‘Please, take them,’ she said, extending the box to me. ‘We make special for you. We are excellent bakers! I promise! One day soon we open our own bakery, maybe in West New York. Serve all kinds of cake.’
‘Really?’ I took the box. Monika giggled and tossed her hair. She put her hand across her swelling chest like she was pledging allegiance to the flag. ‘I am so admiring of you, Jade. I never have courage to get in cage like you. The woman power, we all stick together, we can do anything! I really believe is true.’
‘You’re opening a bakery?’
‘Oh, yes, it is our dream since we were little. I bake, Eva does account books. She loves to bake but she never eats, you know.’
I grunted. No kidding.
‘All our working is to raise money so we start the business. I go to school part time to become pastry chef, and Eva saves everything. We are going to buy the two family house and have many babies, help each other with business. Woman power!’
‘Many babies... does Khari know about this?’ I tried to picture Khari with his arm around a heavily pregnant Eva... ugh.
‘Oh, Khari, he is so sweet! He is loving my cheesecake. We don’t tell him our plans, he is not so bright, you know?’
I found myself smiling. I don’t even know why.
She said, ‘You look so skinny after Thailand, a little treat not hurt you. Anything else you need, I can help you in any way, you just let me know, OK? You are not alone, we all a team here.’
She actually reached out and patted my arm. I don’t know what happened. In spite of myself, I was kind of starting to warm up to her. A little.
‘Actually,’ I heard myself say. ‘There is one thing...’
‘Just tell me! I can help you?’
‘It’s just, I got this photo shoot, and I look like I got hit by a truck...’
‘No you don’t! Come on. You get in shower, I go get my makeup bag. Everything will be OK. I am the hair genius.’
Perez came in while I was getting my picture taken. Monika had done my hair in cornrows, how it would be the night I fought Gretchen, and she’d also plucked my eyebrows, given me a facial, and put some subtle makeup on. My dark circles were hidden. She had trouble restraining herself from glamming me up, but I told her I had to look like a fighter. Still, I was wearing more makeup than I remembered having on since I dated Dmitri the car thief. And I have to admit, I looked pretty good. For me.
Malu texted me twice, once to ask me to pack her a bag and bring it to Mandino’s, where her Grandpa Harris would pick me up and take me back to her grandparents’ place in Teaneck. And again to say she’d forgotten Coltrane’s iguana food when she’d taken him to Teaneck, so could I pack that too?
I didn’t blame her for not wanting to stay in the apartment now. It had been agreed nobody would tell my mom, because she had enough on her plate with Nana. But it made everyone uptight and guilty. I felt terrible. Even though it wasn’t my fault. I mean, it was more my fault than it was Malu’s. Seemed like I was always bringing my problems on the family, and they never complained, and that made it worse.
I’d pack her bag, but I had no intention of going to Teaneck.
They made me stand in these dorky poses for the shoot, holding my hands up like I was fighting even though I don’t stand that way in the ring. I tried not to look at Perez while this was happening. He watched the shoot for a few minutes, but he didn’t stay. He spoke with Mr. B in the office for a while, and then he must have gone out back because I didn’t see him after that. This made me nervous. It’s like when you know there’s a spider in the room but you don’t know where. He was bound to give me a grilling. It was just a matter of when and where.
After the photographers left Mr. B cornered me. I expected him to start in with the whole ‘why you not stay out of trouble with law’ schtick, but he just said, ‘Jade, you can finish interview before you go.’
‘Interview?’
He meant that reporter, Shea, who showed up behind Mr. B. He must have been eating better because he actually had dimples when he smiled at me.
‘I’ve got plenty of time. I’ll go with you wherever you’re going? Then I don’t need to take up too much of your time.’
Mr. B put his arm around my shoulders. ‘Oh, Jade got plenty of time! Go ahead, you crazy kids. Jade, see you tomorrow. I got Mario coming ten o’clock, so don’t be late.’
I didn’t want to bring the reporter back to my place, but I had to get a bag packed for Malu and get up to Mandino’s before my shift started.
