Read You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You for Free Online

the garbage after breakfast. It was one of the few times I tried cooking for myself, penance for all the time I spent eating out.
    “Eddie?”
    “Hey, Teddy.”
    “Hey, man, we got nothin’,” he said. “She flew in here, and then on to Tahoe. A lot of us saw her, but there’s no way we can tell if she was being followed. Just too damn many people.”
    “Okay, Teddy,” I said. “That’s what I figured. Thanks for tryin’.”
    “Sure, man. Hey, you gonna get to meet her?”
    “Already have.”
    “Wow, man, that’s, like, crazy. Is she as gorgeous up close and in person?”
    “More, Teddy,” I said, “much more.”
    “Damn—” he said, but I hung up before I could hear the rest.
    Before I could make a move on my day the phone rang again.
    “Eddie?”
    “Hey, Danny.”
    “I’m here, man. She’s inside. She never left the room all night.” I heard him yawn.
    “How do you know for sure?”
    “I talked to a desk clerk, and took a peek in a window,” he said. “I saw her there. She looks so small … so sad.”
    Even Danny, I thought. Biggest hound I ever knew, and he could see it.
    “Okay, Danny. She’s headin’ home today, I think.”
    “You want me to go with her?”
    “All the way to L.A.?”
    “I thought you wanted her watched?”
    “Just see if anyone follows her as far as McCarron,” I said. “From there you can make up your own mind.”
    “Do you think she’s imaginin’ it?” Danny asked. “Or do you think it’s for real?”
    “I talked to her for a while yesterday,” I said. “I’m afraid she’s imaginin’ the whole thing, Danny.”
    “Maybe,” Danny said, “but it’s real to her, ya know?”
    “Yeah, pal,” I said, “I’m afraid I do know. Look, man, I think I’m gonna be flyin’ home for a few days.”
    “Home?” Danny asked. “You mean, Brooklyn? What for?”
    “My mother died.”
    Danny was quiet. He knew my mom when we were kids.
    “Eddie, I’m sorry … who called?”
    “My sister.”
    “You talked to her?”
    “Not yet. I’m gonna call her … well, probably when I hang up on you.”
    “This is a bummer, man. You and your family …”
    “Yeah, I know.”
    “Look, if you’re gonna be in New York you want me to follow Marilyn all the way home?”
    “That’ll cost,” I said. “A plane ticket, someplace to stay for a few days …”
    “That’s okay,” Danny said.
    “I’ll bill ya.” I hesitated, then said, “You know what? Yeah, okay, do it. Keep a close eye on her. I’m afraid she’s drinkin’, or worse.”
    “Drugs?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Okay, Eddie,” Danny said. “I got your back, man.”
    “I know you do, Danny. You always do.”
    “Fuckin’ A.”
    After I hung up on Danny I made the call I’d been dreading since yesterday.
    “Hello?”
    “Hello, Angie.”
    I could hear my sister catch her breath. “Eddie?”
    “Yeah, it’s me. I got your message.”
    “I wasn’t sure—I didn’t think you’d call.”
    “Why’d you call me, then?”
    Angie hesitated, then said, “She was your mother, too.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “When did she die?”
    “Yesterday. I called right aw—as soon as I could.”
    “When’s the wake?”
    “The next two nights,” she said. “Then we’ll bury her on Thursday.”
    Two nights. Great.
    “You’re not comin’, are you?” she asked.
    “Again,” I said, “if you don’t want me to come, why did you call?”
    She became impatient with me, sounded like the sister I remembered.
    “I was just tryin’ to do the right thing, Eddie.”
    “Did you tell him you called me?”
    “Hell, no,” she said. “I didn’t tell nobody, not even Tony.”
    Tony was her husband, my asshole brother-in-law. My family was always such a cliché.
    “Not Joey?” My brother, another a-hole.
    “No.”
    “Okay, Ang,” I said.
    “That’s all you gotta say?”
    “Yeah, right now,” I said. “Thanks for lettin’ me know.”
    “You wanna know what she died of?”
    “Sure.”
    “Cancer,” my