Jordan said, ‘So what do you want to do with it?’
They were back in the Tahoe, still parked at the curb outside the Boynes’, just after six pm. Sky dark and starless, lights on all up and down the street.
Marshall said, ‘It’s no use to the police yet.’
She seemed to consider that in the quiet for a moment, both of them looking out the windshield. ‘I don’t think that’s quite true. Drug-trafficker’s wife absconds, kills the P.I. sent to look for her. I think they’d find that pretty interesting.’
Marshall said, ‘We primed the witness. We gave him the context, and then showed him the photo.’
‘The context was always going to be clear. Last thing we talked about with him was the fact he saw a woman in the car with the smiley man. Then we show up with a photo of a woman. He would’ve put it together.’
Marshall didn’t answer.
Jordan said, ‘If you were still a cop, and someone brought you this, wouldn’t you want to act on it?’
Marshall said, ‘I’d prefer they brought me something that they’d worked on themselves for a bit longer.’
She didn’t answer at first. Then she said, ‘I’m not sure that view is necessarily representative.’
Marshall said, ‘You can take it to the police if you want. I’m going to keep running with it.’
‘All right.’
He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but he decided he didn’t mind. She could do what she liked.
He said, ‘I need to check Hannah Vialoux’s doing OK. She’s a couple blocks over.’ Then, to make sure she didn’t get the wrong impression, he said, ‘After that, do you want to get some dinner?’
He’d deliberated over the wording, and felt that was the best way to say it. Get some dinner felt more relaxed and unserious than Have dinner with me.
She didn’t respond for a second or two, and Marshall felt like he’d driven a car off a ramp: airborne, waiting for the tires to hit the ground again.
Then she said, ‘Yeah,’ and nodded. ‘OK.’
Marshall said, ‘Great.’ He studied his side mirror for a second, playing it cool, tires back on the ground but still having to work to keep it straight.
He said, ‘There’s a place up in Williamsburg that’s quite good. Sage.’
She was nodding, smiling a little too, like she sensed the cognitive effort that went into his proposal, the myriad options available to him when contemplating a simple question.
She said, ‘All right. I’d like that.’
He sat there in satisfied silence – hopefully mutual – while they drove over to the Vialoux place. No luck with parking this time: everything was taken. Jordan told him to go ahead and she’d circle until he was done.
‘You don’t want to come in?’
‘She thinks Jordan Mora’s a man. I think I’ll wait a bit longer for the gender reveal.’
She was halfway up the block by the time he knocked at Hannah’s door. She opened it an inch, security chain still attached.
‘Marshall, I’m fine.’
‘I just wanted to check in.’
‘Great. I’m still alive. As you can see.’
He’d been worried it might go like this. She went to close the door, but he caught it in time.
‘Excuse me, let go.’
‘Can I come in?’
‘Let go, please.’
He didn’t want to turn it into a scene. He took his hand off the door. It only had an inch to travel, but it still closed with a slam. He waited there on the top step, not sure if she was done with him or not.
She opened the door. No chain this time.
‘You don’t need to keep checking up on me.’
‘I think we’ve covered that.’
She didn’t answer. She shook her head, looked away, exasperated. She wasn’t blocking his path though, and he figured if he took a charitable view of that, he was OK to enter. He stepped inside. Hannah closed the door.
Marshall said, ‘Is Ella home?’
‘No, she isn’t.’
Silence for a beat. They looked at each other.
Marshall said, ‘Are we going to talk about what happened, or is every interaction going to be sort of tense and awkward from now on?’
She folded her arms, turned away from him. ‘I don’t need you to be a smartass. You can leave if you’re going to be like that.’
He thought it was a reasonable question, derived from an accurate observation. The problem was, he thought, the skill wasn’t in the insight, but in saying it right, taking the edge off it.
She said, ‘I guess somehow I just got the wrong idea about what was going on. And … well. It’s been a pretty weird time. My head’s in a funny place.’
‘It’s fine. We don’t have to make it … you don’t have to explain anything.’
She said, ‘You’re the one who just asked are we going to talk about it.’
True. But only because she’d made a point of seeming affronted. He wondered if she resented him for turning her down, or if she just felt guilty for making a move so soon, Ray only dead a couple days. He’d felt bad for a long time, being with Hannah, betraying his friend. The fact he and Vialoux were police was another layer of perfidy. You don’t go behind the back of that kind of team. And then on top of all that was the issue of what he’d put at stake. He could’ve broken up a family, broken the thing that he himself might never have. He felt he owed it to Vialoux to not only find out what happened, but keep his hands to himself.
Marshall said, ‘All I wanted to say …’
He wasn’t sure if telling her all that would improve the situation or not.
He said, ‘It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I just wanted to check you’re all right.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘Give me a call if they don’t send a night watch.’
She shook her head. ‘I think they’ve given up on guard duty. But like I said, it’s fine. I can look after myself. We have locks … as you can see.’
She had the door open now. He stepped outside. Jordan had already looped the block in the Tahoe. Hannah watched the car coming along the street on its second pass.
She said, ‘I’ll let you know about the funeral.’
She pulled the door closed, paused with it half-open, nodded at the SUV. ‘Enjoy your evening.’