On the bus Shea said, ‘You looked good in the shoot.’
I snorted. Then I remembered I was supposed to be professional, so I mumbled, ‘Thanks.’
‘Have you worked out your strategy against Van Der Hoef?’
Of course not. I hadn’t had time.
‘Yeah, we’ve got our game plan but I’m not going to talk to you about the specifics because Gretchen might be reading.’
‘Oh, come on, you can tell me something. I understand she’s highly effective on the ground. What’s your feeling about that?’
I laughed, trying to sound light-hearted. ‘You heard Mr. B. We’ve got Mario Diaz taking care of that aspect. Mario is Brazil’s finest ground specialist.’
I sounded so fake. I just couldn’t get into this interview. There was something too intense about this Shea guy. I mean, I never get interviewed. Why would some British newspaper want to talk to me, unless it was another ‘ugly girl vs. pretty girl’ article? But Gretchen isn’t really pretty any more than I am. We’re both just regular-looking.
‘Is this a bad time?’ Shea said. ‘Your trainer was eager to have you do this interview, but I get the sense I’m imposing. Maybe I could take you to lunch tomorrow?’
‘I’m training all day tomorrow,’ I said. Then I realized I was stonewalling him again and Mr. B wasn’t going to like it. So I said, ‘It’s OK, we can do it now. I’m just a little preoccupied. I’m rushing to get to work, so why don’t you come up and we’ll do the interview now?’
‘Can’t I take you for a meal? Make it more pleasant for you?’
I looked away. He had nice eyes.
‘I can’t, sorry.’
‘You can’t eat?’
‘I’m in training? For the fight? My diet is strictly controlled.’
‘Oh, yes, of course.’ He glanced at the box of Monika’s donuts on my lap. A wonderful smell wafted from it.
‘Oh, these. Monika gave them to me. You want one?’ He did look hungry. Maybe that was why he wanted to take me to lunch.
We got off the bus with Shea munching a donut, and a child in a red Chinese-style dress got off after us. She looked scruffy and almost as intense as Shea. I noticed her staring fixedly at us and I almost offered her a donut, too, but when she met my eye she turned and went quickly away in the other direction.
We walked up to my building. A police car was parked just down the hill. My heart began to thump. I opened the front door, listened, but heard nothing, so I hurried Shea through the lobby and up the stairs.
‘Sorry about the rush,’ I said.
I ran up the stairs, unlocked the door and held it open for Shea, and just as I was about to slip in I heard Irene’s door open onto the lobby below. Irene stepped out into the hall, and Perez was with her.
I hustled Shea into my apartment, whispered, ‘Go in the living room, I’ll be right there,’ and shut the door as quietly as I could. Shea looked freaked as I put my ear to the inside of my door and listened.
‘Problem?’ he said.
‘Um, I have a thing that I need to handle,’ I whispered. ‘Let me just get rid of this cop, and then we’ll talk. Can you wait in the living room?’
‘Yeah, one of them is there,’ Irene honked. ‘I heard somebody go upstairs just now.’
So much for my plan of locking the door and pretending not to be home. I grabbed my keys, stepped out into the hallway and locked Shea in.
‘Ah,’ said Lt. Perez, coming up the stairs. �
��Just the person I wanted to talk to. Jade, you wanna take a ride with me?’
I halted, trying to look surprised. ‘Do I have to?’
‘I’m not arresting you. I just want to talk.’
‘Well, I got to be at work soon. I don’t have much time.’
Perez glanced significantly at Irene-the-Super and Irene retreated into her apartment and shut the door.
‘Let’s go up to your place,’ Perez said. ‘If you don’t mind.’
I shrugged. As I unlocked the door for a second time, my mind was racing with explanations for Shea being there. I was tempted to scream and point the moment I saw him. Then Perez would take him downtown and get him out of my hair. But Mr B would have me shish-kebabbed if I did that.
When I opened the door, there was a faint, almost subliminal smell: something damp and flowery. No sign of Shea. I put the box of donuts in the kitchen and looked around, but the apartment was empty. The doors to my room and Malu’s were both open, and so was the bathroom door. The living room window was open a few inches.
