Mission by Patrick Tilley

Author:Patrick Tilley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Miriam turned up at my apartment just after nine. I took her coat and she gave me another of those chaste pecks on the mouth. I can only think she was trying to compensate for going overboard the night before.

‘I bought a pizza.’ She thrust it at me and went in to greet The Man.

I put some plates and the pizza in the oven to warm, uncorked another bottle of Valpollicella and picked up a glass for Miriam. As soon as I got a chance to butt in, I told her about my encounter with Russell and Marcello and showed her the colour Polaroids the cops had taken of The Man.

She studied them in silence then handed them back. ‘I wonder how they knew you went jogging in the park?’

‘I’ve been trying not to think about it,’ I said. ‘It means they must have been watching the apartment. They could have talked to the janitor. On the other hand, I may have had someone on my tail since we walked out of the Seventh Precinct. You too.’

‘Uhhh …’ said Miriam. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’

I shrugged. ‘They’ve obviously been asking questions. In fact the more you go into it, the worse it gets. The fact that Russell decided to check up on you means that he never swallowed our story. If so, why did he let us off the hook?’

Miriam shook her head. ‘You’re being too devious again. It’s equally possible that Russell could have been telling someone about what happened. Let’s face it, a nut who thinks he’s the Risen Christ makes a good bar story. And during the discussion, someone could have queried my diagnosis. Psychotic cathexis may sound impressive to a layman but it wouldn’t fool anyone in the profession.’

‘But how did he get hold of the pictures?’ I insisted. ‘The Man was found in the Seventeenth Precinct.’

‘Leo,’ said Miriam, ‘if he checked up on me, it wouldn’t be hard for him to work back from there. Come on, you know what these guys are like once they start picking away at something. Relax. It’s all over. The Man fixed it this morning.’ She turned to him. ‘Right?’

‘Yes …’ he nodded. ‘You can forget about Russell.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘But I still don’t like the idea of being shadowed.’ I looked at them both. ‘I think it would be a good idea to cut down the public appearances, including that trip to the Manhattan General.’

Miriam’s lips tightened. ‘Why don’t we let The Man decide that? And why don’t you go check the pizza?’

I trotted obediently into the kitchen. I have learned from experience that Miriam’s mind cannot be changed by playing the macho male. Where the feminist monkey was concerned, this particular piglet had to tread very softly indeed.

When we’d finished our cartwheel sections of pizza, Miriam pushed her plate aside and said, ‘Okay … may I now ask some questions?’ She sounded as if she meant business.

I took a tight hold on my glass and sat back.

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