Disappearing Acts Read Free Page B

Anyway, he was getting out of here. This place was giving him the creeps.
    Meat picked up the wallet and, without opening it, put it in his back pocket. He would turn it in. They probably had some sort of Lost and Found department.
    As he turned to go, he noticed a lipstick halfway between where he had found the wallet and the door to one of the stalls. He didn’t pick this up. He just stared at it as if trying to make a connection.
    The wallet ...
    The lipstick ...
    His eyes continued to look.
    A hair brush—a dainty one with speckles like confetti in the plastic.
    The objects began to take on the feeling of a trail, things leading to something.
    And Meat knew that at the end of the trail there was going to be something he wouldn’t like.
    Something that would change his life.
    And not for the better.

5
    THE GUY-ETTE
    â€œHerculeah, come away from the window.”
    â€œI have to make sure Meat gets home all right.”
    â€œFor someone who’s not worried about Meat, you are giving a good imitation of being worried about Meat.”
    â€œI can’t help it.”
    â€œWhat time do you expect him?”
    â€œNine o‘clock.” Herculeah glanced over her shoulder at the clock. “Oh, not for another hour.”
    â€œThen come away from the window for an hour. Then go back.”
    Herculeah’s mother was at her desk, Herculeah at the living-room window. The living room served as Mim Jones’s office. She was a private investigator and saw her clients here.
    â€œYou know, it’s funny.”
    â€œWhat? I could use a laugh.”
    â€œNo, funny odd. Meat has told me that when I’m away and he thinks I’m in trouble, he stands at the window. Now things have turned around. I’m the one standing at the window, and Meat’s the one in trouble.”
    â€œYou don’t know that.”
    Herculeah smoothed down her hair. “I know it,” she said.
    Â 
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    Meat’s eyes continued to focus on the ominous trail. Now he was almost at the door of the stall.
    The wallet ... the lipstick ... the brush ... and now—
    The purse.
    There was the purse, also blue. It lay on its side, with its golden chain broken.
    Meat drew in a breath. He paused. Now his mind had begun to reason out what had happened. A guy-ette had mistakenly come into the men’s room.
    Of course. She had realized her mistake—probably as soon as she saw the urinals—heard him coming and, in a panic, quickly ducked into one of the stalls, hoping not to be discovered. These dropped objects and broken chain were the result of her panic.
    Meat was not up on bathroom etiquette, but he knew that what he needed to do was to leave the room immediately in a gentlemanly way.
    He turned, then hesitated. No, maybe he should quickly wash his hands to show he hadn’t noticed anything. He did that, running a little cold water on them from the dirty tap. He reached for a towel, but the holder was empty.
    He quickly dried his hands on the sides of his pants. He said, “Well, I’d better be getting back to class or they’ll start without me.” He started for the door.
    The wallet! He remembered the wallet. He had the girl’s wallet.
    And then a sudden thought made his freeze. The lights had been off when he entered. Off!
    If there were a girl in here, she would have ducked immediately into one of the stalls, wouldn’t she? Particularly if she was in a panic. She wouldn’t have wasted time by running across the room and turning off the light first.
    Now Meat did not know what to do. He decided the best thing he could do was put the wallet back where he had found it and return to the group.
    He reached back to pull the wallet from his pocket, and his elbow hit the door of a stall, jarring it open.
    Meat saw a flash of blue. There was someone sitting inside.
    He was fairly certain it was a guy-ette.
    â€œOh, I’m so sorry,” Meat said.
    He spoke as he