I’m back home and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.
The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritizing.
But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.
Chasing leads, maybe
Jan hailed a taxi and had it drop us off a block from her building. It was agreed that we would not just arrive out the front and trust to luck that everything would be fine.
I had a feeling that Nobbin would have come to the same conclusion I had, that it was possible the USB might be in the neighbor’s flat. I’m sure Josephine hadn’t thought of that possibility. Severin had, but I suspect he might not know of the cat.
Nor would Nobbin.
We did a circuit of the building before going in. There were no suspicious cars, nr anyone lurking in the shadows. If we had surveillance, it was really good, or there was none. I preferred to think the latter option was right. After all, neither Nobbin nor Severin knew exactly where I was.
Jan unlicked the front door and we went into the brightly lit foyer.
During the day there was a concierge sitting at the desk. At night, it was empty. The building manager couldn’t afford 24-hour security, beyond the bright lights, and camera in each quadrant recording the comings and goings of residents. I’m not sure how Josephine got in, but I would have like to have the time to go through the old footage to check on O’Connell in the past, and Josephine, if she came through the front door, recently.
I glanced at the monitor, at present on screen saver mode, then followed Jan to the elevator lobby.
She pressed the button to go up, and the doors to the left-hand elevator opened. We stepped in, she pressed the floor button, the doors closed, and we slowly went up.
It hesitated at the floor, jerked up about an inch or two, then a click signified it was level and the doors opened.
I could see her door from the elevator. As we got closer, I could see it was open, ajar by about half an inch. There was no tell-tale strip of light behind the opening so it could mean someone was in her flat searching by torchlight, or there was no one there.
After a minute waiting to see if there was a moving light somewhere in the flat, it remained dark.
Standing behind me, I could see she had pulled a gun out of her handbag and had it in one hand ready to use. She could have used it any time since we first met, but she hadn’t.
I pushed the door open slowly, and thankfully it didn’t make a creaking sound. Wide enough to walk in, I took a few tentative steps into the first room. There was little light, and my eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness.
I could feel her going past me, further into the room, and with the gun raised and in two hands to steady the shot. She took more steps, slowly towards the passage leading to her bedroom, I assumed, as it was a reverse copy of that next door, O’Connell’s.
There was no one in this part of the flat, and she had disappeared up the corridor and into her room. Nothing there either.
“Clear,” she called out.
I stepped back to close and lock the door. At the same time, she switched on the main room light and for a second it was almost blinding.
When my sight cleared, I could see the signs of a search, furniture tipped over, books dragged from the shelves, other items tossed on the floor, one of which was a vase, now broken into a number of pieces.
“Looks like they were in a hurry,” she said.
“Or frustrated.” I could see clear marks of an item that had been thrown against the wall and dented the plasterwork. The broken shards of the ornament were on the ground beneath the indentation.
I heard her sigh when she saw the broken pieces.
“Not the best way to treat a genuine Wedgewood antique.”
She disappeared into the bedroom again, and I could hear her calling the cat, Tibbles. Interesting name for a cat.
I didn’t hear it answer back. It was probably traumatized after the breaking and the smashing of crockery.
I had a quick look in places I thought the cat might hide, but it was not in any of them. And, oddly enough, no traces of cat hair. Usually, cats left fur wherever they lay down. At least one cat I knew did that.
She came back empty-handed.
“I think it’s done a runner,” she said. “He’s not in the usual place he hides, nor under the bed, or under the covers, as he sometimes does, usually when I’m trying to sleep.”
“Well, it was a good idea. We might have to search outside. The cat was allowed to go outside?”
“He’d escape, yes, but no. O’Connell thought if he got out, he’d get run over. It’s a reasonably busy road outside.”
“Better out there than in here, though. Open windows?”
She did a quick check, but none were open.
“Did O’Connell ever come in here?”
“Once or twice, but he only dropped in if he was going away to ask if I would look after the cat, or when he came back. Never further than the front door.”
“Knowing who is was, now, do you think he might have come in and hidden the USB in here?”
“He might, but there isn’t anywhere I could think he could put it.”
“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t.”
Both of us heard the scratching sound at the front door, not the sort made by a cat trying to get in, but by someone using a tool to unlock the door.
There’s something to be said for a story that starts like a James Bond movie, throwing you straight in the deep end, a perfect way of getting to know the main character, David, or is that Alistair?
A retired spy, well, not so much a spy as a retired errand boy, David’s rather wry description of his talents, and a woman that most men would give their left arm for, not exactly the ideal couple, but there is a spark in a meeting that may or may not have been a setup.
But as the story progressed, the question I kept asking myself was why he’d bother.
And, page after unrelenting page, you find out.
Susan is exactly the sort of woman to pique his interest. Then, inexplicably, she disappears. That might have been the end of it, but Prendergast, that shadowy enigma, David’s ex-boss who loves playing games with real people, gives him an ultimatum: find her or come back to work.
Nothing like an offer that’s a double-edged sword!
