“What do we need that for?” Martin said.
Burrows said, “It helps to absorb the drug transmucosally into the mouth, throat and esophagus. Without it the drug is useless.”
Martin went silent, and then said, “You have to realize I don’t have unlimited resources. I can’t just call a company and say ship me a ton of this and a ton of that. Alarms would go off.”
Burrows said nothing.
“All right,” Martin said, waving his hands in the air. “I’ll make some calls.”
It was getting dark when I came out of the bathroom. I had showered and shaved and applied some heavy- duty deodorant. Joey was in the living room watching an old movie. I went into my room and changed into a nice silk shirt, unwrinkled pants, and a dark jacket. I checked myself in the mirror and except for the exposed little bruise on my nose I looked mighty fine.
Joey saw me and said, “You get dressed up to buy groceries?”
I had lied to Joey about meeting Laura. No need to tell him.
“I’m going to drop by a friend,” I said. “He’s not feeling well and all…but I’ll be back in an hour.” I checked my pocket for my cell phone. “You got my number?”
“Yeah,” he got up.
“Don’t open the door or answer the telephone. As far as anyone is concerned you are not here.”
“What if it’s your partner?” he asked.
“Don’t. If no one opens the door he’ll call my cell and I’ll tell him I’m out doing grocery shopping.”
Joey followed me to the door.
I hurried down the stairs, hoping my landlady wouldn’t stop me. I got into the car and drove off.
Joey locked and bolted the door. He turned and leaped back startled. The life-size cutout of Michael Jordan smiled back at him. Joey started to laugh. This was the second time he had been unnerved by it.
He picked up the giant cutout and placed it somewhere away from him. He was already nervous and he didn’t want something over six-and-a-half feet tall silently staring at him. It reminded him too much of Kong.
He then went back to his movie.
We had decided to meet at SonaMahal-an Indian restaurant-not far from my home. I found her sitting at a table near the window. She smiled when she saw me. She was wearing a full black dress and some jewelry around her neck.
“I hope you haven’t been waiting long?” I said, taking a seat.
“A few minutes,” she answered. She looked beautiful.
We placed our orders, when I said, “How long have you been staying here in Toronto?”
“Only a few months,” she said. “I work for a consulting firm and one of our clients was interested in establishing a business in Toronto. I came here to see if that was financially viable. We have another client who is interested in expanding his business to Connecticut so…” She paused. “So I have to go down there for a while.”
I moved my head up and down.
“What do you do?” she asked.
“I’m in law enforcement,” I said, thinking I shouldn’t have.
“I like a man in uniform,” she said.
Outside it was nightfall, but the lights from the restaurants illuminated the street.
Our orders came and we started to eat. I had chanamasala, a dish of basmati rice with chickpeas, onion, garlic, and Indian spices, while she had a butter chicken entree of basmati rice with chicken pieces in a rich sauce of tomatoes, cream, butter, garlic, ginger and tandoori spices.
She swallowed a spoonful of rice and said, “Oh, before I forget, can you excuse me? I just have to make a call.” With that she went outside.
The Sundance sat parked a block away from Greenwood and Gerrard. Suraj was behind the wheel, and Hause in the passenger side. They had seen the black officer come out of the house and drive away.
They were waiting for the signal. Ms. Zee was going to let them know when they should make their move. The cell phone rang and Hause answered it. He hung up and nodded to Suraj, who immediately put the car in gear and drove toward the house. Suddenly he pressed hard on the brakes, causing Hause to nearly hit the dashboard.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Hause cursed.
Suraj said, “Look.”
An old woman came out of the house and began sweeping leaves.
“Shit,” Hause said.
Suraj pulled out his pistol
“No. Go back,” Hause said.
“Why?”
“Go back. Now.”
Suraj reversed the car back to its original position.
“Why can’t we just shoot the old woman?” Suraj asked.
“We shoot her and then what?” Hause said. “What if there are more inside? We can’t shoot everyone to get upstairs. We have to do it quietly.”
“How?”
“Let me think.”
Through the window I saw her say something on the phone, shut it, and come back in.
“Who were you calling?” I asked as she sat down.
“My sister. I had to tell her I’d be a little late.”
We went back to eating our dinner.
“Rupret?” she said. “That’s an interesting name.”
I don’t know why, maybe to just talk to her, I told her. “I might have not mentioned it, but I’m from Nigeria. I was born there. Before my father was born, my grandfather worked for a British mining company. He wanted to fit in and get promoted so he decided to change his name. He chose the name William Rupert, but the clerk who was filling out the required forms typed his name incorrectly as William Rupret. My grandfather didn’t care if it was Rupert or Rupret, only that it sounded British.” I looked down at my plate. “My father never corrected it out of respect for his father, and I never changed it out of respect for him.”
“That’s so sweet,” she said.
I was staring at the plate, thinking of my father.
“Are you okay?” she said, concerned.
I nodded. “You haven’t told me your full name yet.”
She laughed, “Its Laura Spencer.”
“Laura Spencer,” I repeated. “Interesting.”
“Not as interesting as yours.”
“Do you have to leave tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, or we’ll lose our client.”
“You could get another client.”
“He’s worth millions.”
