“Listen, Tim, I really appreciate your input. Rest assured, you’ve been a big help. I know we can count on you.”
“Absolutely, Pete, anytime.”
“Now I’ve got some things to follow up on.” We shake hands and he’s off again.
Chapter 24
I sit down and open my laptop so I can send out an agency-wide e-mail to see if we can raise some money for Ramon’s family.
“Lenny?” He’s back. This time with Chris. Chris has got his blues hat on, which pushes his now unleashed locks close against his face, and he looks like he’s twisted as tight as Lenny. Unusual for him.
“Chris, you okay?”
“Well, Tim, not exactly. Not really. You sure are talking to the dicks a lot. You and this Quinn guy have really buddied up. What’s that all about?”
“Yeah, dude,” pipes in Lenny. “What’s going down with that?”
“Guys, what’s the deal? Don’t you trust me?”
“Well,” Chris says. “You know, we’re all in this together, right? You know pretty much everything that goes on here. It’s no wonder these detectives keep talking to you.”
These guys are losing it. So am I.
“So, what exactly have you been telling them?” Chris wants to know.
“I’m not telling them shit. Don’t have to. They already know. They know guys here at work smoke weed. And worse. They know most people get it from Ramon. They know that. So back off, guys.”
Two guys I thought I knew really well are standing there facing me like total strangers. Pissed-off strangers.
Then Chris blows me away: “Tim, don’t take this the wrong way, but you should know…I’m carrying.…” and he pulls open his jacket to reveal some kind of pistol stuck in the inside pocket. He’s staring me down, fully intending for me to take it the wrong way.
“What the hell is that, Chris? This is insane. We’re friends, for Christ’s sake. I was just at your gig Monday night. What the hell?”
“I’m just sayin’,’’ Chris says.
Lenny’s got this smirk on his face. “Yeah, you know?”
“Saying what, that you’ll shoot me if you see me talking to a law enforcement officer who has come to my desk, in full view of the office, to ask about a murder that happened right here?”
“Whatever, man,” says Chris. “Just thought you should know.”
What I know is that Chris has now got to be the number one suspect.
I take a deep breath. Back to my laptop…
I’m reaching out to my agency friends and colleagues to join me in honoring the passing of our dear, beloved Ramon. Some of you met Juanita—the love of his life—at the wake last night. She’s a strong and dedicated woman who loved and supported Ramon for many years. And now she’s left to confront life’s challenges without him—which is going to be difficult. So I’m setting up a website so we can pool our efforts. Please go to www.ramonmartinezpm.org and you’ll see the easy steps to contribute something. I know Ramon and Juanita will appreciate any help we can provide. I certainly do, Tim
And tap Send…
My phone rings. “Tim MacGhee,” I answer.
“Tim, this is Chuck Esposito, WNBC, New York.…”
“Ah…sure, how can I help?”
“Well, there’s been another murder. Tiffany Stone, whom your agency hired several years ago for a CrawDaddy Super Bowl commercial.…”
How the hell do these guys get this stuff so fast? “Yes, we…”
“Would you care to comment, Tim? You were with Marterelli’s back then, right?”
“No. Well, yes, I was. But no can do, Chuck. I’m sure you’ll understand. Again.”
“Not exactly. But of course it’s your option. I may call again though.”
Damn, these guys are persistent. Lucky me.
Chapter 25
I’m sitting here in my desk chair still trying to get a grip on what’s happening when my cell rings again. This time it’s Bonnie Jo.
I tap Accept. “Hi…”
“So hey, Tim. Thinking about you…”
“Where are you, BJ?”
“I’m home. Playing hooky.”
And then she says, “Why don’t you come on over?”
Okay, I admit it: Bonnie Jo Hopkins and I have a…relationship. And I’m not talking about the one at work.
I’m not exactly proud of it. But with the stress I’m under…damn, it’s good.
“I don’t know, baby.…”
“C’mon, things are nuts there. That’s why I stayed home. And I’ve been thinking of you since I woke up this morning.”
My temperature’s starting to rise. She has that way about her.
“Get your sexy self over here and maybe we can help each other forget all about it.…”
That’s all the encouragement I need.
“Meeting Steve Zimmerman for early drinks and dinner,” I tell Mo on the way out the door, explaining why I’m leaving work at five—a final meet with the new business prospect from Weight Watchers before our pitch Friday.
“Got it. I know you’ll be your usual charming self,” she says. “See you tomorrow.”
Bonnie Jo lives over in Tudor City, First Avenue and 40th way over on the East Side, near Turtle Bay, in one of the co-op apartments. A classic neo-Gothic building, it was the first residential skyscraper in the world. Fabulous old apartments. BJ’s is renovated, with a spectacular bedroom view of the UN headquarters and the East River from the twenty-sixth floor.
I grab a taxi out on 11th Street. Don’t want to waste a minute getting up there.
Chapter 26
The security guy behind Bonnie’s reception desk recognizes me and waves me on to the elevators. Up on twenty-six I ring BJ’s doorbell and there she is, opening the door, slowly, to reveal her full, gorgeous, sexy…naked self.
Takes my breath away. Always does.
“Hi, Timmy,” and she leans in to me with a soft, lingering, open-mouthed kiss. “How nice to see you.”
“How nice to see you, too,” is all I can come up with.
“Come in, love, I have something I think you’ll enjoy,” she says, and leads me by the hand over to the couch where we sit down. She torches the weed in her pipe, takes a toke, and passes it over to me.
“It’s some of Ramon’s finest.…” she reminds me.
Perfect.
We’re in no hurry. No need to be. Besides, there’s nothing like making love when you’re high.
I’m about to be saved by a beautiful, talented woman, who will make us both forget the madness around us. Nothing else will matter, for a while anyway.
We kiss. The high is taking hold. Mouths open, tongues searching. We kiss again, and she unbuttons my shirt and caresses my chest. Has me totally under her spell. Then it’s my jeans, and the rest of it, and there we both are, fully revealed.
This time I lead her by the hand, into the bedroom. We turn down the covers and lay facing each other, and pull the other close. There’s a rush of blood and a flash of light until finally, we lay back on the bed, gazing into each other’s eyes.
She lights up her pipe for another hit and passes it over to me, and we linger in the moment for a while. I’m starting to think none of this tragic shit matters, that it will all blow over.
A delusion that’s only going to last another few hours…
Chapter 27