A dragon for a mother, a sister he didn’t know about, Susan’s BFF who is not what she seems or a friend indeed, and Susan’s father, who, up till David meets her, couldn’t be less interested, his nemesis proves to be the impossible dream, and he’s always just that one step behind.
When the rollercoaster finally came to a halt, and I could start breathing again, it was an ending that was completely unexpected.
Every time I close my eyes, I see something different.
I’d like to think the cinema of my dreams is playing a double feature but it’s a bit like a comedy cartoon night on Fox.
But these dreams are nothing to laugh about.
Once again there’s a new instalment of an old feature, and we’re back on the treasure hunt.
…
The rescue story
…
When I woke again, it was noticeable that it was light outside the room, even though the curtains were drawn.
My mother was sitting, or rather slumping, in the chair beside the bed, asleep. She looked tired, worse, like she had been to hell and back.
I guess the thought of losing me, after my father, might have been too much for her to bear. It also brought up the question of why I hadn’t told her what I was doing. At the time, it didn’t seem to matter, I’d always be coming home, and there was no question in my mind that anything bad might happen to me.
So, of course, there was an easy answer and a more complicated answer, but I had to hope she wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions before I had a chance to explain. And then, when I thought about it, what could I say that was not going to tip her over the edge? In not planning for the worst eventuality, the worst had happened.
I’d done everything I said I would never do, and for selfish reasons. It was nearly the death of me. How could I expect her to understand any of it?
She stirred, then slowly sat up, and stretched. Those chairs were not comfortable at the best of times.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
She stopped mid-stretch and looked at me. It was not with anger or annoyance, but relief.
“How are you?” She lowered her hands to take mine in hers.
It was a strange question, given my condition, and being in a hospital. Yet, I guess everyone asked that same question out of courtesy or to make polite conversation.
“I’m told I’ll live.”
“A good thing too. I’m glad they found you.”
“Who?”
“You know, that slip of a girl you told me you liked, but she was too good for you, or some such nonsense.”
“Charlene?”
“The sheriff’s daughter, yes.”
“She still is.”
“Only in your mind Sam.”
Forever the matchmaker even on my near-death bed, she had always been looking for the right girl, never accepting that our station in life made certain choices impossible. And, even if Charlene liked me, she would not be allowed, but that was something my mother would never understand.
“What day is it?” I had no idea of the date or time for that matter, but it had to be days later.
“Thursday. You were missing for nearly eight days, and it’s been a further five days while being treated for severe dehydration.”
First question, what happened to Boggs?
It was as if my mother could read my mind. “I was told that when they found you, you were asking about Boggs. I’m sorry to tell you he was found deceased yesterday in one of the caves.”
Had he got lost, or did Alex and Vince go after him too? They hadn’t left in the same direction, so in all likelihood, he simply got lost, though being the climber and cave Explorer he was, that seemed unlikely.
“That Cossatino girl recovered quickly, but she’s still here, under observation. She’s been saying she’s not leaving until she sees you. I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Sam. The sheriff is considering charges against that whole family.”
“She didn’t do anything wrong. It was her brother and Alex who tied us up and left us for dead.”
She didn’t get time to respond, but the astonished look on her face told me something was very amiss. The sheriff and Charlene had arrived with the doctor and a nurse who hustled her out of the room.
The doctor examined me, asked a few questions to determine whether I could withstand an interrogation, and then left me with the interrogators, the sheriff, standing back after closing the door, and Charlene, in the seat my mother just vacated.
She had her notepad open on a blank page.
“Firstly, I should apologise for taking so long to send out a search party. For the record, I received your text message. I assume you sent that before you left.”
“As we walked out the door of the shoreside hut. I assume that was the first place you looked.”
It was obvious it wasn’t, so I was beginning to wonder what happened. My first question was, “When did you find out we were missing.”
“Your mother came to the office two days after the message. She said you hadn’t come home but wasn’t overly worried because she assumed you were with Nadia. She only came because your work had asked her if you were ill because you hadn’t turned up for your shift, and that it was the first time.”
“As a courtesy to your mother Sam, I said I would look into it. I went to the warehouse and Alex said you had taken off with Nadia and had left him in a difficult position.” The sheriff wasn’t making excuses, just reporting the facts.
I hadn’t been thinking about Alex simply because I didn’t want to, not right then, but I was probably going to have to. My first thought went to Nadia, who, by the time we realizedthat we might die, had all but signed his death warrant. If she survived, she was going to kill him, and her brother, and her explicit description of how she was going to make them suffer made meshudder.
Charlene noticed. “Again, I’m sorry, but we have to go through this. What happened after you left the hut? Take your time. I know this might be painful, but it is necessary.”
Given what the sheriff just said, I had a feeling that implicating Alex wasn’t going to be easy. Having a head start on us, he had time to get a story out there and friends who would readily lie for them.
And Nadia being on the outside of her family, the Cossatinos would close ranks around Vince, and between Alex and Vince, refute any allegation I made, and quite possibly Nadia too.
