“That depends.”
“Depends?”
“Whether it has a bearing on the investigation.”
“I see…” His eyes had turned a little shifty, and I wondered if he was going to make a break for the door, like you see in the movies. But instead he seemed to resign himself to the inevitability of his fate. “I’m having an affair with my boss,” he said finally. “My manager. And the thing is, she’s married—and not to me.”
“No, I gathered as much,” said Chase, though not unkindly so.
“So you see, it’s all very delicate. I mean, I love her, I do, and I’ve told her as much. And she says she loves me. But she’s got three kids, and she also loves her husband. So we’ve been meeting in secret, at a small, discreet hotel in Brooklyn, which is where we were two days ago. I’d much rather you didn’t ask her to confirm what I’ve just told you, but if you talk to the guy behind the reception at the hotel, he’ll tell you. And if I’m not mistaken he has a camera, so you’ll be able to see me and Melissa acting very furtive and not a little guilty.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Chase. “I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
But now that he got that off his chest, he seemed to buck up considerably.“I wanted to tell you from the beginning, but it’s not just about me. I’ve got Melissa to think about. Anything I tell you might implicate her, and her family, of course.”
“We won’t contact Melissa unless we have to,” said Odelia. “And even then we’ll try to be as discreet as possible. But you understand that in a murder inquiry we have to check every possible lead, even the ones that end up being dead ends.”
Clive winced at the mention of the words‘dead end,’ but said he understood.
CHAPTER 35
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
Our next stop was the NYPD. And if you think that this well-known police department comprises a single building, like in Hampton Cove, you’re well mistaken. Since New York is a large city, it requires a lot of officers to police it, over thirty thousand of them, along with almost twenty thousand civilians, spread across dozens of precincts. The one we wanted was in Brooklyn, where Steph had filed a complaint against the unknown person who had cost her the WelBeQ job.
“Are we going to meet your colleague now, Chase?” asked Dooley. The question, when duly translated by Odelia, was answered in the negative. And so Chase reiterated, for our edification, the impressive structure of his old force.
“Sounds like the NYPD is a lot bigger than the Hampton Cove PD,” Dooley said finally. This made Odelia laugh, which in turn made Chase laugh, too.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said the burly copper. But then it was time to have a chat with the person in charge of the WelBeQ investigation. This proved to be a very warmhearted and garrulous lady, who was also very big and very round. She had her hair in braids, which dangled pleasantly about her face as she talked.
“I think she likes her donuts,” Dooley whispered, even though there was no chance for her to overhear us. “She likes them, like, a lot.”
The female police officer’s name was Shelley, and if she liked donuts, I liked her, for she proved a real hoot.
“I heard you’re an old colleague,” she said. “So what made you up stakes and move out to the sticks?” She held up a hand. “Not that I’ve got anything against the Hamptons, mind you. If I had the money, I’d be out there in a heartbeat!”
“The opportunity was there,” said Chase with a shrug. “So I took it.”
“Now that’s the kind of guy I like! Sees an opportunity and grabs it! Not like my Dennis. He wouldn’t even know how to spell the word opportunity, let alone take it when it hits him in the face.” She shook her head. “He’s not a bad sort, my husband, but lazy! Put him in front of the TV and he won’t move all evening! And to think he was such a live wire when we first met. A regular spark plug! And now you should see him. He’s all sparked out!” And she laughed the most uproarious laugh I’d heard in quite a while.
“What does he do for a living, your Dennis?” asked Odelia.
“Works for the Department of Sanitation. Sanitation worker, or sanman as he likes to call himself. Hauls garbage all day long, tons and tons of the stuff!”
“I can imagine he’s tired when he comes home at night,” said Chase. “Hauling trash is hard work.”
“Oh, honey, I know! And I mean no disrespect. But his colleagues all coach Little League after hours, or shoot hoops with their kids, or take their wives out for dinner at some fancy restaurant on their wedding anniversary. But not Dennis. Oh, no. Do you know he managed to forget our wedding anniversary? We were married twenty years last Friday, but no present, no dinner, not a single peep!”