resa is sleeping with Rick. She’s the one that had dinner with him at the Breslin. They’ve been seeing each other for a long time, since she first became your assistant.” “Bullshit.” “He likes to take her picture. They have photo shoots all the time. He feels like this wanted artist and she feels famous. They both have their own little fantasy about it. She sent them to me.” “You’re trying to hurt me.” “Martha, you are a legend. You’re important to me and you deserve to know.” “Why are you telling me this? “She has a picture of you she got from Rick’s files. She’s told me she keeps copies with her just in case the mood strikes, she can out you whenever she wants.”
I
went to my desk and drafted an email to a friend who teaches at NYU. He always has willing students who will work on the cheap to get a good recommendation from me. I placed Kathleen’s letter against the window, and for a while, I looked out into the frigid night. The fire escape’s metal spine looked slick and wet from a coating of ice. A jetsam of crumpled napkins danced in the air. Receipts fluttered like little Cabbage White butterflies. On the roof of the brownstone across the way, two gray pigeons landed and flew again. They are free, aren’t they, I thought then chastised myself. That was cliché territory. I went to the bathroom, put on my workout clothes and left my apartment. Approaching 9C, I chuckled at the choice of doormat, a creamy rectangle reading “COME BACK WITH A WARRANT.” I rang the doorbell which barely registered over what I thought was a Frankie Valli song. A scrape of metal on the other side of the door, probably from the peephole. He must have been looking at me, trying to place me. “I have a warrant.” I said with enough sarcasm it was obvious I wasn’t there to complain. He opened the door, slumped, looking unprepared for any sort of fight. “Mr. Auburn? I’m Martha Molsen. I live a few floors down.” From the next room, separated by a black sheet, I heard coos. “Are those pigeons?” He motioned for me to wait. Behind the curtain he
SIXFOLD FICTION SUMMER 2014
Melissa R agsly
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