It would be good to know what she was thinking.
“For whom? Because from where I’m sitting, and judging by the expressions on your faces, I’m the one who’s in trouble here.”
“We just want the facts, Sam.”
“It seems to me you’ve already got them, and what I have to say, if there was anything to say, is irrelevant. I don’t know anything about what happened to Boggs, and I’m not prepared to speculate. I don’t know what Nadia told you, but I remember very little about what happened, except we were in a cave, and then I woke up here.”
It thenoccurred to me to look at my wrists, and there were only faint marks to show I’d been tied up. I knew then someone had come back and untied us so that if we hadn’t been found, our deaths would not be suspicious.
“We just want your side of the story.”
So the Benderby’s could refute it once the sheriff delivered my statement.
“You just got it. If Nadia gave you hers, then that should be it.”
“Nadia won’t tell us anything, not even why she was in the cave. It seems it was a place where pirates might once have visited, but except for a bundle of straw and an empty chest, there was nothing.”
And there it was. The bodies had been removed, the crime scene cleansed, and we were simply trespassers the Cossatino’s could prosecute.
“Boggs had taken us spelunking, obviously in a place we shouldn’t, but I thought with Nadia coming with us, we didn’t need permission. Perhaps the assumption was wrong.”
“Cossatino isn’t interested in charging anyone with anything. He’s just happy we found his daughter.”
Pity the feeling between daughter and father wasn’t mutual.
“The good tidings abound. Everyone is happy.”
“I’d still like to know why you were adamant Alex had something to do with the professor’s death.”
“I don’t. I hate the bastard, it’s as simple as that.”
“We know the professor was killed at the mall, you got that right, and dumped on Rico’s boat, but there was no evidence Alex was there, or any safe, desk or anything except dust.”
Of course. Alex had been on a massive clean-up exercise, just in case we survived. It was going to be a very interesting first meeting when I saw him again.
“A good guess then. I’m no longer interested in treasure, Boggs, God rest his soul, or anyone else for that matter. Soon as you’re done with me, I’m gone, and you will never see me again.”
With that I rolled over to face the other way, the interview as far as I was concerned, was done.
“This isn’t over Sam.” Charlene was disappointed but she’d get over it.
And my estimation of her just fell below zero. It was clear Alex had got to her. And she believed his story.
Of course, I just realized what I’d said to my mother, and had to hope she didn’t repeat it. But, knowing her affiliation with Benderby, I had no doubt she would tell him, so I could expect a visit from his lawyers, threatening all kinds of punitive action if I dared to repeat it.
As for Nadia, the fact she said nothing told me everything. Both Alex and Vince were going to face a different type of justice, and I was going to ask her for an invitation.
How can something so simple become so complicated and complex?
In New York, it seemed impossible to get exactly what you would like. The coffee there is driven by what the machine interprets you want, aside from the language constraints due to the fact that English (or American) comes in a zillion different flavours.
So, what do I like (you notice I don’t say ‘want’)
A double shot Latte with two sugars and half a shot of vanilla. That’s in a large cup.
As we all know coffee can come in a regular, large, or extra-large cup, but hang on, these cup sizes sometimes have names, and you need to know what these names are.
My efforts to point out the cup size in New York often had horrendous consequences when the cup piles were close together. Sometimes it was a double shot in a regular cup and a single shot in an extra-large cup.
One even had the name benti, or bento, or something like that.
Being old and decrepit, my memory for cup sizes isn’t all that great, so using a name in one shop that doesn’t have that size, well, you get it.
It seems not only coffee makers in New York have a problem producing consistent coffee.
Perhaps, then, that’s half the charm of drinking it, the fact that no cup is ever the same.
And, when an outlet gets it right, finally, they go and change the coffee bean supplier, and all of a sudden, it’s bitter, or it’s lighter, as coffee shops try to reduce their costs and maximise profits.
Six dollars is a lot of money for a cup of coffee unless of course, you have to feed that addiction, in which case, you’ll have a cup at whatever the cost.
I need coffee right now, so it’s off to the cupboard to see what’s available.
Maccona instant, which is not bad
A Nespresso long black – ok, don’t get me started with Nespresso because they have numbers from 1 to 12, possibly more, recognising strengths, and I usually have a double shot using a 10 and a 12.
And, yes, they fool around with the type of beans they use because there seem to be inconsistencies in potency from time to time.
Then there are coffee bags, much the same as tea bags, which produces and interestingly flavoured brew which I’m still trying to figure out. It tastes like coffee, but there’s something else there, like … paper?
It could be said that of all the women one could meet, whether contrived or by sheer luck, what are the odds it would turn out to be the woman who was being paid a very large sum to kill you?
John Pennington is a man who may be lucky in business, but not so lucky in love. He has just broken up with Phillipa Sternhaven, the woman he thought was the one, but relatives and circumstances, and perhaps because she was a ‘princess’, may also have contributed to the end result.
