Myron kept perfectly still.

“I started bleeding. Then another rock hit me in the shoulder. I couldn't believe what was happening. I tried to head back inside, but they circled around me. I didn't know what to do. They started moving in closer. I ducked down. Someone hit me over the head with a beer bottle. My knees hit the pavement. Then someone kicked me in the stomach and someone else pulled my hair.”

She stopped. Her eyes blinked a few times and she looked up and away. Myron thought about reaching out to her, but he didn't. Later he'd wonder why.

“And that's when Esperanza stepped in,” Big Cyndi said after a few moments had passed. “She jumped over someone in the crowd and landed right on me. The morons thought she was there to help beat me up. But she just wanted to put herself between me and the blows. She told them to stop. But they wouldn't listen. One of them pulled her away so they could keep beating me. I felt another kick. Someone yanked my hair so hard my neck snapped back. I really thought they were going to kill me.”

Big Cyndi stopped again and took a deep breath. Myron stayed where he was and waited.

“You know what Esperanza did then?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“She announced that we were going to be tag team partners. Just like that. She shouted that after she'd been taken off on the stretcher, I'd visited her and we realized that we were actually long-lost sisters. The Human Volcano was now going to be called Big Chief Mama and we were going to be partners and friends. Some of the spectators backed off then. Others looked wary. It's a trap!' they warned her. 'The Human Volcano is setting you up!' But Esperanza insisted. She helped me to my feet and by then the police showed up and the moment was over. The crowd dispersed pretty easily.”

Big Cyndi threw up her thick arms and smiled. “The end.”

Myron smiled back. “So that's how you two became tag team partners?”

“That's how. When the president of FLOW heard about the incident, he decided to capitalize on it. The rest, as they say, is history.”

They both sat back in silence, still smiling. After some time had passed, Myron said, “I had my heart broken six years ago.”

Big Cyndi nodded. “By Jessica, right?”

“Right. I walked in on her with another man. A guy named Doug.” He paused. He could not believe he was telling her this. And it still hurt. After all this time it still hurt. “Jessica left me then. Isn't that weird? I didn't throw her out. She just left. We didn't speak for four years- until she came back and we started up again. But you know about that.”

Big Cyndi made a face. “Esperanza hates Jessica.”

“Yeah, I know. She doesn't exactly go to pains to hide that fact.”

“She calls her Queen Bitch.”

“When she's in a good mood,” Myron said. “But that's why. Up until we broke up that first time, she was more or less indifferent. But after that-”

“Esperanza doesn't forgive easily,” Big Cyndi said. “Not when it comes to her friends.”

“Right. Anyway, I was devastated. Win was no help. When it comes to matters of the heart, well, it's like explaining Mozart to a deaf man. So about a week after Jess left me, I moped into the office. Esperanza had two airplane tickets in her hand. 'We're going away,' she said. 'Where?' I asked. 'Don't worry about it,' she said.? already called your folks. I told them we'd be gone for a week.'” Myron smiled. “My parents love Esperanza.”

“That should tell you something,” Big Cyndi said.

“I told her I didn't have any clothes. She pointed to two suitcases on the floor.? bought you all you'll need.' I protested, but I didn't have much left, and you know Es-peranza.”

“Stubborn,” Big Cyndi said.

“To put it mildly. You know where she took me?”

Big Cyndi smiled. “On a cruise. Esperanza told me about it.”

“Right. One of those big new ships with four hundred meals a day. And she made me go to every dumb activity. I even made a wallet. We drank. We danced. We played friggin' bingo. We slept in the same bed and she held me and we never so much as kissed.”

They sat for another long moment, both smiling again.

“We never asked her for help,” Big Cyndi said. “Esperanza just knows and does the right thing.”

“And now it's our turn,” Myron said.

“Yes.”

“She's still hiding something from me.”

Big Cyndi nodded. “I know.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“No,” she said.

Myron leaned back. “We'll save her anyway,” he said.

At eight o'clock Win called down to Myron's office. “Meet me at the apartment in an hour. I have a surprise for you.”

“I'm not much in the mood for surprises, Win.”

Click.

Great. He tried FJ's office again. No answer. He didn't much like waiting. FJ was a key in all this, he was sure of it now. But what choice did he have? It was getting late anyway. Better to go home and be surprised by whatever Win had in store and then get some rest.

The subway was still crowded at eight-thirty; the so-called Manhattan rush hour had grown to more like five or six. People worked too hard, Myron decided. He got off and walked to the Dakota. The same doorman was there. He had been given instructions to let Myron in at any time, that indeed Myron was now officially a resident of the Dakota, but the doorman still made a face like there was a bad odor whenever he passed.

Myron took the elevator up, fumbled for his key, and opened the door.

“Win?”

“He's not here.”

Myron turned. Terese Collins gave him a small smile.

“Surprise,” she said.

He gaped. “You left the island?”

Terese glanced in a nearby mirror, then back at him. “Apparently.”

“But-”

“Not now.”

She stepped toward him and they embraced. He kissed her. They fumbled with buttons and zippers and snaps. Neither one spoke. They made it into the bedroom, and then they made love.

When it was over, they clung to each other, the sheets tangled and binding them close together. Myron rested his cheek against her soft breast, hearing her heartbeat. Her chest was hitching a bit, and he knew that she was quietly crying.

“Tell me,” he said.

“No.” Terese's hand stroked his hair. “Why did you leave?”

“A friend is in trouble.”

“That sounds so noble.”

Again with that word. “I thought we agreed we wouldn't do this,” he said.

“You complaining?”

“Hardly,” he said. “Just curious why you changed your mind.”

“Does it matter?”

“I don't think so.”

She stroked his hair some more. He closed his eyes, not moving, wanting only to enjoy the wonderful suppleness of her skin against his cheek and ride the rise and fall of her chest.

“Your friend in trouble,” she said. “It's Esperanza Diaz.”

“Win told you?”

“I read it in the papers.”

He kept his eyes closed.

“Tell me about it,” she said.

“We were never great at talking on the island.”

“Yeah, but that was then, this is now.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you look a little worse for wear,” she said. “I think you'll need the recovery time.”

Myron smiled. “Oysters. The island had oysters.”

“So tell me.”

So he did. Everything. She stroked his hair. She interrupted a lot with follow-up questions, relaxing in the more familiar role of interviewer. It took him almost an hour.

“Some story,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt? I mean, where you got beaten up?”

“Yes. But I'm a tough guy.”

She kissed the top of his head. “No,” she said. “You're not.”

They sat in comfortable silence.

“I remember the Lucy Mayor disappearance,” Terese said. “At least the second round.”

“The second round?”

“When the Mayors had the money to run the big campaign to find her. Before that there really wasn't much of a story. An eighteen-year-old runaway. No big deal.”

“You remember anything that might help me?”