A rock that chimes on the hour?
The hairs different, she said, but its still the same old Keller underneath it, isnt it? As soon as I was settled in, I tried to work out a way of getting in touch with you, assuming I could do that without holding a séance. I knew from the news coverage that you made it out of Des Moines, and the law never caught up with you, but if Al got to you first there wouldnt have been anything in the papers. And if you were alive, there was only one way I could think of to reach you without attracting anybody elses attention, so thats what I did.
You placed an ad in Linns .
I ran that damn advertisement every place I could find. Who would have guessed there were so many papers and magazines for stamp collectors? Besides Linns theres Global Stamp News , and Scotts Monthly Journal , and the magazine the national stamp society sends its members
The American Philatelic Society. Its a pretty good magazine.
Well, thats a load off my mind. Good or bad, my ads been in it, every goddamn month. Plus some others I cant think of. McBeals ?
Mekeels .
There you go. Ive got run-until-canceled status with all of them, and every month all the charges show up on my Visa statement. And I was beginning to wonder how long I should go on running the ad, because I was starting to feel like that football team owner who always leaves a ticket at the front gate for Elvis, just in case he shows up. And he at least gets some free publicity out of it.
It must have cost you quite
a bit.
Not really. Small ads at low rates, and they get even lower on a long-term basis. The real cost was emotional wear and tear, because every time I got my credit card statement that was one more month without word from you, and it was that much more likely that Id never hear from you again. You at least had closure, Keller. You knew for sure that I was dead, but I had to sit around wondering.
I wonder which was worse.
You could probably make a good case either way, she said, but either way were both alive, so the hell with it. You saw the ad and called the number
After I finally figured out that it was a number.
Well, if I made it too obvious the phone would have been ringing off the hook. And I knew youd work it out once you put your mind to it. But what I still cant understand is why it took you so long. Not to work it out but to pay attention to it in the first place. How many times do you suppose you saw that ad before it rang any kind of a bell?
Just once.
Just once? How is that possible, Keller? I dont suppose you could have had the post office forward your mail, but that ad ran in all the places I mentioned and one or two I forgot. How hard is it to find a copy of Linns ? Or send in and get a new subscription?
Not hard at all, he said, but why would I bother? What would be the point? Dot, I saw the ad because Julia picked up a copy of Linns and brought it home with her. She wasnt sure she should give it to me, and I wasnt sure I wanted to look at it.
But you did.
Obviously.
Whats not obvious, she said, is why you werent sure you wanted to, and why you didnt have a subscription anymore. Im missing something, Keller. Help me out.
I dont have a subscription, he said, because its for stamp collectors, and its hard to be a stamp collector when you dont have a collection.
She stared at him. You dont know, she said.
I dont know what?
Of course you dont. How could you? You sort of glossed over that part, going to your apartment, or maybe I wasnt paying attention, but
I may not have mentioned it. Its one part I dont like to think about. I went to my apartment
And the stamps were gone.
Gone, all ten albums. I dont know who took them, the cops or Als guys, but whoever it was
Neither of them.
He looked at her.
Oh, God, she said. I should have told you right away. Somehow it never entered my mind that you didnt know, but how could you? Keller, it was me. I took your stamps.
The first thing shed done in Albany, after shed found a place to stay, was buy a car. And the first thing she did with the car was drive it to New York City.
To get your stamps, she said. Remember that time you got a case of the whim-whams and gave me elaborate instructions of what to do if you wound up dead? How I should go straight to your apartment and take your stamps home with me, and what dealers I should call and how to negotiate the best price for your collection?
He remembered.
Well, I wasnt going to sell them, not so long as there was a chance on earth you were alive. But as far as getting them out of your apartment, I took care of that as soon as I possibly could, because I didnt know how much of a window I had before the police came calling. I showed your doorman the letter I had authorizing me to act on your behalf and giving me full access to your apartment and its contents, and
You know, I have absolutely no recollection of writing that letter.
Well, dont go getting tested for Alzheimers just yet, Keller. I wrote it out myself on a computer at Kinkos. I designed a nice letterhead for you, if I say so myself, and I didnt sweat the signature, because how familiar would your doorman be with your handwriting? He didnt have to let me in because I had the key you gave me.