So, what do you do when you are heartbroken?
That is a story that slowly unfolds, from the first meeting with his nemesis on Lake Geneva, all the way to a hotel room in Sorrento, where he learns the shattering truth.
What should have been solace after disappointment turns out to be something else entirely, and from that point, everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
He suddenly realises his so-called friend Sebastian has not exactly told him the truth about a small job he asked him to do, the woman he is falling in love with is not quite who she says she is, and he is caught in the middle of a war between two men who consider people becoming collateral damage as part of their business.
The story paints the characters, cleverly displaying all their flaws and weaknesses. The locations add to the story at times, taking me back down memory lane, especially to Venice, where, in those back streets, I confess it’s not all that hard to get lost.
All in all, a thoroughly entertaining story with, for once, a satisfying end.
I’m back home and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.
The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritizing.
But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.
Chasing leads, maybe
…
My next call was to Severin, also a number on a card.
It rang five times before he answered. “Yes?”
No name, but I recognized the voice.
“It’s Sam Jackson.”
“You have found the USB?”
“No. But I did find the flat he was supposedly living in, and it’s a front. And so clean you could eat off the floor. Nothing there. And nothing to indicate where his real residence is.”
“That’s a shame.”
“So is the discovery that you are less than trustworthy. Explain why I should continue to help. I assume Maury is your attack dog, so if you’re sending him after me, then you don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
No hesitation, this was a man to be very careful around.
“That’s fine, you obviously don’t need my help. And one more thing, if I see Maury again, you won’t.”
I disconnected the call.
“That was brave,” Jan said.
“No. Just a test to see how desperate they are. I’ll give it another minute before he calls back.”
It took two minutes.
“Perhaps I didn’t think through the consequences. Let’s take a step back and reconsider the situation.”
“If you’ve got Maury trying to trace this call, then it’s going to be a series of twenty-second calls. If I find O’Connell’s second residence or even the USB, and you continue to act in this manner you will be the last to be told.”
I hung up the phone again. Not enough time to trace the call.
“Are you deliberately trying to piss him off?”
“Do you think it’s working?”
“Why?”
“Angry people make mistakes. They made one huge mistake of killing O’Connell before they knew where the USB was. I’m sure they were hoping he would have it on him. He didn’t.”
My phone rang again.
“You forget I know where you live.”
Bold move.
“Where I used to live. It was getting a little cramped anyway. Call your attack dog off and give me some room to do my job. This phone is in the bin at the end of this call, so don’t bother tracing it. I’ve got your number. Just hope I decide to call you again.”
Call terminated, and a minute later sim removed and tossed down a drain.
“Do you want to call anyone?” I asked.
“Not yet. I’ve got nothing to report.”
“Your people might have an investigation going that might involve cyber currency, and O’Connell’s name might pop up. After all, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you were living next door”
She was trying to keep a neutral expression, but it didn’t work. She was next door for a reason, and it didn’t include looking after his cat. In fact, I was beginning to think that cat belonged to the building, and just stayed with whoever fed it.
“Despite what you might think, it was a coincidence, because after I moved in, I did a few background checks and his was too squeaky clean.
“Meaning?”
Of course, squeaky clean meant only one possibility, he had a cover identity made, and it only went back so far. Depending on the job, the background could be months old, or a year at the most.
“He was working undercover and didn’t exist three years ago. So the thing is, maybe he wasn’t investigating cyber currency, maybe he was stealing it, and someone took offense. But I never saw a computer in his flat, and you definitely need one of those if you’re a cryptocurrency trader. All I got to talk about was the cat.”
Since it’s hardly the subject you’d talk about with a neighbor, it was not surprising their discussions were mainly of domesticity.
“Was it his cat?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I think he said he found it in the flat when he arrived, and in feeding it, it just stayed. Cat’s don’t belong to people; you do realize that don’t you?”
“Never had one. And I didn’t see a cat there or signs of one.”
“I was looking after him while O’Connell was away, so he’s been in my flat.”
“Only it probably got tossed about the same time as they visited his, and if the cat had any sense, he’d run. Maury’s the sort who’d shoot the cat, just because it was there.”
“Perhaps we should go back and check. Why the sudden interest in the cat?”
“It’s the only tangible thing he owned. Sorry, he was attached to.”
“And you think the cat might be the clue?”
“Have you got a better idea?”
Not answering the question, was the answer.
“It might not be safe.”
“Then stay at the hotel and I’ll see you when I get back.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m going with you. Besides, you’ll need someone to watch your back.”
I heard the voices, long before I realized where I was or what happened.
Well, that was not exactly true, I knew what had happened, I just couldn’t remember what occurred after that.
And how I came to be where I was, now.
My mother, calm and collected in a crisis, sounded just a little flustered.
“Just what happened, without all the medical double talk, in simple words one can understand.”
My sentiment exactly.
