Chapter 2Later that same day, the sun had begun its nightly wane, the western sky streaked with orange. It was a burning reminder that beauty existed, soaring high above them. On the darkening streets of New York, danger lurked in corners, and so Jimmy was glad to slink into the safety of a familiar world. He arrived at his mother’s apartment building one minute before six o’clock, and as he unlocked the street-level entrance his phone rang. He knew who it was without having to look at the caller ID. He answered it anyway.
“Yeah, Ma, I’m walking up the stairs even as we speak.”
Maggie McSwain expected punctuality, and not just from her employees at the theatre.
Five floors later and barely a breath out of him, Jimmy at last entered the apartment of the walk-up tenement at Tenth Avenue a
