She clicked off without a good-bye.
Artists were so temperamental.
She’d be in a better mood tonight.
Okay, it was decided. He’d hold out through lunch and after tonight’s meeting at Bones about the announcement, he’d head over to the Fuzzy to celebrate.
In fact, he’d just eat lunch here. To make sure the others noticed he was here this late in the day, he’d leave his chamber door wide open while he ate and then after lunch, he’d head into the law library and check out some books. Maybe he’d actually sit in the law library for a few minutes, for authenticity. Like he was actually reading the books. Maybe write in a notepad while he was reading? Or would that be overkill…probably yes.
He buzzed his secretary. “Amanda?”
“Yes, Judge?”
“Can you get my lunch and bring it here, to my desk?”
“Sure can, Judge. What would you like?”
“Fried chicken with mash potatoes and turnip greens on the side. A light sprinkling of Tabasco sauce on the turnips would be perfect.”
He hoped to God she’d get the order right this time. He’d given her the exact same order fifty times before and forty-eight of those times, something was wrong…no Tabasco, no plastic forks, forgot the napkins…
Incredible, C.C. thought. Some people just had no ambition.
46
New York City
HANGING ON TO A POLE ON THE NUMBER 6 TRAIN, HAILEY NOTED that her ribs hardly hurt at all. The subway was less crowded now, it was nearly eight, and most of the after-work commuters flooded the lines at five sharp. All the seats were taken, but there was plenty of standing room.
She was lost in thought and didn’t even notice all the bodies stuffed in around her. Just before she left work, she’d had a second conversation with a uniformed cop, this time over the phone. He had taken the incident report, also over the phone, when she was in the hospital. Seemed like a nice young guy, a rookie cop taking her information to create a police report. He was still new enough to the force to sound hopeful they’d find the guy. The room had been dusted for prints but so far, no match in AFIS, the nationwide fingerprint data bank. They were probably all prints of her and her patients anyway.
Over a week had passed now. Hailey was ready for her ribs, and her life, to get back to normal. She had been feeling cooped up, due to her lack of mobility, and although the doctors told her to take it easy, she had to get out tonight for some fresh air along the river.
The subway lurched to a stop at Fifty-first and Lex. Hailey made her way out of the car and up the steep steps to Lexington, took a left, and headed home. The wind was strong out of the west, but her suite at work had been overly warm today, and it felt great to be out.
Past the doorman, into her apartment for a quick change, hair into a ponytail under a hat, black plastic running watch clasped into place, gloves and an extra sweatshirt, and off she went.
It was just past nine o’clock by the time she finally turned onto the path by the river and the moment the smell of the water hit her nose, she felt great. The ribs were aching, but if she kept it light, she’d make it just fine. Hailey usually ran without music. She liked to hear the city, her own steps hitting the cement, other runners chatting as they jogged by.
She tried a light jog, but it caused an ache to spread down the side of her torso, so walking would have to do. Looking out over the water, she thought back on Dana’s reaction to the assault. “Are you sure you didn’t imagine it?” Dana kept asking her…as if Hailey could possibly mistake tripping and falling with being beaten unconscious by an intruder.
At least Dana hadn’t been around tonight to drag her out for happy hour. She’d left early, saying she had a date with Greg. They were still going strong.
Dana was already wondering if he’d propose in time for her to plan a fall wedding.
“He’s the One, Hailey,” she had said just this morning in Hailey’s kitchenette. “I can’t wait until you meet him. I’ve been trying to coordinate everyone’s schedule, but he’s just so busy…and so are you.”
The blocks passed and Hailey began pondering the long-ignored article she never got around to finishing. She had read something…oh what was it?…something about the inception of self-hatred in childhood. Deftly, she reached into her running bra, where she carried her cell phone religiously, and pulled it out. Dialing her office number, she spoke quickly. “Remember, word search, key words are self-hatred, inception, childhood for the article. Maybe it was in…”
Before she could finish the thought, an awful wail came out of nowhere. It was the sirens cranking up back at Sixty-seventh Street, Engine 39. It was a few blocks away, but it sounded like it was right beside her, and then a man’s voice over a bullhorn…
“Sir, you are blocking the fire station. Please move your vehicle immediately. You are blocking the fire station…”
Engine 39 had a massive thousand-gallon pumper, and it needed all the room it could get to pull out. Hailey imagined if the guy didn’t move, the firemen would jump off the truck and move his car for him. She’d call back later and leave the rest of her message to herself.
She had slowed down when the sirens started and, losing the momentum, she realized that even walking, her ribs were really starting to ache.
She turned and started the long walk back and the cold set in. She had left without money or ATM card, so walking was the only option.
It was getting late. Suddenly, she realized how stupid this was. It was after ten o’clock, and here she was out alone, armed only with her apartment key and her cell phone. She tried to pick up the pace.
It seemed like such a great idea when she was crammed into a stuffy subway, but now the path had become empty. She was getting closer to home…but still, a dozen blocks to go. Deciding it was safer on city streets, she turned right and started up a flight of steep steps, leaving the East River path and going back up to the avenues. Walking south on First, instinct made her turn back and glance behind her.
Only one guy was trailing about two blocks behind her, and Hailey was sure it was the same guy right behind her when she slowed down at the sirens a while back. She couldn’t see his features; his face was covered by a hat riding low…like every other New Yorker on a night like this.
He could be anybody. Having counseled countless victims in the past, she knew a common aftereffect of a violent attack was fear of going out and being afraid of your own shadow.
A block later, when she looked back again, the guy was still there. Even though it hurt, she tried to pick up the pace. The wind was biting across her face where the skin was unprotected. She could always hop into a diner, but she hadn’t brought money…that wouldn’t matter. And even if she did, then what? She had to come out sometime; she couldn’t stay in a diner all night. And if she called police on her cell, what would she say? “Help, I see a man walking on the street?”
She looked back. She caught him suddenly turn, as if he were looking intently into the darkened overhang of an antiques-store window. She paused in her tracks, something about him when he abruptly turned away…a body movement, a mannerism, was so familiar to her…
Whoever he was, she wasn’t about to go introduce herself. Now she was limping, favoring her injured side. Fifteen more minutes, and then she made it to her cross-street. Hailey turned back just in time to see him turn in toward D’Agostino’s automatic doors. Okay…he was right behind her for twelve blocks, but he wasn’t following her. So this must be his neighborhood, too. He was stopping at the local grocery.
No one’s following me! she scolded herself…she had to get control…mind over matter. The attack in her office had been random.