MANHATTAN – 10 DECEMBER
There was just no doubt about it. I love this girl, John Wyse said to himself. She’s incredible.
His mother was right. ‘You’ll know it when it happens,’ she had always said. He thought he had ‘known it’, with Lisa, but the timing was wrong and he had screwed it up. Sitting in the kitchen of his neat apartment, he took another pensive sip of instant coffee and felt the hot liquid warm his throat. With curious timing, ‘At Last’ by Etta Jones was playing on the radio. That was the first song that he and Lisa had slow-danced to. Five years later, no matter what he was doing, all it took was the first few bars of the song and he could still smell Lisa’s perfume. He made his decision. Time to act, John Boy. I’m not gonna mess up again.
His pulse quickened every time he heard Anna’s voice. He got a sick feeling in his stomach if she didn’t return a call on the same day, even after so many months of dating.
He’d been out to meet her family in New Jersey. Nice folks. Kinda quiet. She’d come down to Washington to stay at his parents’ house, for their wedding anniversary. ‘Separate rooms,’ his mother had insisted, smiling.
‘Wow, don’t let her go,’ his dad had whispered. And John knew he wouldn’t.
He booked Emilia’s on Union Square again, their favourite Italian restaurant. And the venue for our very first date. Massimo had done them proud, organising the best table in the house. And his usual complimentary bottle of champagne. Wyse got there early, read the menu six times and still couldn’t remember anything on it.
He felt her presence without looking up. The atmosphere in a room changes when ten or twenty people all spot something amazing at the same time. Anna attracted an increasing number of admiring glances as she gracefully allowed Massimo to take her coat. She was dressed in a simple black dress, to just above her knee. She looked even more striking than usual, in particularly high heels. She wore a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. Her face seemed to illuminate the whole restaurant, her beautiful sallow skin, that easy smile and those stunning, intelligent green eyes. She walked like a supermodel to his table.
‘Hello, gorgeous,’ she smiled at him.
He could hardly eat his dinner, his heart was pounding so hard. He chose his moment after the cheese plate.
‘Yes! Of course.’ With a shaky hand, she took the single diamond ring from the blue Tiffany’s box. Her eyes were sparkling, damp with tears.
‘Oh my God, John, it’s so beautiful.’ She leaned over and kissed him.
John had tears of happiness in his eyes too. Massimo spotted his moment and ducked in with two fresh glasses of his best Bollinger. A few people at the tables around them spotted what was going on and began to clap and raise their glasses to toast them.
‘Hey, baby, what about moving into my place soon?’ said John, as they took a cab back later.
‘I’d love to, honey,’ said Anna, her head resting on his shoulder. She kissed him. ‘Just give me a week to get organised. It would be lovely to be together for Christmas.’ They were silent for a while, both enjoying the moment. After a while, Anna whispered in his ear.
‘John.’
‘Yes, baby.’
‘I love you, very, very much. You make me so happy. I’m the luckiest woman in the world.’
His heart surged and electricity seemed to crackle through his whole body. He looked down into her eyes and held her gaze.
‘That makes me very happy, baby. I love you too.’
But, as their cab headed towards Wyse’s apartment, Ibrahim Fallah was choosing a parking space near by.
*
Ibrahim Fallah decided that he would use his Glock pistol to kill Detective John Wyse. Pity, one of my favourites, and I’ll have to dump it. But I’ll need something with plenty of punch. And it’s untraceable. His monitoring of the detective’s apartment block had given him a good idea of the layout, and he knew exactly which apartment Wyse lived in.
The front door and lobby are too public. Too well lit. I’ll get in through that door from the service yard, go up the stairs, pick the lock and wait inside for him. The old burglary gone wrong trick again. The message from Afghanistan was to make sure and get it done. If one of his girlfriends comes back with him, I’ll kill them too. I’ll use the silencer.
There were no lights showing from Wyse’s apartment. Fallah parked his brown Nissan well down the street, away from streetlights. When there were no cars or pedestrians in view, he pulled on a pair of black leather gloves, walked to the service yard entrance and climbed over the gate. He stood for a moment in the shadows and put his hand on the gun in his pocket. There was no sign of anyone about so he began to walk towards the service door into the building. The next thing he felt was an excruciating pain in his calf, as a dog sank its teeth into him. Fallah stifled a scream and clubbed at the dog with his gun. The dog yelped, let go and scuttled behind some bins.
‘Aaaaah. Shit.’ Fallah looked down at his leg, which was already pumping blood into his trousers. Shit. A goddam dog. That doesn’t bark. He climbed back over the gate and limped heavily to his car. I’ll try again soon. Might have to do it on the street.
*
Anna woke earlier than usual. The first traces of sunlight were filtering around the curtains. She looked at John, who was in a deep sleep, and smiled. Trying not to wake him, she eased herself out of the bed and tiptoed, naked, across the timber floor towards the bathroom. Passing through the living room, she whispered, ‘Hi Glenda.’ Glenda, who was nursing a sore head, opened one eye, gave a half flick of her tail, grunted and went back to sleep. Anna closed the bathroom door quietly, had a pee, washed her hands and appraised herself in the mirror. She cupped her left breast. Blimey, are my boobs bigger? No, don’t think so. I’m imagining it.
She felt her right breast. Was her nipple more sensitive than usual? Maybe it was from that night of passion with John? What an evening it had been. Engaged to be married!
She’d been taking her pill like clockwork, so surely she couldn’t be pregnant? Then again, their wild lovemaking must be pushing the limits of any contraceptive! She stifled a giggle.
Jesus. I can’t be! What would my parents say? And how would John react? He’ll be fine with it, surely. Talk about life taking over when you start making plans. I’d best get a pregnancy test kit. Give it another few days though.
Anna went back to the bedroom and slipped under the duvet. Wyse stirred, turned over, put his arm around her and fell back asleep. Her heart was thumping and her mind raced, as the noise of traffic built steadily from the street. I can’t be. Could I?