‘You shouldn’t leave your windows open,’ Perez said, leaning over and looking down into the backyard of the building. ‘Especially after what happened last night.’
‘Forgot,’ I said woodenly. ‘Malu’s not here. She’s totally freaked.’
‘I know,’ Perez said. ‘She made a statement last night. But I never got your statement, because of the subsequent crime around the corner.’
‘There’s nothing to state,’ I said. ‘I didn’t see nothing. I didn’t hear nothing.’
Perez exhaled and the smell of coffee wafted across to me, mingled with his aftershave.
‘It’s always the same with you, isn’t it? Hard to the end. You don’t even know what you’re dealing with, Jade. I’m investigating a homicide now. You sure you don’t want to say something to me? Because what I saw down the block last night wasn’t pretty.’
I winced. ‘You want a cup of coffee?’
He shrugged. I went into the kitchen and got out the instant.
‘So the cage fighting, it’s going good?’ Perez said, swaggering around the apartment looking at stuff.
‘Yeah,’ I said absently. ‘And I’m still working at Mandino’s. I’m all good now.’
‘Right,’ said Perez, picking up a copy of Lonely Planet – Thailand that was sitting on top of the TV. Shit, shit, shit.
‘You just got back from Thailand, huh?’
I nodded.
‘They do a lot of drugs out there,’ Perez said. ‘I got a homicide down the street, could be drug-related. An Asian man was seen earlier the same evening at your place. You say they weren’t in the apartment. I got eye-witnesses seen three guys come in the building and go upstairs. So whose apartment were they in? Grandma Bernstein’s next door? Or you?’
‘Milk and sugar?’
‘Two sugars. I can bring a dog out here and we can find out if they were here or not. Two of them are still out there. You think you can’t talk to me because they’ll come back here and kill you, something like that? That what you think? Come on, Jade. You know me better than that. I ain’t gonna let you get hurt.’
I gave him the coffee cup and closed my eyes. Shit.
‘They were here,’ I said. ‘They tied up Malu and said they wanted this phone I... found. They said they’d kill us if we involved the police. I gave them the phone. Then they went outside and we heard shots. They ran away. I tried to follow them but I got scared and came back. I told Malu not to talk. It’s my fault. It’s just that in my experience, Lieutenant, the police can’t always help.’
‘You should know me better than that by now, Jade.’
‘Nothing personal, Lt. Perez. No offense, you know what I’m saying?’
‘Sure, just looking out for numero uno, right, Jade? OK, I’m glad you come clean and talked to me because I already knew it. I took a statement from Malu and forensics have already been in. But I appreciate you telling me voluntarily. Now, what I want to know is where’s the guy who was up here this morning?’
‘Guy?’ What was he talking about? I forgot my annoyance at Malu.
‘You know who I mean. There was a guy in your window earlier today, maybe around noon. While you were out. I got my partner watching the building, so I know he didn’t leave. Tall, skinny guy. Spiky black hair. Is he in the closet?’
Now I was confused. Perez must be double-bluffing me. Stoically I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lieutenant.’
Perez went around the apartment opening doors and looking under beds.
‘I know he didn’t go out the window because my partner covered it,’ he said. ‘So where is he? You got an attic trapdoor or something?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I said again. Perez got down on his hands and knees and looked under the sofa, which sits only about six inches off the ground and isn’t big enough for a child to hide under.
‘Well, what have we here?’ he said. My skin prickled.
He said, ‘You got the super’s permission to keep a cat?’
‘Cat?’
He got up, dusting himself off—we don’t vacuum much.
‘Yeah, cat. There’s a friggin cat under there—or are you going to deny that, too?’
I wanted to dance for joy. I looked under the sofa. It was Waldo!
‘Malu’s been feeding a stray,’ I lied. I suddenly flashed the thought that if Perez knew I’d brought Waldo from Bangkok, they’d cut him open to look for drugs. ‘I didn’t know she was letting it in. Look, go in our kitchen. We don’t have any cat food. We don’t have a litter box. It’s just some stray.’
