The Queen and I (23 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six: You Little Mamzer

Saul waited in Rachel’s apartment for her to come home. When she did, he was planning to reveal himself to her and explain he was the one who Jeffrey had been talking to on that infamous night when he had interrupted their lovemaking. She was beyond angry at Jeffrey, and Saul knew that it was his fault. He never imagined he could be so insensitive or that he could cause so much trouble simply by trying to share an idea for the script, but nevertheless, he was responsible for the shaky state of his friend’s relationship, and it was up to him to fix it.

He looked around her apartment and was amazed to see how unladylike it was. He had expected a woman of her harsh exterior to be hoarding childhood artifacts and keepsakes that held sentimental value that she kept hidden away in her private sanctuary, but the only thing he found was her collection of stuffed animals.

As he looked further throughout the house, he was certain something was very wrong. There was a sense of another presence having been there that had no place and was not welcome. He had felt it before; it was that fingerprint left behind by a mortal whenever they entered a room. As a living human, he would have never sensed it, but as a ghost, his perception of things was at a much higher level, and he could tell, within one or two, how many people had been in this apartment in the last month and what their purpose was in being there.

The last time he had felt it was just before Richard Kearney had bought the cabin and some kids from town had broken in while Saul was away visiting Melissa. He knew that they had been there almost as soon as he entered the house, and it bothered him to know that his home had been violated.

He sensed Rachel’s presence right off the bat and knew that she had been here as recently as an hour ago; he must have just missed her. He felt the presence, although faint, of Jeffrey, as he had not been here since before he came to the cabin and that was over a month ago. Jeffrey’s residual print was beginning to fade. But there was another presence that he could not put his finger on. It was not like the others. This one was dirty, evil, and wanted to do nothing but hurt Rachel, and from the intensifying sensation that he was feeling, he could tell that it wanted Jeffrey as well.

The sense was strongest in her bedroom, and Saul could tell that whoever had left it was enamored with her stuffed animal collection and a picture of Rachel and Jeffrey at a premier. He lifted the picture and could immediately feel the horrible filth emanating from it. The individual who had left this imprint had done something very wrong in this apartment, and from the sense that Saul was getting from it, he knew the person responsible would be back.

Now Saul had more than just fixing Jeffrey’s relationship to worry about. He had to somehow convince Rachel to trust him and get out of the apartment as quickly as she could and leave no trace of where she was going. He knew that, if need be, he could protect her, but that would only be good for so much.

As a ghost, he was free to wander the earth and was granted certain powers for as long as he was here in this form, but one of the rules of being a ghost was that he could not physically harm a human being directly in any way. He could scare them if he wanted to, but to hurt the human directly was frowned upon, and he would quickly find himself in hell. His being Jewish meant that he would spend eternity surrounded by the ghosts of Italians and Irishmen, but it was still hell nonetheless.

He went back into the living room, took a seat on her sofa, and grabbed the issue of
Cosmo
on her coffee table. He had no idea where she had gone or how long she would be, but fortunately he had the patience of Job and was not going anywhere until she returned. The time passed slowly and the hour was getting late. He was beginning to worry that whoever had left the imprint in her apartment had somehow tracked her down and she was in trouble, but Saul knew he was helpless to do anything about that because he did not know where she was. His only option was to hope for the best and wait.

At around two in the morning, he heard her front door open and in walked Rachel with a man who definitely looked the worse for wear. He was hobbling on crutches, favoring one leg badly and gingerly walking on the other. His face had been beaten heavily on the right side, and his left arm was broken in what appeared to be several places, based on the size and shape of the cast. His right hand was black and blue and slightly swollen, and Saul had the distinct impression the man had broken his hand trying to defend himself.

As he looked closer, he was amazed, but not surprised, to realize that the man was none other than Richard Kearney. Saul was right after all, and his suspicions about Rachel were true. She was the woman who had frequented the cabin and who had performed some very tasteless and disturbing carnal acts with the aspiring writer who Saul could barely tolerate. She was a dirty tramp, and he knew that his blood would have been boiling if he had any left.

He watched as she gently escorted Kearney to the sofa where Saul was sitting and watched in horror as the man sat on his lap. He was briefly tempted to cry out “Oy” just to scare the two of them, but thought better of it since he needed to get information before he could return to Zion. And in spite of himself, he knew he had to warn Rachel that she was in danger.

He slid from under Kearney and took a position on the far end of the room where he could watch the two of them and hear what they were saying without straining. He was very curious to know what had happened to the former tenant of his cabin and wanted answers regarding their relationship.

“What I don’t understand is why you refused to tell the cops anything about who did this to you,” Rachel snapped. She was obviously irritated at Kearney and was not afraid to show her displeasure.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he answered, gently touching his swollen lip.

“That’s bullshit, Richard!” she answered. “You just got the crap beaten out of you in your own apartment, and you won’t tell anyone anything?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t want to be called to the hospital to pick up a man who I am supposed to be having nothing to do with!”

She walked away from him and poured two glasses of sherry and handed her bruised lover one. “Drink this; it’ll help you feel better.”

Richard winced as he took a sip, and gingerly sat back on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. Saul thought for a moment the man might fall asleep, but was relieved to hear him continue, “Thank you for coming to get me. I had no one else I could call.”

Rachel shook her head and replied, “I can’t have this in my life right now, Richard. I am in a very difficult spot with Jeffrey right now, and you are the last distraction that I need.”

Kearney laughed and answered, “That’s gratitude.”

“What do you mean ‘gratitude’?”

He looked at Rachel and leaned forward a bit and said, “I took this beating because of you.”

She gave him an incredulous look and asked, “What do you mean ‘for me’?”

Shaking his head, he continued, “The guy was some kind of a psycho who knows you and said that you sent him to me.”

