from. I walked around the neighborhood on my way to the library this morning, and most of the phones are like that."
"You mean the little slips are missing? I know people will steal absolutely anything, but that's the stupidest thing I ever heard of."
"The phone company removes them," I said, "to discourage drug dealers. They beep each other from pay phones, you know how it works, and now they can't do that."
"And that's why all the drug dealers are going out of business," she said.
"Well, I'm sure it looked good on paper. Anyway, I got to thinking about those pay phones in Brooklyn, and I wondered if their numbers were posted."
"What difference does it make?"
"I don't know," I said. "Probably somewhere between not much and none at all, which is why I didn't chase out to Brooklyn myself. But I can't see where it would hurt me to have the information, so I gave TJ a couple of dollars and sent him to Brooklyn."
"Does he know his way around Brooklyn?"
"He will by the time he gets back. The first phone's a few blocks from the last stop on the Flatbush IRT, so that's fairly easy to find, but I don't know how the hell he's going to get to Veterans Avenue. A bus out of Flatbush, I suppose, and then a long hike."
"What kind of neighborhood is it?"
"It looked all right when I drove through it with the Khourys. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. A basic white working-class neighborhood, as far as I could tell. Why?"
"You mean like Bensonhurst or Howard Beach? What I mean is will TJ stand out like a dark thumb?"
"I never even thought of that."
"Because there are parts of Brooklyn where they get funny when a black kid walks down the street, even if he is conservatively dressed in high-top sneakers and a Raiders jacket, and I just know he has one of those haircuts."
"He's got a sort of geometric design cut into the hair on the back of his neck."
"I thought he might. I hope he comes back alive."
"He'll be all right."
Later in the evening she said, "Matt, you were just making work for him, weren't you? TJ, I mean."
"No, he's saving me a trip. I would have had to run out there myself sooner or later, or catch a ride with one of the Khourys."
"Why? Couldn't you use your old cop tricks to wheedle the number out of the operator? Or look it up in a reverse directory?"
"You have to know a number to look it up in a reverse directory. A reverse directory has phones listed numerically, and you look up the number and it tells you the location."
"Oh."
"But there is a book that lists pay phones by location, yes. And yes, I could call an operator and pass myself off as a police officer in order to obtain a number."
"So you were just being nice to TJ."
"Nice? According to you I was sending him to his death. No, I wasn't just being nice. Looking in the book or conning the operator would give me the number of the pay phone, but it wouldn't tell me if the number's posted on the phone. That's what I'm trying to find out."
"Oh," she said. And, a few minutes later, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you care if the number's posted on the phone? What difference does it make?"
"I don't know that it does make a difference. But the kidnappers knew to call those phones. If the number's posted, well, then there was nothing special about their knowledge. If not, they found out one way or another."
"By conning the operator or looking in the book."
"Which would mean that they know how to con an operator, or where to find a list of pay phones. I don't know what it would mean.
Probably nothing. Maybe I want to get the information because it's the only thing about the phones I can find out."
"What do you mean?"
"It's been nagging at me," I said. "Not what I sent TJ for, that's easy enough to find out with or without his help. But I was sitting up last night and it struck me that the only contact with the kidnappers was phone contact. That was the only trace they left of themselves. The abduction itself was clean as a whistle. A few people saw
"You mean the little slips are missing? I know people will steal absolutely anything, but that's the stupidest thing I ever heard of."
"The phone company removes them," I said, "to discourage drug dealers. They beep each other from pay phones, you know how it works, and now they can't do that."
"And that's why all the drug dealers are going out of business," she said.
"Well, I'm sure it looked good on paper. Anyway, I got to thinking about those pay phones in Brooklyn, and I wondered if their numbers were posted."
"What difference does it make?"
"I don't know," I said. "Probably somewhere between not much and none at all, which is why I didn't chase out to Brooklyn myself. But I can't see where it would hurt me to have the information, so I gave TJ a couple of dollars and sent him to Brooklyn."
"Does he know his way around Brooklyn?"
"He will by the time he gets back. The first phone's a few blocks from the last stop on the Flatbush IRT, so that's fairly easy to find, but I don't know how the hell he's going to get to Veterans Avenue. A bus out of Flatbush, I suppose, and then a long hike."
"What kind of neighborhood is it?"
"It looked all right when I drove through it with the Khourys. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. A basic white working-class neighborhood, as far as I could tell. Why?"
"You mean like Bensonhurst or Howard Beach? What I mean is will TJ stand out like a dark thumb?"
"I never even thought of that."
"Because there are parts of Brooklyn where they get funny when a black kid walks down the street, even if he is conservatively dressed in high-top sneakers and a Raiders jacket, and I just know he has one of those haircuts."
"He's got a sort of geometric design cut into the hair on the back of his neck."
"I thought he might. I hope he comes back alive."
"He'll be all right."
Later in the evening she said, "Matt, you were just making work for him, weren't you? TJ, I mean."
"No, he's saving me a trip. I would have had to run out there myself sooner or later, or catch a ride with one of the Khourys."
"Why? Couldn't you use your old cop tricks to wheedle the number out of the operator? Or look it up in a reverse directory?"
"You have to know a number to look it up in a reverse directory. A reverse directory has phones listed numerically, and you look up the number and it tells you the location."
"Oh."
"But there is a book that lists pay phones by location, yes. And yes, I could call an operator and pass myself off as a police officer in order to obtain a number."
"So you were just being nice to TJ."
"Nice? According to you I was sending him to his death. No, I wasn't just being nice. Looking in the book or conning the operator would give me the number of the pay phone, but it wouldn't tell me if the number's posted on the phone. That's what I'm trying to find out."
"Oh," she said. And, a few minutes later, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you care if the number's posted on the phone? What difference does it make?"
"I don't know that it does make a difference. But the kidnappers knew to call those phones. If the number's posted, well, then there was nothing special about their knowledge. If not, they found out one way or another."
"By conning the operator or looking in the book."
"Which would mean that they know how to con an operator, or where to find a list of pay phones. I don't know what it would mean.
Probably nothing. Maybe I want to get the information because it's the only thing about the phones I can find out."
"What do you mean?"
"It's been nagging at me," I said. "Not what I sent TJ for, that's easy enough to find out with or without his help. But I was sitting up last night and it struck me that the only contact with the kidnappers was phone contact. That was the only trace they left of themselves. The abduction itself was clean as a whistle. A few people saw
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