‘Uh-huh. Whatever. I’m not the cat police. Jade, I need you to be straight with me. This situation is nothing to mess with. I can get the information I need without your help, but I can do it a lot faster if you cooperate. Maybe somebody asked you to bring something back with you, and you needed money so you said yes. And now they want it and they don’t want to pay.’
‘It was just a phone. Nobody gave it to me. I found it in my stuff. I didn’t even think about it.’
‘They use a lot of expensive phones at this gym in Bangkok?’
‘No,’ I said sullenly.
He grunted. ‘I been down to your gym to talk to Mr Bubba already.’
‘Mr. Big,’ I corrected.
‘Interesting character. Anything funny going on with him, Jade? I understand he has relatives back in Thailand and you were staying with them. You see anything when you were over there?’
‘Of course not. The gym is clean, Lieutenant. Mr. B doesn’t tolerate performance enhancement drugs or none of that stuff.’
‘Huh,’ said Perez. There was a long pause while he rocked back on his heels and thought. ‘OK, Jade. When you decide to talk to me, I’ll be ready. You talk, I can help you. You give me trouble, then I won’t stand in between you and the long arm of the whatever, you know what I’m saying?’
‘Yeah. I know.’
‘So where’s the guy?’ he said suddenly.
I groaned. ‘There is no guy, Lieutenant.’
‘I know what I saw.’ He seemed very sure. He was making me a little nervous, because those assholes last night had said they would come back. What if one of them had been in the apartment while I was training? Did they think I had something to do with the... animal... that had killed their boss? It was all getting muoy creepy and I just wanted Perez out of here.
‘Are you sure it wasn’t somebody else’s window?’
‘And here I thought you changed,’ Perez said. He handed me his coffee cup.
I shut the door behind him and leaned my head against it. I could hear Waldo purring. Waldo would be dangerous, if you were a little lizard or a bird. What if Waldo were really, really big? He’d be scary. I’d be scared of him.
He was winding himself around my legs like he used to do in Bangkok. Showing me he loved me.
‘Oh, no way,’ I said. ‘No way is this happening.’
T
his whole deal was dragging me back into the old days of being in trouble, and I didn’t want to go back there. Sometimes I feel like I’m in quicksand, and the harder I try to get out the more it’s pulling me down.
It sucks. Pun intended.
What the Cognoscenti Say About Me
I ENDED UP being early for work. Perez had spooked me, and Shea vanishing had spooked me, and instead of making something to eat and taking a shower, I’d packed Malu’s bag and gone out. I got the bus to work. I texted Malu telling her I was staying in Mr. B’s spare room to be closer to the gym. Telling her not to worry. Then I texted Mr. B telling him I’d be staying in Teaneck for a few days.It’s a junior high school trick, but it works.
I mean, come on, people. I’ve lived in Bangkok. I’m not going to fall apart just because of one little incident.
When I got off the bus, Shea turned up right behind me.
‘What’s with the disappearing act?’ I snapped, unnerved. ‘Did you follow me?’
Shea shrugged. ‘I’m sorry—did that freak you out? I thought it would be better for you if I wasn’t around to... er... complicate things with the police. Can we talk?’
I was hungry, so I let him pay for overpriced sandwiches and coffee. When he took out his wallet I said, ‘Is that your ID?’ and he showed me his UK driver’s license. He had just turned twenty years old. He had long hair in that picture. It looked good.
‘Vijaralongkorn Shea?’ I said. ‘You’re Thai?’
‘Nobody calls me that.’ He snatched it back and handed the barista an Amex. ‘My mother’s Thai. My father’s Irish. I grew up in Cardiff. That’s in Wales. All clear?’
I relaxed a little. He was still very nervous, though. It’s kind of fun standing next to a cute, nervous guy who is trying hard to get on your good side. Not an experience I’d had very often. OK, I never had that experience. It’s not bad. Shea was wimpy, but cute, and he had an Amex and he knew how to disappear. Which could have been hot, in different circumstances.
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