by Philip Cox
‘Sorry, Will. Would you like a drink?’
‘No, thanks; it’s okay.’
‘You sure?’
‘I’ll have a coffee, then.’
‘Only coffee? Not something stronger?’
‘Some other time. Driving tonight.’
‘You’ll be all right on one, surely?’
Will held up his palms in mock surrender. ‘Go on, then.’
Jia picked up a squat shaped bottle and poured a glass of clear liquid. ‘Here: try some of this.’
‘Thanks.’ Will took the proffered glass. ‘What is it?’
‘It’s called Kaoliang.’
Will sniffed the glass. ‘What?’
‘Kaoliang. It’s a baijin. A Chinese liquor distilled from grain. It’s pretty strong.’
Will took a mouthful. He started as the liquor burnt his throat and his eyes began to water. It tasted like very strong neat vodka. ‘Jesus! It is strong.’
Jia picked up the bottle and showed Will the label. 57% alcohol by volume. ‘It is.’
Will nodded. ‘I think I’ll just have the one glass.’ He stepped over to the glass dining table and sat on one of the black leather dining chairs. As he sat down and looked over at Jia, it occurred to him what was different about her. She was wearing her hair down. Black, shiny, and down to her shoulders. She normally had it either in a ponytail, or tied up somehow. The colour of her hair matched that of the dress she was wearing. Short - to just above the knee – and tight fitting. It left nothing to the imagination: Will could quite clearly make out the absence of underwear.
‘I think I’ll have one as well,’ Jia said, reaching for the bottle. Will sniffed at his glass again: the liquor had a sweet, unmistakeable odour. Jia poured herself a large measure. Will realised why the smell of the drink was familiar; the drink Jia was pouring for herself was not her first that night.
‘Cheers,’ Will said breezily, raising his glass.
‘Let’s sit over here,’ Jia said, brushing her hand along his shoulder as she passed. Feeling slightly uneasy, Will picked up his glass and followed her. She paused, allowing Will to sit on one of the couches, then perched herself on the arm of the seat.
Jia took a mouthful of the baijin. ‘You do understand me, don’t you, Will?’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Will, puzzled.
She straightened up and ran her hand through her hair. ‘Dan doesn’t, you know.’
‘Dan doesn’t…?’
‘He doesn’t understand all my needs.’ She emphasized the last word as she ran her hand down her front, stopping at the top of her legs.
Will said nothing. He had no idea what to say.
‘He could be more attentive,’ she continued. ‘More attentive to what I need.’
‘Right...’ said Will, slowly, not knowing where this was going.
‘I mean, he could tell me how attractive he finds me.’
Uneasily, Will half spoke, half stammered, ‘You are attractive, Jia.’ As soon as he finished the sentence, he wished he hadn’t started it.
‘I think he’s sleeping with somebody else.’
‘What?’
‘I think he’s fucking some other woman.’
Will took another mouthful. ‘No way.’
Jia shook her head. ‘We’ve not made love in months. Making proper love, I mean. Not just a five minute bump and grind, then he gets off me and goes to sleep. We used to be adventurous, now it’s just a vanilla quickie.’
Will shrugged. This was not a conversation he wanted to have. ‘Well… there’s a lot going on at work. What about his age? It’s always difficult when there’s a kid in the next room.’
She shook her head again, putting one hand on a hip. ‘Will, I know. He’s fucking someone else.’
‘Do you know who?’
She shrugged. ‘No, but does it matter? I’ve thought about getting a private detective to follow him, but…’ Her voice trailed off for a moment. ‘What about you, Will? How’s your sex life? Yours and Chrissy’s? How many times a week do you do it?’
Uncomfortably, Will mumbled, ‘Er – the usual, I guess.’
Jia laughed. ‘Chrissy is a very lucky woman. I hope she knows that. You’re quite a catch.’ As she said this, she moved slightly closer to Will and put her hand on the back of his neck. ‘Faithful old Will. You are faithful, aren’t you, Will?’
