Chapter Two
The first time Richie Santori met Toby McFarlane, Richie was banging on the front doors of Johnson, Frederick, and Lindsay. He had a key to this suite of offices; he’d never had trouble getting inside after hours. All the maintenance men and cleaning personnel had keys to the offices in the building. But there was something obstructing the door and Richie couldn’t see what it was.
It was after seven, on a Friday evening in the fall of 1962, and Richie had to get inside and do his job. He usually started with JFL advertising, worked his way through other offices, and finished with Farmland Insurance. Richie didn’t like his routine interrupted; he’d get in trouble for this; maybe lose his job again. Richie knew there was someone inside. He saw lights and shadows coming from a back office at the end of the hall, so he continued to knock.
When he saw Toby walk into the main reception area, looking around with a clueless expression, he banged harder and jiggled the doors to get his attention. Richie had heard about the new guy in the advertising office upstairs named Toby something or other but he hadn’t seen him up close yet. Word spread fast with the work crew in buildings like this. When a few of the girls in the cleaning crew said Toby was cute and had a nice smile, Richie’s ears went up and he listened without being obvious. But that’s all the girls said, other than the fact that Toby seemed to keep to himself and mind his own business. One girl said he was shy. Another thought he was “stuck up.”
Richie was starting to think this Toby guy was just plain stupid. Toby turned toward the glass double doors, with a dazed expression, and gaped at Richie for a moment. When Toby finally figured out Richie couldn’t get in, he ran over and turned the lock. Richie noticed that Toby was unusually nice looking, in a crew neck sweater, conservative way. And he wasn’t even smiling that evening. There was something about him that gave Richie a good feeling and it had nothing to do with sex.
Richie jiggled the doors again and said, “It’s not the lock, buddy. I have a key to all the offices. There’s something stuck in the door and I can’t see what it is.” He pronounced “door” with a hard R that sounded too forced. He’d been trying to lose his heavy Bronx accent so he’d sound more refined.
Toby, still looking clueless, ran his palm down the back of his head. He looked as though he was trying to remember something important but couldn’t. Richie couldn’t help but notice that Toby’s hair was a little messy and his shirt tail was hanging out. His face was red and there were beads of perspiration forming around his temples.
When Richie pointed to the bottom of the doors, Toby rubbed his chin and squatted down to have a look. A second later, he reached down, moved something around, and pulled some kind of metal shim out that had been lodged perfectly between the bottoms of the doors and a thick piece of wood that framed the carpet. It was narrow at one end and thicker at the other. Richie wondered why on earth anyone would shove something like that between the doors.
As Toby did this, Brad Lindsay stepped up behind him and smiled at Richie through the glass. Brad looked neat and refreshed, as always. This wasn’t the first time Richie had met Brad Lindsay. Brad had been sending Richie smiles and glances since Richie had been hired as part of the cleaning crew a year earlier. Though everyone knew Brad was married to the boss’s daughter, there were a select few who also knew Brad was more than interested in a few of the good looking guys in the maintenance department. Once in a while, when no one was looking and Richie came up to empty waste baskets in the afternoon, Brad brushed up against Richie casually and winked. Nothing significant ever happened; Richie was still hoping.
Toby stood up and glanced down at the object that had been lodged between the doors. When Richie opened the doors, Brad stepped into the hall and turned back to look at them. Brad smiled at Richie and said to Toby, “I wonder how that thing got stuck in there. Good thing we stayed late to work, otherwise no one would have been able to get inside and clean the office tonight. I’ll bet it was Harvey in accounting playing one of his practical jokes again.”
Richie frowned. Though he’d flunked out of high school in the tenth grade, this comment didn’t even make sense to him. Someone had shoved that metal shim between the doors to keep people out on purpose. There was no way anyone could have done it from the outside to play a practical joke. And from the confused expression Richie saw on Toby’s face, Richie had a feeling he knew why. It was obvious that cute little Toby and good old Brad had been fooling around after hours and they didn’t want to be disturbed. Though Brad looked as cool and calm as usual, Toby’s face was still red and his lips were swollen from sucking dick. Richie might have had a thick Bronx accent, and he didn’t know Shakespeare from Jack Benny, but he had good instincts when it came to men and he could spot a cock sucker a mile away.
Richie stepped into the reception area with his cart of cleaning supplies. He smiled at Brad and said, “I’m sure glad you were here, Mr. Lindsay.” It was better to play dumb and pretend: Richie knew the deal. It would have been bad enough if Brad Lindsay had been fooling around on his wife with women. But fooling around with a man made it downright dangerous; it wasn’t something to joke about. Richie had seen it all by then with these guys in suits and he’d learned to look the other way. Discretion was the magic word and the key to survival with his bosses. When it came to the married guys who worked in these office buildings, there was always some kind of sneaking around going on with women and men.
Toby fumbled with his shirt and tucked it back into his pants. He regained his composure and glanced down at the shim in his hand. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to stickthisbetween the doors.”
Richie looked down at the floor. Toby wasn’t a very good actor. Brad laughed and patted Toby on the back. “Well, no use worrying about it now. It’s late and I’ve got to get home before my wife kills me. See you on Monday, buddy.” Then he looked Richie up and down fast, smiled, and headed down the hall to the elevator without giving either of them a backward glance.
When he was gone, Toby wiped a bead of sweat from his cheek and said, “I guess I’ll be going, too. Sorry you couldn’t get inside.”
Toby seemed to have trouble speaking, as if he couldn’t connect his sentences. Richie shrugged and said, “No problem. As long as I’m in and I can work now.”
Toby ran his fingers through his hair again. Then he nodded too fast and said, “Well I’ll be heading out in a minute. I just stayed late to finish up some work. See you later.”