He showed her. Inside was a small slip of paper from the notepad the old man kept in his lap. It read: Sorry that my son and grandson are assholes. You, however, are not. Good luck to you.
She raised her eyebrows. “How about that,” she said.
“I can’t imagine how he feels about everything.” He shook his head again and tried to give Annie a smile. “Whatever.”
“You sure you’re okay, Jason?”
“Yeah. I’m just beginning to look ahead again. Going back to school for the teaching certificate helps. I’m focused. I don’t dwell on it like I had been.”
“Glad to hear it.” She gave his hand a little squeeze and let go. She stood. “Well, see you later, neighbor.”
“Hey.”
“What?” She stopped and turned toward him again.
“Did you ever wonder about me? If I was involved with Trey and what he was doing? Wasn’t it weird to you that there was this incredible coincidence here? The two of us being friends? Living so close to each other?”
She smiled. “I did wonder about that. It was just a coincidence. That’s all it was. And don’t worry … I trusted you. You were never a suspect in my book.” It wasn’t a lie. She might have had some early doubts, but her instincts about his character informed her otherwise.
“What might be coincidence for one person is destiny for someone else.”
“Who said that?”
“I did.”
She cocked her head at him. “Well, you’re the writer.”
He nodded. “Okay. See you.” She started toward the door again. “Oh, hey.”
She grinned again and turned back. “What now?”
“What are you doing this evening? I have a great bottle of cab I was going to open, and I was going to order a pizza. Would you like to come over and join me?”
Annie smiled. “Oh, that would be nice … but, not tonight, I’m just too bushed.”
Are you really, Annie? she asked herself.
“Okay. Another time, then.”
She left and walked the block to her building. Once upstairs and in her apartment with the door closed, she divested of all of her things from the day—weapon, purse, shoes—and smiled at the thought that Jason still found her attractive. And he wasn’t so bad either, even if he was a few years younger than she.
Stop it. Jason was a material witness in a case.
Aloysius sauntered into the room and gave her a meow. “But it wouldn’t be so wrong after the trials, would it?” she asked the cat. The animal rubbed against her leg and meowed again. “Think how convenient it would be. He lives right down the street. We could keep our own apartments. It’d be ideal.” The cat meowed. “You don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about, do you? Well, neither do I. Come on, let’s get some grub.”
She opened the fridge as the thought continued to linger in the back of her mind.
Another time.
Annie fed the purring animal, paused, and stuck her feet into her wedge heels.
“How the hell did that routine go? Oh, yeah …” She started to dance, reciting the moves in her head.
Right paradiddle, Left paradiddle
Right para para, Right paradiddle
Left paradiddle, Right paradiddle
Left para para, Left paradiddle
Right paradiddle, Left step
Left paradiddle, Right STOMP!
The FBI Civil Rights Unit provides these tips for identifying human trafficking violations:
For labor trafficking, look for any of the following being used to compel a person to provide labor or services: force or threat of force against any person; threat of serious harm to any person; threatened abuse of the legal system; and/or a scheme to place a person in fear of serious harm.
For sex trafficking, look for the following: a commercial sex act that was induced through force, fraud, or coercion, or a commercial sex act involving a person who is under the age of eighteen. Sex trafficking requires evidence of affecting interstate commerce.
More information can be found at www.fbi.gov.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raymond Benson is the author of over thirty-five books and is primarily known for the five novels in his bestselling serial, The Black Stiletto, as well as for being the third—and first American—author of continuation James Bond novels between 1996 and 2002, penning six worldwide bestselling original 007 thrillers and three film novelizations. Raymond’s other novels include The Secrets on Chicory Lane, Sweetie’s Diamonds, Evil Hours, and Dark Side of the Morgue (Shamus Award nominee for Best Paperback Original), as well as several media tie-in works.
The author has taught courses in film history in New York and Illinois, and currently presents lectures about movies with Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire. Raymond is an active member of International Thriller Writers Inc., Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, and a full member of ASCAP, and he served on the Board of Directors of the Ian Fleming Foundation for sixteen years. Raymond also happens to be a gigging musician and often performs around his base in the Chicago area.
www.raymondbenson.com
www.theblackstiletto.net
In the Hush of the Night Page 28