Rachel stood up and poured herself another glass of sherry and asked, “What do you mean ‘I sent him’? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would I send a man to your apartment to beat the shit out of you?”

“I don’t think that was his original intention,” he answered, shaking his head. “He said he worked for some publishing company and that you submitted one of my works to him.”

“That makes no sense at all!” she exploded. “Why would I submit one of your projects when I don’t want anyone knowing about us?”

“I don’t know. He sounded legitimate, and I let him in. Everything was going fine until I said something about Barbra Streisand being a liberal douche, and he went crazy.” He put his bruised hand to his head and continued. “Before I knew it, I was on the ground and he was stomping on me, throwing furniture, and shouting something about learning the Way. I was only able to get him off of me when he threw me into the kitchen and I grabbed a knife.”

“You stabbed him?” she asked, amazed at his bravery.

“Not exactly. He ripped it out of my hands and slid it across his tongue and spit his blood at me. He said I was being baptized and my sacrifice would come when he had you.”

Rachel dropped her glass in shock and Saul listened intently as the events that had unfolded in Kearney’s apartment were laid out before him. The person who had left behind the presence that Saul was sensing was obviously the man who tried to kill Kearney. He would most likely be coming for Rachel next, and Saul had to do something to stop it. He was impressed that Kearney had not divulged Rachel’s whereabouts.

He had hoped that when he revealed himself to Rachel it would be while she was alone, but in light of what Kearney had just told her, he was certain he had no choice in the matter and had to reveal himself to both of them. Time was of the essence, and Saul knew they were running out of it. She had to leave her apartment as soon as possible because the man who had done this was probably on his way right now, if not already outside.

Saul took a deep breath and thought about the implications of what he was about to do. He did not trust Kearney to keep his mouth shut, or Rachel to take his sudden appearance well, but he had no choice. The only thing worse for Jeffrey than learning the truth about the love of his life would be to find out that she had been murdered and not to know why or by whom.

The lights in her apartment suddenly dimmed slightly and the air grew colder. Rachel and Kearney exchanged concerned looks, and she immediately ran to the door to bolt it. Richard tried to get up from the sofa, but his legs would not respond to the command.

Rachel quickly joined Richard and tried to get him to his feet, but she could not lift what was essentially dead weight. The two of them looked around the room nervously as the lights went darker and a strange phosphorescent glow surrounded them. She let out a yelp and quickly caught hold of herself, and Richard began trembling uncontrollably.

Saul was actually taking some small form of pleasure in revealing himself this way, because the two little
mamzers
deserved whatever he did to them. A good scare was the least he could do, and the dramatic entrance leant itself to the theater performer in him. He also figured that it would help his case in trying to convince them that he was, in fact, a ghost.

They watched as Saul slowly materialized before them. He was decked out in black leggings, a loose-fitting pink blouse, and heels that seemed too high for a man of his size to be able to walk around in. His makeup was done tastefully, considering it was over the top for most women, or in his case, men. He slowly turned around and examined the room to be sure he did not cause any damage from his sudden appearance, as this was sometimes a problem that he could not control. He was satisfied that everything was as it should be, and he turned to Richard and Rachel. Slowly, in that low, raspy voice, he said to them, “We need to talk, you little mamzers.”

* * *

Louis Grecko sat atop his perch on the roof of the building across the street from Rachel Benjamin’s apartment and did a double take into his binoculars when he saw what he just did. The phenomenon was unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of before, and he was excited and terrified at the same time.

The feeling of being terrified was a new sensation for Louis, and he liked the way it made him feel. He could not believe what was happening over there. Unless he was wrong, and he doubted that very much, he had just witnessed the appearance of an actual ghost in her apartment. And as he watched through his binoculars, he could see that the three of them were now engaged in some kind of conversation. What they were talking about he was uncertain of, but by the body language of Rothstein’s girlfriend and the man who Louis had just baptized, they were hearing information that was not sitting well with either one of them.

A sudden sense of paranoia washed over Louis as he began to wonder if, perhaps, this spirit had been sent by the enemy of the music to combat him and protect the girl and Rothstein. This ghost was obviously not a friend of Louis’s or it would have shown itself to him instead.

What did it know about him, and why was it sharing that information with these two? Had it already warned Rothstein? How did it know about Louis?

All of these questions left Louis feeling very uncertain, and he was of a mind to go over to the apartment now, face the demon head on, and kill the Kearney fellow and the woman who he had hoped to make his own, but he decided it would serve him better to find out what he could about this entity and why it had decided to show itself now.

He would track the spirit, a conclusion that excited him more than he anticipated. He had tracked many men and women over the years, but never once had he tracked a ghost. The prospects of this game were intoxicating to him, and something that even his beloved mother could not have imagined.

Louis thought of his mother at that moment and decided he was not going to tell her about this new target. The ghost was his and his alone, and Louis would stop at nothing to find out what it wanted and why it was here.

He smiled to himself and slowly left his perch, retreating to the stairwell that led him to the rooftop where he now stood.

The ghost would be his. The possibilities were limitless.

* * *

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Rachel said.

“That would be an understandable reaction, but not very ladylike,” Saul said.

Richard’s eyes were still transfixed on Saul, and he could think of nothing else. Saul turned his attention to him and said, “Don’t act like you’re so surprised, Richard. Who do you think was singing all of those songs when you were in Zion, sweet prince?”

Kearney’s eyes went wide at the recognition of that phrase. “I … I thought I was hallucinating.”

Saul smiled and answered, “Morning, sunshine.” Rachel struggled to light a cigarette, and Saul immediately added, “Oh, please don’t light that. I have allergies.” She looked at him in stunned astonishment, and he continued, “Only kidding, dear. Light up if you want.”