‘OK. A hamburger would be fine.’
They crossed the street and joined the line. As they waited, Vivien expressed in words what they had surely both been asking themselves.
‘What do you think about what Newborn said? The man with the scars, I mean.’
Russell took a moment before coming out with his conclusion. ‘I think he’s our man.’
‘So do I.’
Those words sealed their fate. From that moment on, this was the lead to follow, with all the means they had at their disposal. If it turned out to be the wrong one, then, rightly or wrongly, they would have the deaths of many people on their consciences.
In the name of the Father …
Almost without realizing it, Vivien found herself at the window where the orders had to be placed. She ordered two cheeseburgers and two bottles of water and paid for them. In return she received a small electronic receiver that would inform her when the food was ready to be collected.
They moved away from the stand to a nearby bench. As they sat down, Russell had a slightly downcast expression. ‘I promise you this is the last time.’
‘The last time for what?’
‘The last time you pay for me.’
Vivien looked at him. He was genuinely sorry. She knew how humiliated he felt, and that was a remarkable thing in itself. The last trace seemed to have gone of the man that Russell Wade had been until a few days earlier.
It had happened abruptly, like an evil spell taken away at the utterance of a magic word. Unfortunately, the other person who seemed to have vanished without a trace was the man she had spent the night with.
She told herself it was stupid to regret something that had never really existed. She lowered her eyes to the object she had in her hands, which was the size of an old TV remote control.
‘It must be something like this he uses.’
‘Who does, and to do what?’
‘The man who set off those bombs. It must be a gadget like this that he used to send the impulses that set off the explosions.’
As she was looking at that innocuous device of plastic and Plexiglas, which in another situation might become a lethal weapon, the receiver buzzed, almost making them jump.
Russell stood up and took the receiver from her hands. ‘I’ll go. Let me do that at least.’
Vivien watched as he presented himself at the window, handed over the receiver and got a tray with the food in return. He came back and placed the tray on the bench between them.
They unwrapped the hamburgers and started eating in silence. The food was the same, but the atmosphere was very different than when they had eaten together in Coney Island, facing the sea. When Russell had confided in her and she had been sure she understood him.
Now it occurred to her that she had only understood what she wanted to understand.
It depends on which wolf you feed more …
The ringing of her cellphone jolted her out of these thoughts. She looked at the number on the display without recognizing it.
She took the call. ‘Detective Light.’
She heard a familiar voice. ‘Hello, Miss Light. This is Dr Savine, one of the doctors treating your sister.’
The voice and the words brought images flooding into Vivien’s mind. The Mariposa Clinic in Cresskill, Greta gazing into the distance with sightless eyes, white coats that meant both safety and anguish.
‘What is it, doctor?’
‘Unfortunately it isn’t good news.’
Vivien waited in silence for him to continue, instinctively clenching her fist.
‘Your sister’s condition has suddenly worsened. We don’t know exactly what to expect and so I don’t know exactly what to tell you. But it isn’t looking good. I’m being honest with you. You told me that was what you wanted, right from the start.’
Vivien bowed her head, and let the tears run down her cheeks. ‘Of course, doctor, and I’m grateful. Unfortunately I can’t be there right now.’
‘I quite understand. I’ll keep you informed, Miss Light. I’m very sorry.’
‘I know. Thanks again.’
She hung up, and rose abruptly from the bench, turning her back on Russell and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Her first impulse was to drop everyone and everything, take the car to see her sister. But she couldn’t. For the first time in her life she cursed her work, the duty that confined her like a cage, the significance of her shield. She cursed the man who, in his madness, was keeping her away from the person she most loved and making that person seem ever more distant.
‘Let’s go.’
Russell understood that she had received some upsetting news. Anyone would have understood that. Obeying her curt voice, he got up from the bench, threw the tray in the garbage and followed her in silence to the car.
Vivien was grateful to him for that.
They went back to the precinct house the same way they had come, using the flashing light and the siren to get through the traffic.
They reached their destination without exchanging a word. The whole time, Vivien had driven as if the fate of the world depended on the speed with which they returned to base. She had barely seen the cars they passed – she had seen only her sister’s face.
As she loosened her belt, Vivian wondered if her sister was still alive right now. She raised her face and looked at Russell. She realized that for the whole of the journey she had forgotten he was even there.
‘I’m sorry. Today’s not a very good day for me.’
‘No problem. Tell me if I can help in any way.’
Of course you can help me. You could take me in your armsand let me be an ordinary girl crying on someone’s shouldersand…
She erased the thought. ‘Thanks. It’s over now.’
They got out of the car, entered the precinct house and went straight upstairs to the captain’s office. By now, the presence of Russell was taken as an established fact, even though it might not have been accepted by everyone. Without supplying too many details, the captain had told his men that he was someone who had information about a particular investigation and was collaborating with Vivien on it. Vivien knew her colleagues weren’t stupid and that sooner or later one or other of them would suspect something. But for the moment, whatever surliness they encountered, they just had to pretend everything was all right until the case was solved.
When he saw them come in, the captain looked up from the papers he was signing. ‘Well?’