“Another day would have been fatal. As it is, neither of them will be in any fit state for at least a week, perhaps more, it’s hard to say. People can survive without food, but not water, like I said, they were lucky we found them when we did.”
Yes, I remember the cavern, Vince and Alex, being tied up and left for dead. I had told Nadia that rescue would be imminent, once Charlene realized we were missing.
But, how long had that been?
And, was he referring to all three of us, or had Boggs got to safety and raised the alarm. If we were near death, it raised questions I don’t think I wanted answers to.
I felt a warm hand on my armand opened my eyes. The room was in semi-darkness, perhaps so my eyes would not be shocked by bright light. A nurse, looking down.
“Welcome back, Sam.”
I wanted to speak, but something told me that wasn’t going to be possible, not right then.
The nurse’s soothing voice continued, “You are safe now, in hospital, and you don’t need to speak or anything else. You have been through a rather traumatic week or so, but the worst is over and the doctor says you will make a full recovery.”
I wanted to ask about Nadia, but the words didn’t come. I was beginning to think I was not there, and this was only my imagination, creating a virtual world rather than accepting reality.
“The girl you were with is here too, and she will also recover, Nadia I think her name is.”
An inward sigh of relief. Now, Boggs?
She didn’t say anything more, except to say, “Rest now.”
I closed my eyes and it didn’t take long to slide back into the inky darkness.
In the dark, time lost any meaning. I couldn’t tell what time it was, or how much time had passed. I tried counting the seconds in my head, but it was a futile exercise.
Nadia wasn’t panicking, but she was scared, particularly after we had tried every and all means we could think of to get free, only the knots that Alex had tied us with were too tight.
I suspected, in the end, they were sailors’ knots designed not to slip or come undone, not easily anyway.
That was when I said I had told Charlene what we intended to do and roughly where we would be, and if we went missing that would be the cue.
It seemed to brighten her outlook, but as time passed, slowly but inevitably, that cheer turned to dismay.
We were hungry but worse still, thirsty, and the fact there was no water anywhere nearby made that thirst all the more important.
That time passed ever so slowly, and it took an almost inhuman effort to not think about that next drink if there was ever to be one.
I managed to convince her that talking would only make it worseand that we should concentrate on anything else, perhaps what we were going to do once we got out of the cave, other than killing Vince and Alex. Perhaps, in the end, I thought that might be the one thing that would keep her alive.
As for me, given my situation, and that really of the whole town, there wasn’t much to hope for. Yes, Nadia might still want to be friends, but who was it that got her into this mess?
Then, too weak to think, count, or move, that was where I knew the end was near. It felt like we’d been in the cave forever, and I had to finally accept the fact no in was coming for us.
Williams’ Restaurant, East 65th Street, New York, Saturday, 8:00 p.m.
We met the Blaines at Williams’, a rather upmarket restaurant that the Blaines frequently visited and had recommended.
Of course, during the taxi ride there, Alison reminded me that with my new job, we would be able to go to many more places like Williams’. It was, at worst, more emotional blackmail, because as far as Alison was concerned, we were well on our way to posh restaurants, the Trump Tower Apartments, and the trappings of the ‘executive set’.
It would be a miracle if I didn’t strangle Elaine before the night was over. It was she who had filled Alison’s head with all this stuff and nonsense.
Aside from the half-frown, half-smile, Alison was looking stunning. It had been months since she had last dressed up, and she was especially wearing the dress I’d bought her for our 5th anniversary that cost a month’s salary. On her, it was worth it, and I would have paid more if I had to. She had adored it and me, for a week or so after.
For tonight, I think I was close to getting back on that pedestal.
She had the looks and figure to draw attention, the sort movie stars get on the red carpet, and when we walked into the restaurant, I swear there were at least five seconds of silence, and many more gasps.
I even had a sudden loss of breath earlier in the evening when she came out of the dressing room. Once more, I was reminded of how lucky I was that she had agreed to marry me. Amid all those self-doubts, I couldn’t believe she had loved me when there were so many others out there who were more appealing.
Elaine was out of her seat and came over just as the Head Waiter hovered into sight. She personally escorted Alison to the table, allowing me to follow like the Queen’s consort, while she and Alison basked in the admiring glances of the other patrons.
More than once, I heard the muted question, “Who is she?”
Jimmy stood, we shook hands, and then we sat together. It was not the usual boy, girl, boy, girl seating arrangement. Jimmy and I on one side and Elaine and Alison on the other.
The battle lines were drawn.
Jimmy was looking fashionable, with a permanent blade one beard, unkempt hair, and a designer dinner suit that looked like he’d slept in it. Alison insisted I wear a tuxedo, and I looked like the proverbial penguin or just a thinner version of Alfred Hitchcock.
The bow tie had been slightly crooked, but just before we stepped out, she had straightened it. And took the moment to look deeply into my soul. It was one of those moments when words were not necessary.
Then it was gone.
I relived it briefly as I sat and she looked at me. A penetrating look that told me to ‘behave’.
