A Body to die for

answering. Finally, he said, “I’m here for your ass, Mallory.”
    I scrambled (like an egg) behind another box—one closer to the bedroom. “Don’t give me this shit,” I said. “I know you’re here for the formulas.”
    “I told you not to move.” I heard a crack and gasp. “I’ll break him like a stick. Okay? I’ll snap him like a fucking twig!”
    “Okay. I’m not moving, Ergort.” While I dug for Mama in my purse, a revisionist theory occurred to me: If Ergort was going to kill anyone, he’d do it with his bare hands. He might have set out to attack Janey and gotten Leeza but maybe he didn’t kill Barney. What was the connection? I couldn’t find my gun. The knife was still in there, but Mama was missing. Falcone must have left me the knife as part of her setup of Jack. But she took my gun. Damn her. Mama was like family to me.
    “Hey, Ergort,” I yelled in their direction. “You took a lot of shit when you were on the force, right? The cops made fun of you because you were scrawny. But there was one cop who didn’t make fun of you. This cop got a lot of abuse, too, and the two of you bonded together for protection.”
    “Wanda, shut up,” Max gurgled. “He’s choking me.”
    I tried to get closer. But just as I was about to make a move, Ergort and Max banged out of the bedroom. Max was a fairly big guy—six feet and one-eighty—but Ergort dragged him along like a rag doll. Max never looked so powerless. I wanted to save him. I cowered behind my sweater box and held my breath as the two men swung past me.
    Ergort said, “What happened in the past doesn’t matter, Mallory. Betty and I love each other and I’ll do anything she wants. Beat up Janey, toss your apartment. I fucked up by hurting Leeza. An honest mistake. But this time, I’ll get it right. I’m going to find this notebook if I have to kill you for it.”
    Jack had said both Janey and Ergort were not at their posts when he got to the club. Was Ergort in one elevator coming down from the suite while Jack rode up? Had Jack really been that lucky? If he’d walked in on Ergort attacking Leeza, Ergort would have killed Jack on the spot.
    “Go right ahead. Ransack the place,” I said. “There’s some rope under the kitchen sink if you want to tie up me and Max.”
    “What?” Max protested.
    “That’s sounds like a good idea,” Ergort concurred.
    I resolved myself to the decision. I had no other option—no gun, no dynamite, no loaded syringes with lethal injections. My skin was beginning to tighten across my face. The pain was minimal, but I didn’t want to be touched at all, much less fight Ergort. I stood up, revealing myself. Ergort tightened his grip on Max when he saw me. Max glared in shock. I held up my hands and walked toward the bathroom. I said, “I’d tie us to the sink pipes if I were you. Then you can search the entire place without us getting in the way. You’ll want to search the bathroom first, of course.”
    In a matter of minutes, Max and I were lashed to the sink. Ergort was ripping apart our bed, our unpacked boxes. I wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but I knew it was loud. That was what I’d hoped for.
    “This is just great, Wanda,” Max informed me. “Some three-hundred-pound maniac is demolishing our apartment and we’re totally defenseless. Is it my imagination, or are you turning purple?”
    “If I had my gun, smartass, I would have shot him. He’s certainly an easy target.” Mama, though, was only a .22. I’d have to hit him in the head to stop a behemoth like Ergort. “Yes, I’m turning purple.”
    “So what now? We sit here like assholes and wait for him to find what he’s looking for? Then maybe he’ll go.”
    “Except he won’t find it. The notebook isn’t here.” I thought I heard voices on the street and the squawk of a police radio.
    Max said, “He’ll kill us when he doesn’t find it.” My skin hurt. The rope around my tender wrist cut like knives. “I never wanted you to move out. I was just furious that you lied to me.”
    “I didn’t ever lie, Wanda. I told you about all those hang ups my receptionist has been getting at the office. It must have been Leeza.” I wasn’t convinced.
    “But you rushed to the hospital. You must have feelings for her.”
    “What if I totally ignored her and didn’t give a shit that the woman I was once close to had been beaten unconscious and was in the emergency room? Would you prefer that?”
    “Yes.” I