Night Fall

“Did Dom tell you anything?” I asked.

“No, but I was able to figure out some of it. Dom says he doesn’t know anything except that he was told by you to pick me up and take me to where you are. Why aren’t you here?What is going on?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you.”

“Where are you?” she asked.

“You’ll see when you get here. It’s best if we don’t talk over the phone.” I said, “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. I didn’t expect quite this kind of reception. What the hell was Ted-?”

“It’s really a long story for later.”

“Did you find-?”

“Later.”

“Areyou all right?”

“I am. But the situation is a little dicey.”

“Which must mean it’s critical. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m all right. You’re all right. Put Dom back on. See you shortly.” I said, “I love you.”

“I love you.”

Fanelli came back on the line and said, “How do you work with these people? They have no respect for the law or the police-”

“Dom, are you being followed?”

“We are. But I called in some more PDs, and in a few minutes these assholes behind us are going to be pulled over for failing to signal.”

“Good work. I owe you one.”

“One?You owe me mucho. Hey, Kate looks great. Nice tan. Did you get a lot of exercise there? You lost some weight. I mean, you always looked great, but I can see you lost weight.”

I realized, of course, he was talking to her, not me. I asked him, “What kind of force did they turn out?”

“Huh? Oh, just four guys, but they made enough noise for forty. One guy keeps yelling, ‘FBI! FBI! You’re interfering with blah, blah, blah!’ And I’m going, like, ‘Police! Police! Step aside. Get back!’ and all that. I had these two Port Authority cops, and they turned it around with the jurisdiction thing.” He added, “It was fun, but it got a little hairy for a while. Kate completely turned it around by saying, ‘Unless you have a Federal arrest warrant for me, or a Federal subpoena, Idemand — ’ get it?‘Demand that you let me pass.’ Well, by now, we’ve got Customs people there, and some airport security cops, and who the fuck-sorry-who knows who else? So, then-”

“Okay. I get it. How many cars are behind you?”

He didn’t reply for a few seconds, then said, “There were two… I don’t see any now. You gotta signal when you change lanes. Sometimes peoplethink they signal, but-”

“Okay. What’s your ETA?”

“I don’t know. Rush hour… rookie driver behind the wheel-”

I heard a male voice say, “Rookie? Who’s a rookie? You wa

I heard some bantering in the car from three males, who had perfected the art of the insult, and I could picture Kate rolling her eyes. I said, “I’ll see you when you get here.” I gave him the suite number again and said, “Tell Kate to shut off her cell phone and beeper, if they’re on.”

“Gotcha. See you later, partner.”

“Thanks, again.” I hung up.

Jill came over to me and gave me a big hug. She said, “You must be so relieved.”

I returned the hug and said, “One less thing to worry about.”

She took my hands and looked at me. She said, “I understand what could have happened if it didn’t go well at the airport.”

I didn’t reply.

She said, “I’m going to leave you alone so you can greet your wife without company.”

“No. Stay. I want you to meet Dom Fanelli-”

“Some other time. Meanwhile, you need one drink.”

She went into her bedroom.

I contemplated the bar for a few seconds, then got myself a Scotch and carried it to the window.

A low blanket of clouds lay over the city, but the TV weatherman had predicted brilliant sunshine for tomorrow morning.

It was odd, I thought, that what had started out as a half day off from work in July to accompany my wife to a memorial service had turned into this.

Kate always had an inkling of where this would go, but I had been clueless. Almost clueless.

And for Jill Winslow and Bud Mitchell, what had started out as a tryst on the beach had become a classic case of doing something wrong in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And now, a little over five years later, all these paths had converged, and they’d meet tomorrow at the crossroads of the Windows on the World.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

The doorbell rang

I peeked through the peephole and saw Kate standing there looking, I thought, tense. I opened the door, and she broke into a big grin. She tossed her overnight bag into the foyer, then threw her arms around me. We kissed, hugged, and said all sorts of stupid things.

After about a minute of this, I picked her up off her feet and carried her into the living room.

She looked around the room and asked me, “Did you hit the lottery while I was away?”

“Actually, I did.”

We went back to the kissing and hugging and old Willie Peter was trying to break out of the teepee.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me down on the couch on top of her. Probably it was a good thing that Jill was in her room.

After a few minutes of couch frolic, I said, “You must need a drink.”

“No. I want you to make love to me. Right here. Remember the first time we did it on my couch?” She began unbuttoning her blouse.

I said, “Hold on… I’m sharing this suite.”

She raised her head and looked around. “With who?”

I said, “That’s my bedroom there. And that door leads to another bedroom.”

“Oh…” She sat up, and I stood. She buttoned her blouse and asked, “Whose bedroom is that?”

“Let me make you a drink.” I went to the bar and asked, “Still vodka?”

“Yes. John, what’s happening? Why are you here?”

“Tonic?”

“Yes.” She stood and came over to the bar. I handed her her drink, took mine, and said, “Welcome home.”

We clinked glasses, and she looked around the room again. She asked me, “Is anyone in that bedroom?”

“Yes. Have a seat.”

“I’ll stand. What’s going on? What was that all about at the airport?”

I said, “I’ve been busy since I got home.”

“You said you were taking R amp; R at the beach.”

“I was. Westhampton Beach.”

She stared at me and said, “You were looking into the case.”

“I was.”

“I said we should drop it.”

She looked at me a long time, and I said, “You don’t seem overly thrilled.”

“I thought we agreed to let it alone and get on with our lives.”

I replied, “I promised you I’d find that couple, and I have.”

She sat down on the couch and said, “Youfound them?”

“Yes.” I pulled up a chair, and sat facing her. I said, “First, you have to understand that we may be-actually, weare in some danger.”

She said, “I sort of figured that… at the airport. My second clue was when Dom shoved a.38 Special in my handbag.”

“I hope you didn’t give it back.”

“I didn’t. Am I sleeping here tonight?”

“Sweetheart, if you’ve got the gun, you can sleep here with me.”

She smiled. “You’re so romantic.”

I asked her, “Where is Dom Fanelli and the other two cops?”

“Dom left. He said he didn’t want to butt in on our reunion. The two cops are at the elevators on this floor. They said at least one of them would be there through the night.”

“Good.”

“Tell me why we need them.”

“Because your friend Ted Nash would like to get rid of me, you, and Jill Winslow.”

“What are you-? Who is Jill Winslow?”

“The star of the videotape.”

She nodded. “Why would Ted…? Well, I guess I can figure that out.” She looked at me and said, “I’m sorry if I’m not taking this all in as quickly as I should…”

“You’re doing fine.”

“I’m jet-lagged, but that’s the least of it-I expected something else when I got home. I expected you at the airport, then we’d go back to our apartment. Instead, all hell breaks loose when I step out of the jetway… and now you’re telling me that we’re in danger, and you found-”