When we were settled, Elaine said, in that breathless, enthusiastic manner of hers when she was excited, “So, Harry, you are finally moving up.” It was not a question, but a statement.
I was not sure what she meant by ‘finally’, but I accepted it with good grace. Sometimes, Elaine was prone to using figures of speech I didn’t understand. I guessed she was talking about the new job. “It was supposed to be a secret.”
She smiled widely. “There are no secrets between Al and me, are there, Al?”
I looked at ‘Al’ and saw a brief look of consternation.
I was not sure Alison liked the idea of being called Al. I tried it once and was admonished. But it was interesting that her ‘best friend forever’ was allowed that distinction when I was not. It was, perhaps, another indicator of how far I’d slipped in her estimation.
Perhaps, I thought, it was a necessary evil. As I understood it, the Blaines were our mentors at the Trump Tower, because they didn’t just let ‘anyone’ in. I didn’t ask if the Blaines thought we were just ‘anyone’ before I got the job offer.
And then there was that look between Alison and Elaine, quickly stolen before Alison realised I was looking at both of them. I was out of my depth, in a place I didn’t belong, with people I didn’t understand. And yet, apparently, Alison did. I must have missed the memo.
“No,” Alison said softly, stealing a glance in my direction, “No secrets between friends.”
No secrets. Her look conveyed something else entirely.
The waiter brought champagne, Krug, and poured glasses for each of us. It was not the cheap stuff, and I was glad I brought a couple of thousand dollars with me. We were going to need it.
Then, a toast.
To a new job and a new life.
“When did you decide?” Elaine was effusive at the best of times, but with the champagne, it was worse.
Alison had a strange expression on her face. It was obvious she had told Elaine it was a done deal, even before I’d made up my mind. Perhaps she’d assumed I might be ‘refreshingly honest’ in front of Elaine, but it could also mean she didn’t really care what I might say or do.
Instead of consternation, she looked happy, and I realised it would be churlish, even silly, if I made a scene. I knew what I wanted to say. I also knew that it would serve little purpose provoking Elaine or upsetting Alison. This was not the time or the place. Alison had been looking forward to coming here, and I was not going to spoil it.
Instead, I said, smiling, “When I woke up this morning and found Alison missing. If she had been there, I would not have noticed the water stain on the roof above our bed, and decided there and then how much I hated the place.” I used my reassuring smile, the one I used with the customers when all hell was breaking loose, and the forest fire was out of control. “It’s the little things. They all add up until one day …” I shrugged. “I guess that one day was today.”
I saw an incredulous look pass between Elaine and Alison, a non-verbal question; perhaps, is he for real? Or, I told you he’d come around.
I had no idea the two were so close.
“How quaint,” Elaine said, which just about summed up her feelings towards me. I think, at that moment, I lost some brownie points. It was all I could come up with at short notice.
“Yes,” I added, with a little more emphasis than I wanted. “Alison was off to get some studying in with one of her friends.”
“Weren’t the two of you off to the Hamptons, a weekend with some friends?” Jimmy piped up and immediately got the ‘shut up, you fool’ look that cut that line of conversation dead. Someone forgot to feed Jimmy his lines.
It was followed by the condescending smile from Elaine, and “I need to powder my nose. Care to join me, Al?”
A frown, then a forced smile for her new best friend. “Yes.”
I watched them leave the table and head in the direction of the restroom, looking like they were in earnest conversation. I thought ‘Al’ looked annoyed, but I could be wrong.
I had to say Jimmy looked more surprised than I did.
There was that odd moment of silence between us, Jimmy still smarting from his death stare, and for me, the Alison and Elaine show. I was quite literally gob-smacked.
I drained my champagne glass, gathering some courage and turned to him. “By the way, we were going to have a weekend away, but this legal tutorial thing came up. You know Alison is doing her law degree.”
He looked startled when he realised I had spoken. He was looking intently at a woman several tables over from us, one who’d obviously forgotten some basic garments when getting dressed. Or perhaps it was deliberate. She’d definitely had some enhancements done.
He dragged his eyes back to me. “Yes. Elaine said something or other about it. But I thought she said the tutor was out of town and it had been postponed until next week. Perhaps I got it wrong. I usually do.”
“Perhaps I’ve got it wrong.” I shrugged as the dark thoughts started swirling in my head again. “This week or next, what does it matter?”
Of course, it mattered to me, and I digested what he said with a sinking heart. It showed there was another problem between Alison and me; she might have been telling me lies. If what he said was true and I had no reason to doubt him, where was she going tomorrow morning, and had she really been with a friend studying today?
We poured some more champagne, had a drink, then he asked, “This promotion thing, what’s it worth?”
“Trouble, I suspect. Definitely more money, but less time at home.”
“Oh,” raised eyebrows. Obviously, the women had not talked about the job in front of him, or, at least, not all the details. “You sure you want to do that?”
At last, the voice of reason. “Me? No.”
“Yet you accepted the job.”
