“He’s just touching up the door. There was some damage on the side, and since we can’t go in, we do what we can now to make things nice.”
“There was damage?”
“Yes. Charlotte always ran her walker into the frame.”
Her walker. He didn’t know if he should say anything. He didn’t want to hear what Mel would say back. She spoke first.
“So wait-what were you doing down here?”
At the end of the hall, Javier leaned down and started painting.
“I just…” he started. Then he stopped. Nothing. He was bad at excuses.
“You said you were worried?”
“Yes.”
“What were you worried about?”
She brushed her hair back with one finger. A flick.
“I thought…I thought I would miss seeing you before the day ended.”
“You did?”
She smiled. Even tan skin could blush.
“I heard you were down here, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss seeing you.”
Javier painted the door and erased the damage. The traces.
“Who told you I was down here?”
“Someone.” He couldn’t think up a name. “An elderly woman.”
“Who?”
He was sweating again.
“She had white hair.” Like that narrowed it down.
“Mrs. Costello?” Apparently that did narrow it down.
“Maybe it was her.”
“She’s a sweetheart.”
Mel looked good. No bags under her eyes. Just a smile. She parted her lips barely, then thought of something to say.
“So, your meeting with fate is coming soon, right?”
“Meeting with fate?”
“Mr. Rothschild. Aren’t you two having lunch?”
“Oh. That’s right. I didn’t know he was fate.”
“Then you don’t know him very well.”
Javier walked past them, the weight of the paint can causing him to lean slightly to the left. He took the rock out from where it propped open the door and let it close. They were alone now. No one would know what Mel told him. No one would know what he asked her about Charlotte.
“So the designee is coming soon?”
“Yes. Then it’s her property. We don’t normally go inside until then. It’s just policy. I haven’t met her before. She sounded like she would be OK.”
“That’s something.”
“That doesn’t mean it won’t be a hard conversation.”
“Right.” He had a hard conversation to start: why had Charlotte died? He couldn’t be that direct.
“Mel, did the doctors say why she passed?”
“She had to take her medication regularly. I shouldn’t say what she took. I suppose it doesn’t matter. The doctors think that since she skipped her meds that night, that did it.”
“Right.” Try another angle. “Is the community OK?”
“Some are. I think Charlotte had a falling out with some people.”
“You even knew about it?”
“I hear too much gossip.”
She smoothed out her dress and he looked her in the eye.
“Was Sheryl Goldfein one of them?”
She grabbed his hand.
“We’re off the record, right?”
He just laughed, hoping it would be enough.
“Sheryl gets upset easily. But it’s understandable.”
“Why?”
“She misses her husband. She misses New York. She’s a strong personality without a focus. But I don’t think that she would have stayed upset. She is a grown woman.”
They both laughed, more quietly. He looked down the hallway past her. Empty. No one. She stepped closer. He took his hands out of his pockets. Be aggressive. Ask her. Tell her about the walker. Find out how the side of Charlotte’s door was really damaged. Get closer to it, whatever it was. It was time to do something. Mel waited.
Instead he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Long, soft. He felt her warm skin under his hands. She rested her hands on his arms and kept them there. She didn’t push away and he pressed in closer.
“Jake, wait.”
“What?”
“You’re pressing the camera into me.”
He took the camera in his hands and gently pushed it around to her side.
“There.”
Then he leaned forward and kissed her again.
CHAPTER 22
Each time they broke the kiss, they started it again. They said it was too unprofessional, too public, too soon. It didn’t matter. He pressed her softly against the wall and felt the imprint of the wallpaper brush against his hands. He traced the blue flowers on her dress with his index finger. Then he started vibrating. Mel’s voice was a whisper.
“What is it?”
“Ignore it.” He kissed her cheek. “It’s just my phone.”
It stopped. A second later it started again. She moved back to let him answer it.
“No,” he said and kissed her again.
It rang another time. He took it out and looked at the screen. He didn’t know the number. It was someone from a Sarasota area code. But he didn’t know who.
“Do you have to get it?”
“I don’t know why they keep calling.”
It stopped. They smiled and looked at each other. She pulled his hair forward and he brushed it back.
“Did I mess up your hair?”
“You did.” Then it vibrated again.
“Damn it.”
“You can get it.”
“I better.”
He pressed the send button and listened.
“Hello?” a voice whispered. “Is this seventy one ate rake?”
“What?”
“718, umm, 7253?”
“Yes.”
“Hurry!”
“Gary? Is that you?”
“Hurry Jacob, I don’t have much time.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“No time.”
Mel looked up and Jake shook his head.
“Gary, what’s seventy one ate rake?”
“It’s how I remember your number. It’s a pneumatic device.”
“Do you mean a pneumonic device?”
“I imagine that the number seventy one ate you. Your number spells out your name.”
“But my name isn’t ‘rake.’”
“I get around it,” he said a little louder. “I don’t have time to explain. I stole Sheryl’s telephone.”
“You stole her phone?”
“She’s playing bridge on the other side of the room. You have to rescue me from her. A good man leaves no soldier behind.”
He sighed. Mel was pulling chapstick from her purse and running it over her lips.
“OK Gary, I’ll be there soon.”
He hung up the phone and Mel nodded. He reached forward and grabbed the hand holding the chapstick.
“Wait.” He kissed her again.
“Hi.”
“I have to go do this.”
“I know.”
“But I’ll call.”
As he walked out the hallway, he still didn’t know what had happened. He ran up the path as quickly as he’d come down. He remembered why he’d come in the first place. Abram. Then he realized it was night. If Abram still walked every night after dinner, he’d find him on the sidewalk, not in the building. Maybe on the same route Charlotte had taken to the beach.
When he went in the common room, all the women looked in his direction and then immediately looked back to their cards. He quietly picked up Gary’s cane and crossed the room to hand it to him.
“Are you OK?”
“Jacob,” he whispered, “thank you.”
“What happened?”
“She wouldn’t release me!”
“Stay quiet, we don’t want them to hear you.”
“Let’s go, now.”
He got up and started moving toward the door. He looked exhausted.
“I talked so much. I don’t know what I meant or didn’t mean.”
“I can’t believe it, but you seduced her.”
“I wish you hadn’t made me do it.”
“No time to argue. We’ve got to find Abram Samuels.”
“What did you find out about him?” They looked back. Sheryl was staring at her cards. For now.
“I didn’t find out anything. But I think I know where he is.”
“Let’s go.”
“We have to tell them. It would look weird if we snuck out.”
Jake yelled.