Should Have Looked Away (17 page)

THIRTY-FIVE

Will stared up
at the billboard. The advertisement was white, with a thick green border, top and bottom. There was a slogan:
Your Key to a Good Night’s Sleep
and the image of a minor television celebrity. Will recognised the man’s face, but could not put a name to it, or recall in which show he appeared.

The advertisement was for the Comfort Zone chain of budget hotels.

The celebrity was holding up a small card, a key card. It matched the style of the advertisement. Will had seen one of these cards before, being clutched in the hand of Carmine DiMucci before he died.

‘Of course,’ he breathed. He had been wrong: it was not
one
, on the card, but
comfort zone.
DiMucci’s hand was obscuring the rest of the legend.

Louise tugged at his sleeve. ‘Daddy, what are you looking at?’

He smiled down at her. ‘Nothing, baby. Let’s go.’

Taking one last look at the billboard, he hurried his daughter across the street and home. As she skipped alongside him, Louise was talking, but Will was not really listening: maybe another piece of the jigsaw was fitting in place. He tried to think where he had seen one of their hotels: the brand was familiar to him, but he couldn’t think of a location. Once he got home, and Louise was in bed and Chrissy was occupied, he would go online and see where they were: there must be at least one in Manhattan.

Once home, as soon as Will opened the front door, Louise ran into the kitchen where Chrissy was tidying up.

‘Did you have a good time?’ Chrissy asked.

‘It was awesome.’

‘And what did you get up to?’

Louise took a deep breath and began to tell her mother the same as she had told Will earlier. While she listened to her daughter, Chrissy looked up at Will.

‘Dinner’ll be ready in twenty minutes.’

Will nodded. ‘I’ll just be upstairs to wash up. Check my emails as well.’

Once on his own upstairs, Will sat down on his bed and went online using his phone. He typed in
Comfort Zone Hotels New York
and waited. After a few seconds, the tiny screen was filled with addresses. Will frowned: not quite what he had expected. There were five hotels listed, five in the whole of New York State. There was one in Tully, one at Syracuse Airport, one in Liverpool, and one on Long Island. There was just one in New York City, and this was on 173
rd
.  Surprised at this, as he had expected at least one Downtown, Will closed his eyes for a moment. It had to be the one on 173
rd
where DiMucci was staying. Quite a distance from Columbus Circle, but there was no other option.

‘Dinner’s ready!’ he heard Chrissy call out, and went downstairs. Even though she had been to a party with food and candy and cake, Louise still had a small plate of spaghetti.

‘Where’s Jake?’ Will asked, as he sat down to eat.

‘Over at Clyde’s. Collaborating on some school assignment, he says.’

‘More like playing at some computer game.’

‘Probably,’ replied Chrissy. ‘I told him you’d go pick him up around nine.’

‘As well as Loulou here?’

‘Sorry, Will. I have some stuff to do for the school tonight.’

Will gave in. ‘Okay. I’ll go around nine.’

‘Better eight thirty. School night.’

‘Eight thirty, then. I’ll take the car, though. Jake won’t want to walk home.’

THIRTY-SIX

Jia Gleave was
already waiting at the open condo door when Will’s elevator door slid open. There was something different about her, although Will could not quite place it.

‘Hi, Will,’ she purred. ‘Come on in.’

‘Hey there,’ Will replied, giving her a brief kiss on the cheek as he followed her inside.

Will looked around the empty apartment. ‘Where is everybody?’

Jia turned round and leaned on the kitchen worktop. ‘The boys are playing with one of the kids two floors up.’ She laughed. ‘Sounds like they’re two seven year olds. “Playing with the boys upstairs.”’

‘On some computer game?’

‘Oh, yes. The kid upstairs is a real geek.’

‘Where’s Dan? He playing with them?’

‘No. Dan’s out.’

‘Oh yes? Where’s he tonight?’

‘Not sure. Out drinking somewhere.’

‘Right.’

‘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.’