I sucked in a breath or two while I considered whether I could trust him. Even if I couldn’t, I could see my ship was sinking, so it wouldn’t matter what I told him, or what Elaine might find out from him. “Jimmy, between you and me, I haven’t as yet decided one way or another. To be honest, I won’t know until I go up to Barclay’s office and he asks me the question.”
“Barclay?”
“My boss.”
“Elaine’s doing a job for a Barclay who recently moved into the tower a block down from us. I thought I recognised the name.”
“How did Elaine get the job?”
“Oh, Alison put him onto her.”
“When?”
“A couple of months ago. Why?”
I shrugged and tried to keep a straight face, while my insides were churning up like the wake of a supertanker. I felt sick, faint, and wanted to die all at the same moment. “Perhaps she said something about it, but it didn’t connect at the time. Too busy with work, I expect. I think I seriously need to get away for a while.”
I could hardly breathe, my throat was constricted, and I knew I had to keep it together. I could see Elaine and Alison coming back, so I had to calm down. I sucked in some deep breaths and put my ‘manage a complete and utter disaster’ look on my face.
And I had to change the subject, quickly, so I said, “Jimmy, Elaine told Alison, who told me, you were something of a guru of the cause and effects of the global economic meltdown. Now, I have a couple of friends who have been expounding this theory …”
Like flicking a switch, I launched into the well-worn practice of ‘running a distraction’, like at work when we needed to keep the customer from discovering the truth. It was one of the things I was good at, taking over a conversation and pushing it in a different direction. It was salvaging a good result from an utter disaster, and if ever there was a time that it was required, it was right here, right now.
When Alison sat down and looked at me, she knew something had happened between Jimmy and me. I might have looked pale or red-faced, or angry or disappointed, but it didn’t matter. If that didn’t seal the deal for her, the fact that I took over the dining engagement did. She knew well enough that the only time I did that was when everything was about to go to hell in a handbasket. She’d seen me in action before and had been suitably astonished.
But I got into gear, kept the champagne flowing and steered the conversation, as much as one could from a seasoned professional like Elaine, and, I think, in Jimmy’s eyes, he saw the battle lines and knew who took the crown on points. Neither Elaine nor Jimmy suspected anything, and if the truth be told, I had improved my stocks with Elaine. She was at times both surprised and interested, even willing to take a back seat.
Alison, on the other hand, tried poking around the edges, and, once when Elaine and Jimmy had got up to have a cigarette outside, questioned me directly. I chose to ignore her and pretend nothing had happened, rather than tell her how much I was enjoying the evening.
She had her ‘secrets’. I had mine.
At the end of the evening, when I got up to go to the bathroom, I was physically sick from the pent-up tension and the implications of what Jimmy had told me. It took a while for me to pull myself together; so long, in fact, that Jimmy came looking for me. I told him I’d drunk too much champagne, and he seemed satisfied with that excuse. When I returned, both Alison and Elaine noticed how pale I was, but neither made any comment.
It was a sad way to end what was supposed to be a delightful evening, which, to a large degree, it was for the other three. But I had achieved what I set out to do: to play them at their own game, watching the deception once I knew there was one, as warily as a cat watches its prey.
I had also discovered Jimmy’s real calling; a professor of economics at the same University Alison was doing her law degree. It was no surprise in the end, on a night where surprises abounded, that the world could really be that small.
We parted in the early hours of the morning, a taxi whisking us back to the Lower East Side, another taking the Blaines back to the Upper West Side. But, in our case, as Alison reminded me, it would not be for much longer. She showed concern for my health and asked me what was wrong. It took all the courage I could muster to tell her it was most likely something I ate and the champagne, and that I would be fine in the morning.
She could see quite plainly it was anything other than what I told her, but she didn’t pursue it. Perhaps she just didn’t care what I was playing at.
And yet, after everything that had happened, once inside our ‘palace’, the events of the evening were discarded, like her clothing, and she again reminded me of what we had together in the early years before the problems had set in.
It left me confused and lost.
I couldn’t sleep because my mind had now gone down that irreversible path that told me I was losing her, that she had found someone else, and that our marriage was in its last death throes.
And now I knew it had something to do with Barclay.
How many of us have skeletons in the closet that we know nothing about? The skeletons we know about generally stay there, but those we do not, well, they have a habit of coming out of left field when we least expect them.
In this case, when you see your photo on a TV screen with the accompanying text that says you are wanted by every law enforcement agency in Europe, you’re in a state of shock, only to be compounded by those same police, armed and menacing, kicking the door down.
I’d been thinking about this premise for a while after I discovered my mother had a boyfriend before she married my father, a boyfriend who was, by all accounts, the man who was the love of her life.
Then, in terms of coming up with an idea for a story, what if she had a child by him that we didn’t know about, which might mean I had a half-brother or sister I knew nothing about. It’s not an uncommon occurrence from what I’ve been researching.
There are many ways of putting a spin on this story.
