now. What do I feel right at this minute? Nothing.
Not fear, nor grief, nor that murderous anger at whoever has taken her. Right now, at this minute, I just
feel numb.
It won t last.
Hope is fading,he thought. Is that what I just read in the news tape on the screen? Or did I make it up?
Why does that sound familiar?
A mental image of his mother, playing the piano at family parties and everyone joining in the singing,
burst into his mind. They loved the old vaudeville songs, he thought. One of them began with the words,
Darling I am growing old.
Leesey won t ever grow old. He closed his eyes against the tidal wave of pain. The emotional numbness
was gone.
Darling, I am growing old& Silver threads among the gold& Shine upon my brow today& Life is fading
fast away&
Hope is fading& Those were the words that made me think of that song.
Dad, are you okay?
David Andrews looked up and saw the concerned face of his son. I didn t hear you come in, Gregg.
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