“If I can’t crack the code,” Arthur said nervously, “I’ll break open the safe with a sledgehammer. My grandmother hid her jewelry in her attic for years but the insurance company made her get a safe. Thieves broke in and bashed it open. It looked like a crumpled soda can!”

Wally hung up, went back into the house, and without much prodding, learned from Penny Spreckles that Lorraine Lily was thirty years old, only nine years older than their daughter, which of course was disgraceful. She’d turned thirty on the first of January and still hadn’t really made it as an actress, which meant, well, you know.

Wally returned to the yard and called Arthur back with the information, minus the editorial. Now as he rode in the back of the Rod’s Renovations van, he was a nervous wreck. If anything happened and they got caught…

He was lost in thought when the lights went out on the highway. Rod flipped on the radio, and they heard the news of the blackout. Rod immediately called his wife, who said their power was off but she and the kids were fine. Frank didn’t call anybody. Neither did Wally.

A short while later, Wally’s cell phone rang. He could see it was Arthur calling, but he was too afraid to answer. He couldn’t risk having Rod or Frank overhear the conversation. Was he imagining it, or did the ring itself sound angry?

“Aren’t you going to answer your phone?” Rod asked. “Someone might be checking up on you to see if you’re okay. Or someone might need you.”

“Nobody needs me,” Wally joked as he pressed the silence button. “Nobody cares.”

Frank rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on,” Rod said with a laugh. “I bet whoever is calling is just dying to get a hold of you.”

Truer words have never been spoken. At the other end of the line, Arthur was an enraged, quivering mess. Calling from the safety of his car, parked down by the Hudson River, he wanted to blast Wally for giving him the wrong information about when the owners of the loft were expected back from their vacation. And he was terrified because he’d lost the stun gun he’d just bought on the Internet when he was visiting his grandmother in Nebraska. He’d only bought it for his own protection. He bought one for his grandmother, too. If they find it and trace it back to him…

“Answer the phone!” he screamed at Wally’s recording. “Answer your stupid phone!!”

13

W hen Kent, the bartender, sat down with Regan, Becky, Kit, and Billy in the back room of Larry’s Laughs, he was drying his hands with a small towel, then used it to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Women customers found the red-headed, freckled, thirty-three-year-old cute and friendly. “It’s not easy cleaning up this place in the dark,” he began. “What a job trying to settle everyone’s check with all the lights out. Businesses all over the city are losing money tonight.” He paused. “I shouldn’t be complaining. The situation you’re dealing with is much more serious.”