Then, in the back of my mind, I remembered a story an acquaintance at work was once telling us over morning tea, that a friend of a friend had a mother who had a twin sister and that each of the sisters had a son by the same father, without each knowing of the father’s actions, both growing up without the other having any knowledge of their half brother, only to meet by accident on the other side of the world.
It was an encounter that in the scheme of things might never have happened, and each would have remained oblivious of the other.
For one sister, the relationship was over before she discovered she was pregnant, and therefore had not told the man he was a father. It was no surprise the relationship foundered when she discovered he was also having a relationship with her sister, a discovery that caused her to cut all ties with both of them and never speak to either from that day.
It’s a story with more twists and turns than a country lane!
I’m back home, and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.
The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritising.
But here we are, a few minutes opened up, and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.
An unlikely ally?
The bar in the hotel was tucked away in a small area behind the dining room, or perhaps it was part of the dining room; I wasn’t quite sure. Indoor shrubs were blocking the view from the front entrance, so we could feel safe enough, and less strenuous to watch the continuous comings and goings of the hotel’s guests and their friends.
For a small hotel, it was quite busy.
We were lucky it was not yet dinner time, so the restaurant was still being set up for the evening dinner service. I had a look at one of the menus, and the Shepherd’s Pie looked good. It was mostly hearty British staples like Bangers and Mash and Toad in the Hole. I guess by calling sausages by their real name, sausages, no one really wanted them.
Three drinks down and looking for the restroom, it ended up being an exploration of the passage that led to a rear door, one that could be used by guests, but was mostly used by smoking staff. When I went outside, there were two housekeepers and a concierge boy talking about the couple in 506. I hope Jan and I were not labelledan ‘interesting couple’.
“Let’s go outside and make some calls.” She finished her drink and slid off the barstool.
I joined her, and we went out the back entrance, along an alley to the next main street, then along the busy road to an underground station. There were two other hotels I noticed along the way, so we would not be making it easy for them if they could track us.
I called Nobbin first using the card he left under the name Wilson, leaving the phone on speaker.
“Yes.” There was no ring on the other end of the line.
“Wilson?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Sam Jackson. You said to call you if anything happened. I have managed to track down an address for O’Connell. I went there and found two women, one named Josephine, who was definitely not a resident or his friend as she claimed. Then I met another, whose name I can’t remember, but I suspect she’s not who she said she was, nor a friend.”
“Were they looking for the USB?”
“I don’t know. One was on the floor when I arrived, and I assumed she had been rendered unconscious by someone else. I roused her, but she had nothing conclusive to say. I think she was one of your operatives.”
Silence, then, “Why would you say that?”
“I followed her out onto the street.”
More silence, then, “She was asked to search the flat.”
“For what?”
“Anything that would be useful in telling us what he was doing.”
“I’m sure I told you that Severin was after a USB, so I thoroughly searched O’Connell’s flat and didn’t find it, or anything else.”
“Neither did she, which is unfortunate, but not unexpected. O’Connell must have been worried about the information he’d uncovered, enough to not be carrying it with him.”
“Well, I don’t think it was his primary residence. Still too many price tags on the furniture. He had somewhere else to go, and that might be where the USB is. I’m surprised you don’t seem to know very much about him or what he was doing given he was one of your operatives. Unless, of course, he went off-book.”
“I assure you that isn’t the case, and O’Connell’s activities were on a need to know basis. All I can say is that he was using a Journalist cover, investigating cyber currency being used to purchase weapons. We were scheduled to meet for a report on his progress late afternoon on the day he was killed. Are you sure there was no one else near the alley where he was killed?”
“It was empty except for Severin and Maury.
“And you.”
“Are you implying that I took it?”
“No, but there’s a compelling case that might fit you in the frame. Do you know who the other woman was in O’Connell’s flat?”
“No. Like I said, she gave me a name, but I don’t think it was real. She claimed to be his neighbor, but so did Josephine, so it’s likely she wasn’t. Other than that, she could be anyone. If he had another place, you might want to try and find out where it was. I’m going to take up the search tomorrow morning.”
“Are you sure there was nothing to point you in that direction lying around in the flat?”
“The man was a neatness freak. I doubt it. And now he’s dead. The only possibility I can see is that he found out what Severin and Maury are about to do, and by now they will be far more desperate to find it. We need to get to it first, so perhaps if you have some analysts looking for something to do, see if they can find that second residence. I’m sure you can get a hold of any CCTV there is. You might be able to find him that way. If you do and you get an address, let me know and I’ll go straight there.”
“Yes, of course. Keep in touch.”
The line went dead.
“Interesting man,” Jan said, “but not a trustworthy one. You listen to the modulation of his voice. That’s a man who wouldn’t know the truth even if he fell over it. And if he does find that address, you will not be the first person he calls.”
I shrugged. “Probably not. As for Nobbin, isn’t that the very nature of our business, to tell endless lies in order to get to the truth?”
“Remind me, one day, to tell you about pathological liars.”
