The 25th Hour by David Benioff

Author:David Benioff [Benioff, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Crime, Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9781444731309
Publisher: Plume
Published: 2002-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Uncle Blue carves open the middle of his steak with his wood-handled knife and examines the meat. The sirloin is overcooked, the center pink instead of red, and Uncle Blue beckons for his waiter with one finger. The waiter rushes over.

‘This is not rare. Please bring me another.’

‘Right away, I’m sorry about that. I wrote down rare.’

‘Fine. And another glass of wine.’

Uncle Blue’s companion is a deeply tanned man wearing a handsome blue suit, his white cuffs projecting an exact inch beyond his jacket’s sleeves, his fingernails buffed and neatly trimmed. A plate of grilled octopus sits before him.

‘Please,’ says Uncle Blue, ‘eat.’

‘You’d think when you own a place, they’d cook your steak right.’ The tanned man squeezes lemon over his octopus. ‘This looks good, though.’

‘I hope so, Mr Gedny. I taught the chef how to make it.’

‘Mm. Very nice. They give you a lot, too. Lots of octopuses. Octopi?’

Uncle Blue smiles. ‘Either way. The servings are not usually so large; we wouldn’t make a profit.’

‘But I’m eating with the boss.’ Gedny wipes his mouth clean with his napkin and looks out the window. ‘Look at that stuff come down. My car’s going to get buried.’

They sit in the private balcony of the restaurant. Whitewashed walls, clay tile floors, bright posters of the Parthenon at sunset and Santorini at dawn. The tables in the main room below – glass tops supported by miniature Doric columns – are empty and unclothed; diners stayed home tonight, not willing to drive or walk through a blizzard.

‘You met with Brogan this morning?’ asks Uncle Blue.

‘I did, yeah.’

‘How did he seem?’

Gedny reaches for his wine. ‘He’s not loving life right now, obviously, but I don’t know. He’s hard to read.’

‘I know he is. I don’t like that.’

‘Listen, one hundred percent certain, the kid didn’t flip. They would not be sending him to Otisville if he flipped.’

‘We’re talking about human behavior, Mr Gedny. Nothing is one hundred percent certain. Don’t assume they’re idiots. Don’t assume they wouldn’t try to trick us.’

‘That’s just it,’ says Gedny. ‘They’re not idiots. No way in hell the kid’s still walking around out here if he flipped. Second he goes he’s gone, right? Disappeared. He would not be walking into my office. You flip federal, you don’t end up in Otisville. No, he’s kept his mouth shut.’

‘So far.’

Gedny nods, his mouth full of octopus. ‘So far. I’m not too worried about him. He’s a good kid. He’s smart.’

‘What are they doing with his girlfriend?’

‘They made a lot of noise about charging her as an accessory, but nothing ever happened. She told them she didn’t know anything, and they didn’t believe her, and they didn’t care. She’s free of it.’

Uncle Blue watches the waiter climb the spiral staircase, several plates balanced on his arm.

‘Here’s your steak. The chef sends his apologies. He wanted you to try these tonight, the shrimp. He wants your opinion on the sauce.’

‘Fine, thank you.’

‘Anything else I can bring you gentlemen?’

‘Not right now. Thank you, Jeremy. Tell Victor I’ll speak with him later.

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