‘Of course,’ Will said, twisting his neck to get away from Jia’s hand.
‘After all,’ she went on, ‘you are a very attractive, sexy guy.’
Will coughed. ‘That’s very nice of you to say so, Jia. Now -’
He was interrupted, much to his relief, by the sound of the condo door being opened and Jake and Clyde returning. Thank God for that, Will thought, putting his glass down. He stood up. ‘Hey there, Jake. Had a good time?’
Jake nodded. ‘Yeah, cool.’
Will looked at his watch. ‘Time to go, buddy.’
‘Aw, Dad, can’t we have another -’
‘Sorry, no. School night, remember.’
Jake pulled a face and slumped his shoulders.
‘I have the car.’
Jake’s face brightened a little. ‘Oh, okay.’
Will turned to Jia. ‘We’ll go now. Thanks for the drink, Jia.’
Normally, he would have kissed Jia on the cheek, but tonight he could not get out of the place quick enough. ‘Come on, then,’ he said to Jake, striding over to the door. Jia smiled and remained on the couch arm while Will and Jake left the condo, quickly closing the door behind them. ‘Let’s take the stairs,’ he said as Jake pressed the elevator call button.
‘What’s the hurry?’ Jake asked, as he followed Will in hurrying down the stairs.
‘It’s late. School night, remember?’
Will had parked at a meter round the corner, and he and Jake walked briskly to the car. Will said very little on the way home. They were home in fifteen minutes. Louise was asleep in bed and Chrissy was dealing with emails. As soon as they got indoors, Jake went up to his room.
Chrissy looked up from her laptop. ‘You were a while.’
‘I had a problem parking there. Plus the boys were out.’
‘Out?’
‘Oh, playing some game with another kid in Dan’s building.’
She sniffed a couple of times. ‘So you had a drink with Dan?’
‘I only had one. Jia offered me some Chinese drink. Dan was out.’
‘Oh? Where was he?’
‘She said she didn’t know. She had a drink with me.’
‘Just the one? You need to be careful: you don’t want to be stopped while DUI.’
‘I only had one. I didn’t like it much. It was like vodka. Jia liked it, though. She was loaded.’
‘Jia? No way.’
‘Way. I think she’d been drinking a while. And - and you won’t believe this - I think she tried to make a move on me.’
Chrissy laughed. ‘On you? Bullshit.’
‘She did. Kept on about how she thought Dan was sleeping with another woman.’
Chrissy looked up. ‘Who does she think it is?’ she asked.
‘She didn’t say. Said she didn’t know. Said she’s thought about getting a private dick to check it out.’
‘Do you believe her?’
Will sighed. ‘I don’t know. Dan’s always been a narcissistic SOB, but I can’t really see him… I don’t know. I think it was the booze talking.’
Chrissy stared at him a second, then returned to her screen.
Will stretched. ‘Anyway, I’m tired. I’m going up. You coming?’
‘I’ll be up presently. Just want to finish these emails.’
‘Night, then.’ Will turned and headed for the stairs.
Chrissy watched him, keeping her gaze on the empty stairs for a few seconds after he had gone. Then returned to her keyboard. She typed a few words, paused a beat, then continued typing.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Will was just as surprised to see Roberts
and Alvarez as they were to see him. The receptionist seemed surprised too. Both stared open mouthed at the two detectives.
Roberts strode up to the desk. ‘This can’t be a coincidence, surely?’
Will’s mouth opened, but he could not find the words.
Roberts turned round to the hotel manager. ‘We’re done here, thank you, sir.’ Turning to Will, she said, ‘I think we need to talk, Mr Carter. We’ll use the car; it’s parked right outside.’
Sheepishly, Will followed them to the car, sitting in the back. For a moment, he thought they were going to drive away.
Alvarez sat in the driver’s seat; from the passenger side, Roberts turned round to Will.
