There Fell a Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page A

turned green. His cheeks puffed. Lansing shunted him into his coat. Colt jumped up to help her into hers. I saw him smell her hair as he stood behind her, holding the collar while she closed the front around her.
    â€œMaybe I ought to come with you,” he said to her. “Help you home.”
    Lancer belted the coat, turned. She gave him a long look. “I know the way,” she said.
    He nodded. Smiled down at her. “Maybe I could call you then,” he said softly.
    Again she considered. “Let me ask you something.”
    â€œAnything.”
    â€œWhen are you leaving town?”
    His smile soured a little. “Friday. For Nicaragua. I’m doing a piece for U.S. News. ”
    Lansing nodded once. “Another time, Colt,” she said.
    He took a breath. “Fair enough.”
    Lansing waved to us. She hung her purse on one arm and McKay on the other. Colt opened the door. The two went out onto the drifted sidewalk. I watched through the window as they wandered toward Madison, in search of a cab.
    Holloway laughed as Colt sat down. His laugh seemed bigger, more wicked than it had before. Less like an elf’s, more like a giant’s laugh. “Well, he’s been through a snow-storm already. But I suspect a wifely shitstorm lies ahead for our friend McKay.” He laughed his giant laugh again. Wexler looked heavenward.
    â€œNah,” I said. “I know her. A good kid, definitely. She’ll just wag her finger a little in the morning, that’s all. Bring him the bromo. Mrs. Mac is okay.”
    We hoisted our final round. To Mrs. Mac.
    â€œWell,” said Holloway.
    â€œYes, it has been lovely,” Wexler said.
    â€œOh, don’t tell me you guys are packing it in already,” said Colt. “I got a whole bottle of J&B back in my room.”
    But Holloway and Wexler had had enough. Their movements stiff and a bit unbalanced, they worked their way to the hatcheck. Colt and I followed.
    The four of us stepped out of the Press Club. The chill hit me hard. It forced me to breathe. The cold breath went to my head. The tall concrete office buildings around me tilted. The bunting of snow that hung from their ledges clung weirdly when it should have fallen. I shook my head. The buildings righted themselves. I was officially smashed.
    We strolled to Madison. We had to kick through the snow to get there. The street was still piled high with it. Madison had been shoveled, though, and lightly sanded. Miraculously, when we reached the corner, we saw a cab wending its cautious way up the otherwise deserted street. Its toplight was on. It was empty.
    We said good-bye to each other. The booze made us affectionate. But when Wexler and Holloway and Colt clasped hands, it was genuine enough. They had been through the fall of a country together. That welded them. It always would.
    Holloway, Wexler, and I decided to share the cab. Colt was near enough to his hotel to walk. I held the door while Holloway and Wexler slid into the backseat.
    â€œWell …” I said to Colt. He looked forlorn, standing alone on the sidewalk, ankle-deep in snow. I could almost see the empty hotel room in his eyes. Nothing better was waiting for me. A one-bedroom up on East Eighty-sixth where the light from the movie marquee showed up the cracks in the wall. The old place had brightened some since I’d started going out with Chandler Burke. She’d hung some pictures. Bought a couple of chairs. Fought off the cobwebs whenever she came into town. She hadn’t come in for a while, though, and the apartment showed it. Solitude seemed to be creeping out of the corners.
    â€œOh what the hell,” I said. I shut the cab door. I saluted through the dark window. Holloway and Wexler were driven off.
    I joined Colt on the sidewalk. I felt the cold snow cover my shoes.
    Colt grinned his slow cowboy grin. The crags in his face lifted. He patted me on the shoulder.
    â€œWell,” he said,