When Teru left the room, I said, “Can I ask something personal?”
Simon said, “One may always ask.”
“How old are you?”
He didn’t seem surprised at the question. “Let us say that I am older than I feel.”
“Well, you move like you’re in your thirties. Mind telling me what you bench?”
“Bench?”
“Bench press. You know, weight lifting.”
“I understood your reference, Mr. Cutter, but why do you ask?”
“Just making conversation, really.”
“Ah. Well, in answer to your question, about fourteen stone.”
I did the math. Fourteen stone was two hundred and eighty pounds. I said, “How many reps?”
“Two sets of eight, twice a day.”
“What do you do for cardio?”
“Miss Haley allowed me to swim in the early mornings. I have taken the liberty of continuing that regimen since her passing.”
“Do you run?”
Simon shook his head slightly. “One’s knees.”
“How about keeping up with hand-to-hand?”
“I visit Abernathy’s on my days off.”
Abernathy’s was a boxing gym in LA. It had been around since the 1940s. I said, “You have a regular sparring partner?”
“Jack Rolls and I are old friends.”
I looked at him. “You spar with Jack Rolls? Seriously?”
“When he’s good enough to find the time.”
Before Jack Rolls retired and bought Abernathy’s, he had been a World Boxing Association light-middleweight world champion. I said, “I’m impressed.”
Simon shrugged.
“Listen,” I said, “I hope I didn’t offend you the other day by asking about your work before you were a butler.”
“Not in the slightest. One would enjoy a conversation about it with someone of your background. Unfortunately, there is the Official Secrets Act.”
“So there is. Can you tell me why you changed careers?”
“Cashiered, I’m afraid. Frightfully unfair matter of age restrictions. Didn’t care to enter management, so to speak, which was the only other option.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Over two decades have passed, more’s the pity. If they had only seen things properly, I had many good years left to offer.”
“You still do.”
“Very kind of you to say so, Mr. Cutter. One serves queen and country, little thinking there will be an end to it, except perhaps in the honorable way at the hands of an enemy, and then suddenly they mention that it might be best to carry on elsewhere. Not because one failed in any way or because one no longer functions adequately, but simply because one managed to survive a day too long as measured by a calendar. One knows about policy of course. Still, one does not seriously expect such things to be determined strictly by one’s own age. But there was no exception made. Bit of a surprise at first. Caught off guard.”
“What made you decide to become a butler?”
“Several factors. My father was valet to the eighth Marquess of Berkleyshire, so I was raised with a thorough understanding of life in service. And I believe I may say without fear of overstepping that my work for Her Majesty’s government involved similar skills at times.”
I said, “Congressman Montes implied that he met you on some kind of diplomatic mission, so I think I can guess what you mean. I spent a little time working out of our embassy in Khartoum. The head of housekeeping was actually section chief for the CIA.”
“Regrettably, I must avoid comment. However, it did occur to me that butlers often continue to serve until they are well advanced in years, and after my discharge, that concern was on my mind. So…” Simon shrugged, folded one leg over the other, and straightened the perfectly creased fabric of his slacks.
I rubbed my temple, trying to manage the pain as we sat in silence for a few minutes. The ability to be together without talking was one of my favorite things about Simon.
After a while I said, “It’s all relative. Some of the younger noncoms in my last company called me ‘Pops.’”
“Oh, of course, Mr. Cutter. One does not object to aging itself. Most natural thing in the world. And one must admit the eyesight, reflexes, and strength may not be quite what they once were. But nature in her wisdom provides certain compensations, does it not? One learns a bit here and there as one goes along, and when confronted with certain difficulties, one begins to feel a stratagem based on experience is so very often preferable to the type of rash solutions favored in one’s youth. It seems frightfully foolish not to recognize this, and frankly, quite unjust. It is the injustice that continues to annoy.”
“Why not take what they offered in management?”
“That was not where one’s strengths lay. One was more… hands-on. And it seemed a rather dismal prospect to end one’s days behind a desk in some office staring as the Thames rolled by.”
I yawned and rubbed my temple again. I must have slept a little, because the next thing I knew, Teru was in the room, He and Simon sat beside each other eating hamburgers. Only Simon’s fingertips touched his sandwich, as if he wanted to remain as far from it as possible. Teru was wolfing his down with gusto. I smiled, then went back to sleep.
Sometime after dawn I rolled over and opened my eyes. It took a moment to realize that Tom Harper was sitting by the bed.
I said, “Tom.”
He stood, looked down at me, and said, “How you doing?”
“Pretty much good to go, I think.”
“Good. Mind if we talk about why you’re here?”
He asked a lot of questions. I told him everything I could without giving up Vega’s name and whereabouts. I didn’t like to identify my clients to the authorities. Not even to Harper. It was bad for business.
Once I had Harper filled in, he said, “What are you not telling me?”
I said, “I gave you everything I know.”
“Come on, Malcolm. You get a bomb thrown through your window and claim you don’t know why. I have to hear from the Newport cops about a couple of guys tailing you. They ran the plates on that Suburban, by the way. They were stolen. Why don’t you tell me about these things?”
“I don’t know who threw the bomb. And what would I mention the two guys before now? It’s not against the law to follow people. I only told the Newport cops because they asked. I don’t like to bother you that way. I figure you’ve got enough real crime fighting to do.”
“We’re buddies, Malcolm. You should’ve at least mentioned they were out there.”
“Bicycle theft. Speeding tickets. Pirated Duran Duran CDs.”
“I’m serious, Malcolm.”
“What are you gonna do, blame the victim now?”
Teru was sitting in a recliner on the other side of my bed. Harper looked at him and said, “Do you understand this blockhead?”
“Who can understand the wind, grasshopper?” replied Teru.
Harper looked back at me. “What’s he talking about?”
“Beats me. My friend is inscrutable.”
“Okay. You guys have your fun. Meanwhile, I’m just, you know, kind of assuming there’s been a crime committed here, and I was toying with the idea of going out to catch the bad guys.”
“What else can I say? It was two Latinos in a white Escalade. The same two who were following me before in a black Suburban. I didn’t get the plates this time because one of them was standing in the way. One of them wears his shirt unbuttoned to show off a lot of bling. They both move like professionals. They both carry M9s.”
“Yeah, but what do they want?”
“Based on the bullets and everything, my guess is they want to kill me.”