‘I think we’re agreed this is no coincidence,’ she said. ‘You want to tell me about it?’
Will took a deep breath. He felt like a student standing in front of the Principal. He explained about when he checked DiMucci, he saw the card in the man’s hand. ‘I thought nothing of it, was going to leave it, until we had that break-in.’
‘Which we have established was nothing to do with DiMucci.’
‘And when I saw the guy in the hood outside my house,’ Will added. ‘First of all, I thought it was some kind of bank card - you know, if he was being mugged - Capital One or something like that. I saw the card had one printed on it. Then last night I saw a billboard for Comfort Zone hotels.’
‘And you figured it was a hotel key card,’ Roberts said.
Will nodded. ‘I checked the Comfort Zone website and found here was the only place they have in New York City.’
Roberts sighed. ‘So you came up here and asked if DiMucci stayed here.’
Will nodded.
‘And what did they tell you?’
Will swallowed. ‘They wouldn’t tell me.’
‘And they were correct not to. Look, Mr Carter: I’m going to tell you this for the last time. Keep the hell out of this. Apart from the effect it could have on you and your family, have you considered you could be compromising a police investigation? You want to get yourself booked for that?’
He shook his head.
She continued, ‘You might be interested to know we have a suspect in custody.’
Will looked up. ‘From my identification?’
‘Yes, partly from what you told us at the station.’
‘What about the other one? There were two of them.’
‘I’m expecting to get him soon. But I can’t if I keep having to have this conversation with you.’
Will nodded. ‘Okay. I get it.’
‘Glad you do. Now, Mr Carter: what do you do for a job?’
‘I work in Real Estate.’
‘Then go sell some houses or something, and leave us to do our job.’
Will nodded and reached for the door handle.
Before she turned back, Roberts added, ‘And if you do have any more theories or ideas or information, come to us first. You got it?’
‘I got it.’
With that, Will climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut. He and Roberts made eye contact one more time before he began walking down the street.
‘I don’t remember anything on the report about a key card,’ Alvarez said.
‘Neither do I. We’ll have to check with the CSI.’
‘Are we going to look for the other guy now?’ he asked.
Roberts said nothing.
‘Well? You listening?’
‘Sorry. What were you saying?’
‘I was just asking -’
Roberts was watching Will walk down the street. ‘He hasn’t asked why Breed was standing outside his house. How he knew where he lived.’ She paused. ‘You know, Eric: I’ve a feeling that guy’s going to be trouble.’
THIRTY-EIGHT
As Will scurried down the street back to the subway station, he glanced briefly back at the detectives’ car. Much to his relief, they were now pulling away. He carried on walking.
He had been slightly economical with the truth to Detective Roberts, in that the receptionist had told him about Di Mucci. She had told him that he had stayed there several times in the past, and whenever he booked he always requested Room 205.
A gust of wind caught Will as he crossed a street. What was so special about room 205? He pondered over this again as he settled down in the hard plastic seat of the D train. Maybe he should somehow check out this room: why would somebody request the same room every time they stayed in a hotel?
He knew that some people were creatures of habit: he himself had come across people who went to the same place year after year on vacation, maybe staying at the same hotel. But not the same room.
He and Chrissy did that once. Before the kids were born, they took a trip to Cancun, Mexico: a beautiful resort a couple of miles outside the city. The following year, knowing that Chrissy was pregnant with Jake and that vacations such as that would be off the agenda for a few years, they decided to return to the same resort, same hotel. A different room, though, he was sure.
That aside, although they both enjoyed the second vacation, something was missing. It was not as they had remembered it from the first time. Or maybe it never had been as they remembered it. Funny thing, memories.
Now the train was pulling into 81st Street and the Museum of Natural History. Soon they would be passing underneath Columbus Circle, where it all began. Will decided: he needed to check out Room 205. It seemed a crazy thing to do, but he felt he had to do something proactive: he still felt his family had been threatened, and there was only so much the police could or would do. In any case, only one of the attackers was in custody: how could he be sure that the police would be able to get to the second before something else happened?
