A Strange Habit of Mind by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Penzler Publishers

16

What followed was a slow-motion chase through the ballroom. The standing people and their tables and chairs formed a sort of maze between the stage and the exits. Winter had to weave through them with Nelson weaving his way behind. The walls and ceilings decked out as the night sky with purple crepe and fairy lights seemed to render the pursuit celestial, as if the two men were constellations come to life, weaving through the stars.

Neither man ran. Neither wanted their confrontation to become public or disrupt the event. Winter dodged the obstacles with urgent purpose, a man on a mission. Nelson moved faster, more nimbly. By the time Winter reached one of the doors, the bodyguard had halved the distance between them. A few yards separated them, no more than that.

Winter pushed through the door and was quickly gone. The door swung shut behind him. Three seconds later Nelson burst out of the ballroom and went charging after him. He charged forward a few steps—then he halted in his tracks.

Winter was behind him. The moment the door had swung shut he had stopped short, tacked back, and planted himself in a spot by the wall where the door would hide him when it opened again. Nelson had rushed right past him. He halted when he realized how he’d been tricked.

The bodyguard hung his head, shook his head in aggravation, self-disgust. His shoulders sagged. Winter could see an old, jagged scar on the back of his neck. Someone had knifed him once.

“Technically,” Winter said, “you’re dead now.”

Nelson slowly turned around. He faced Winter. He grinned, that grinless grin showing a lot of teeth. Winter, leaning against the wall, tugged his black tie loose with one hand until it hung open on his white shirt. He unbuttoned his collar.

“A schoolboy prank, Winter,” Nelson said, still grinning–not grinning.

“Yes. But you fell for it,” said Winter. “And if I’d followed through, this conversation could have included considerably more bloodshed.”

They were standing in the expansive area where the red carpet was. The wall behind the carpet was hung with a Fairy Tale Fund banner. The other walls were covered in flocked gold wallpaper. The whole scene was lit by two grand chandeliers.

“We could have that conversation now,” Nelson suggested.

But before he could make a move, two men in suits came onto the scene. They walked side by side through the area, talking business. Clearly, this was no place to kill a man. It was much too public.

One corner of Winter’s mouth lifted. He pushed off the wall, letting his hands slip into his trouser pockets.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Why don’t you walk me to my car instead?”

He had parked his rented Corvette on the street several blocks away. He had wanted to be able to avoid the crowd at the valet stand in the event he needed to make a quick escape.

“Hard to believe it’s February,” Winter remarked as the two men strolled shoulder to shoulder along the sidewalk of the broad boulevard outside the hotel.

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