He stood over the body. The rain was flooding Major’s chest wounds and spreading diluted blood on his raincoat. Blood haloed out darkly from the back of his head across the concrete sidewalk. Maybe Major was still alive, but he certainly didn’t look it. The shapeless bits of material, like soft cheese, floating in the scum on the pavement, were pieces of Major’s brain.

“Are you going to give him mouth-to-mouth?”

Devlin got down on his haunches and picked up Major’s wrist as if to take his pulse. He had his own fingers on the piece of paper when he heard the voice again.

“Are you going to give him mouth-to-mouth?”

Devlin palmed the paper as he rose and turned around. He was shaking so badly that he gripped the paper tighter to direct and dissipate some of his energy. The guy who had asked the question was in his forties, pear-shaped, unshaven, and balding, the kind of shlub that had been haunting New York neighborhoods all of Devlin’s life.

“With that hole in the back of his head, mouth-to-mouth would only make him sound like a fucking tuba.” He pushed past the guy and headed toward his car, which was parked on the south side of the boulevard.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m going to call for emergency medical backup. He looks like he’s beyond their equipment, but there’s always a chance.” Devlin wondered how his imagination was coming up with such stuff. A moment ago he had thought he was looking at two guys wanting to have lunch and an old guy trying to get back into a restaurant out in the rain. Now everything was crazy, but somehow Devlin was keeping pace. His car was on the south side of the boulevard, in front of the Chinese—or was it Korean?—joint that once had been Gildea’s Bar and Grill. The one thing in view that remained the same from Devlin’s youth was the Mobil station. Even the White Castle hamburger stand was larger. And big old Sunnyside Garden, where the first televised wrestling had originated, had been torn down for a Burger King.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going?”

The shlub was pursuing him! Devlin wanted to move faster, but that would give him away. The guy grabbed at Devlin’s sleeve, but Devlin pulled loose, still moving. Traffic on the south side was beginning to roll again, and Devlin was still half a block from his car.

“Hey! Wait a minute!” The guy grabbed him solidly now. “You screwed around with him back there! You’re not a doctor!”