Once back at work, he touched based quickly with the others. Dan was out of the office, Eddie was busy on the telephone, and May was back in. Will had a brief conversation with her, asked how she was and said how glad he was she was better and back with them, then sat down at his desk. He glanced through the four messages he had then checked his diaries, both for work and at home. He had nothing on the next few days - no time like the present.
He got onto the Comfort Zone website once more and checked availability at the 173rd Street hotel. He was just about to make a booking online then paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. He could not use the internet, as they would send him an email confirming the booking. He needed to do this in a way that neither Chrissy nor the people at work would find out. If Dan found out, he would tell Jia, and Jia would tell Chrissy.
He got up and quietly closed his office door. He got the direct line for the 173rd Street hotel and called, praying it would not be the receptionist he spoke to earlier. It was a different voice.
The hotel had rooms free for that night. Saying he was superstitious, Will asked if he could have Room 205, as that was his lucky number. The employee sounded as if she was suppressing a giggle, and said she was sorry, but that room was taken.
‘Oh,’ said Will, not sure where to go next.
‘Hold the line, sir.’ The voice returned momentarily. ‘Sir, I can see the person who has 205 is due to check out tomorrow morning. I can book it for you for tomorrow night, if you wish.’
‘That would be great.’
Will said he only needed one night, listened to the conditions of the booking, when he was able check in, by what time the next morning he had to check out and where he could park his car. He gave the employee his credit card number, and got the booking confirmed.
After hanging up, he sat back, satisfied. He had booked the room for one night, but would not need to spend the night there. Chrissy would never need to know. They had separate credit card accounts too, so she would never see the booking on his statement. He could check in any time after 2pm, so could go over there tomorrow afternoon and have a few hours there, even if it cost him a hundred bucks. He had until noon the next day to check out, although he could do so that night if he was done there.
He walked over and opened his offic
e door. Wandered into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. As he stirred the drink, he thought about what he would be looking for. He had no idea; just why the room was so special.
Maybe he’d find out tomorrow.
THIRTY-NINE
‘Let’s head back to the hospital,’ Roberts said as they pulled away from the hotel.
‘Why? You think he’ll have woken up by now?’ Alvarez asked.
‘I’ve heard nothing from uniform, but even if he hasn’t, his mother might know who his partner in crime is.’
‘If she’s willing to talk.’
‘She seems the kind of person who might; you know, not holding any grudges.’
‘We didn’t push him, Jules.’
‘You didn’t.’
‘Neither did you. You were on the fire escape; he was climbing up the ladder.’
‘She might not see it that way.’ Roberts paused as she watched the passing traffic. ‘Let’s hope she does.’
When they arrived at Bronx-Lebanon they headed directly to the room where Breed had been sleeping. Roberts slowly opened the door and looked in. He was still sleeping. The nurse they had left in the room earlier was still there, still in the same chair, but sat upright when they entered.
‘No change then?’ Roberts asked quietly.
The nurse shook her head. Roberts looked around the room: one of the three other beds was now empty, and the patients in the other two were both asleep as well.
‘Let’s go find the mother,’ she muttered to Alvarez.
Mitchell Breed’s mother was still in the waiting lounge with the uniformed officer. The officer stood up when he saw the two detectives arrive; Roberts nodded him to come over.
‘How is she?’ Roberts asked him. ‘Her son hasn’t woken yet.’
The officer shrugged. ‘Difficult to say. She’s been quite calm. I’ve said does she want somebody to take her home, stay with her, but she says she wants to stay here till Mitch wakes up.’
‘Apparently there’s a younger brother. Has she mentioned him?’
‘She did call somebody on her cell. Said it was a neighbour. Asked them to let the brother in if she wasn’t home by the time he got home from school.’
‘What did she tell the neighbour? About why she was here, I mean.’
