But no--it was a cat, apparently injured. He looked around but the alleyway was completely deserted, no sign of its owner.
Oh, the poor thing!
Calvert wasn't a pet person but he'd sat for a neighbor's Norwich terrier last year and remembered the man telling him that, just in case, Bilbo's vet was around the corner on St. Marks. He'd take the cat in on the way to the subway. Maybe his sister'd want it. She adopted children. Why not cats?
Lingering in alleys wasn't the best idea in this neighborhood but Calvert saw that he was still completely alone. He moved slowly over the cobblestones so he wouldn't spook the animal. It was lying on its side, meowing faintly.
Could he pick it up? Would it try to scratch him? He remembered something in Prevention about cat-scratch fever. But the animal looked too weak to hurt him.
"Hey, what's the matter, fella?" he asked in a soothing voice. "You hurt?"
Crouching down, he set his makeup case on the cobblestones and reached out carefully in case the cat took a swipe at him. He touched it but then drew his hand back in shock. The animal was ice-cold and emaciated--he could feel stiff bones beneath the skin. Had it just died? But, no, the leg was still moving. And it uttered another faint meow.
He touched it again. And, wait, those weren't bones under the skin. They were rods, and inside its body was a metal box.
What the fuck was this?
Was he on Candid Camera? Or was some asshole just ragging him?
Then he glanced up and saw someone ten feet away. Calvert gasped and reared back. A man was crouching--
But, no, he realized. It was his own image, reflected in a full-length mirror sitting in the corner at the end of the dark alley. Calvert saw his face, shocked, eyes wide, frozen for a moment. He started to relax and laughed. But then he frowned, watching himself slowly falling forward--as the mirror pivoted to the cobblestones and shattered.
The bearded, middle-aged man hiding behind it charged forward, raising a large piece of pipe.
"No! Help me!" the young man cried, scrabbling away. "My God, my God!"
The pipe swung down in a fierce arc directly toward his head.
But Calvert grabbed the makeup case fast and thrust it toward the attacker, deflecting the blow. He struggled to his feet and began to run. The assailant started after him but slipped on the slick cobblestones and went down hard on one knee.
"Take the wallet! Take it!" He pulled his billfold from his pocket and flung it behind him. But the man ignored it and rose, continuing after him. He was between Calvert and the street; the only escape was back into the building.
Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Lord . . .
"Help me, help me, help me!"
Keys! he thought. Get them now! Fishing them out of his jeans as he gave a brief glance behind him. The man was only thirty feet or so away. If I don't get the door unlocked on the first try, that's it . . . I'm dead.
Calvert didn't even slow down. He slammed hard into the metal door and, a miracle, slid the key home instantly, turning it fast. The latch opened, he pulled the key out and leaped through the doorway, slamming the steel door shut behind him. It locked automatically.
Heart pounding fiercely, gasping in fear, he rested only for a moment. Thinking, mugger? Gay-basher? Druggie? Didn't matter, he thought. I'm not letting the prick get away. He ran up the hall to his apartment. This door too he opened fast. He leaped inside, swinging it shut after him and locking it.
Hurrying into the kitchen, he seized the phone and dialed 911. A moment later a woman's voice said, "Police and fire emergency."
"A man! A man just attacked me! He's outside."
"Are you injured?"
"No, but you have to send the police!" he shouted. "Hurry!"
"Is he there with you?"
"No, he didn't get in. I locked the doors. But he could still be in the alley! You have to hurry!"
What was that? Calvert wondered. He felt a sudden breeze against his face. The sensation was familiar and he realized that it was the feeling of cross ventilation when someone opened the front door to his apartment.
The 911 operator asked, "Hello, sir, are you there? Can you--"