of stuff about forgiveness here and redemption. And good and evil. And then we come to the case: “ It strikes a chord with me. I’m not sure why. I follow The Caller investigation with interest when I get the chance.” Then: “ But I know that somewhere inside me I, personally, wish you luck.” And it’s signed off – “ God be with you. May angels rest on your shoulders and lighten your load.”’ Joe shrugged.
‘And can you feel God with you right now?’ said Martinez.
‘I look at you guys and I think “Jesus Christ”. Does that count?’ said Joe.
Rencher shrugged. ‘“ I wish you luck ” because I want to stop, maybe? Is this the perp wanting to get caught?’
‘I don’t think I could bear the cliche if it was,’ said Danny.
Joe laughed. ‘Nah. He’s been so careful all along.’
Rencher shrugged. ‘Well could it be the perp and he doesn’t want to get caught?’
‘Then why engage us at all?’ said Joe.
‘For a mind fuck,’ said Rencher.
‘To me,’ said Danny, ‘the letter reads like your neighbor trying to give you some friendly advice
– the kind of advice that’s useless because really, you know he’s an EDP.’ ‘Your neighbor’s the one should be worried about living next door to an EDP,’ said Rencher. ‘I see where you’re coming from, Danny,’ said Joe. ‘“… somewhere inside me I, personally, wish you luck”. This could be someone who knows The Caller,’ said Rencher.
‘Or has witnessed the crime,’ said Bobby.
‘Or has been the victim of a crime,’ said Rencher.
‘Or has been a victim of The Caller,’ said Joe.
They looked at him. ‘Woo,’ said Danny.
‘It doesn’t sound like some sick twisted psycho,’ said Joe. ‘But I can’t make up my mind if it’s one of those harmless loser psychos who lives with Mom.’
‘Maybe the guy doesn’t know who or what he knows,’ said Bobby.
‘And maybe, just maybe…’ said Danny. ‘This is all just a load of bullshit.’
They stood in silence, their eyes moving between the letter and the photos still laid out on Joe’s desk.
Bobby spoke first. ‘We worked this case, don’t know if any you guys saw it – the mugger who was targeting those Columbia University girls? We got in touch with the papers, fed them some stuff and within, like, a week, we had our guy.’
‘No,’ said Joe. ‘I’m not going to do that. We don’t know enough about-’
‘Do you know the case I’m talking about?’
‘Yeah,’ said Joe, ‘but it doesn’t matter.’
‘What do you mean it doesn’t matter?’
‘Look, Bobby,’ said Joe. ‘How far into your investigation were you? Come on. What you were doing with the papers was after – what? – nine, ten attacks? You knew a lot about the perp. What are we? At the start of a homicide investigation, no witnesses, no nice descriptions, no suspect, nothing predictab-’
‘I still think he could-’
‘No,’ said Joe, too loud. ‘I’m not doing it.’
Cardino’s on Broome Street was small, loud and pumping out angry music. Anna was sitting in the corner in jeans, a black off-the-shoulder top and scuffed black ankle boots. Her hair was in a ponytail and she had dangly silver earrings on.
Joe was laughing as he walked over to her. She laughed too and kissed him on the lips. He guessed by her eyes she was about two glasses of wine down.
‘Is that what you were actually wearing?’ he said.
‘Nearly. The jeans and boots are. But I don’t think I can do these for much longer.’ She let the ponytail down and pulled off the clip-on earrings.
Joe looked around the bar. ‘All the girls here are going for the same look.’
‘Yeah – they’re about twenty years old. You get to do every look once,’ said Anna. ‘That’s the rule. Second time round, you’re always going to be too old.’
‘I never knew that,’ said Joe.
She nodded. ‘It’s true.’
‘Does that mean I never get to wear skinny jeans ever again?’ said Joe.
‘Who said you could the first time?’
‘My physique.’
‘Oh my God. Are we back in time? Can I change my mind?’
They laughed. But Joe got a flash of something that made him wonder how Anna’s life would have turned out if she had walked away from their first date.
‘Let me go to the bar,’ he said. ‘You want some Coors for old times’ sake?’
‘You know what happened that night-’
‘Exactly.’
‘Sauvignon Blanc, please.’
She watched him walk away. The man beside her got up and left his newspaper behind. Anna waited a few minutes for Joe, then dragged the paper across the seat towards her and started reading. She jumped as Joe put the drinks down on the table.
‘Am I boring you?’
‘Never,’ she said, folding the newspaper and pushing it back where she got it. ‘Thanks.’
‘Cheers, sweetheart. Thank you for going on a date with me.’
‘My pleasure,’ she said.
‘And thanks for putting out on the first night.’
Shaun Lucchesi sat at his desk, scrolling through his cell phone. His myspace profile was open on the laptop in front of him. Behind the Explorer window was iTunes, behind that was Skype and hidden at the very back was a blank Word doc he had opened an hour earlier to write an English paper. His phone rang and Tara’s face filled the screen. He turned the sound off on the computer.
‘Hey, Tara.’
He clicked onto iTunes as he listened to her. ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘Just English. And I have not written one word. I can’t even remember the title.’
As she kept talking, he lost interest in the screens in front of him. ‘Hmm. I’d like that a lot,’ he said, spinning around in the chair and standing up.
‘Wow,’ he said. ‘I… don’t know what to say back to that.’ He paced the room, listening to every word she breathed down the phone.
He sat on the bed, then lay back. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘I’m not good at this. I’m too sober to have this conversation.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Why don’t you come over?’
Joe and Anna arrived back from the bar hungry. Joe went to the fridge and pulled out a dish of leftover meatballs. He slammed the door and slammed the dish onto the counter.
‘Shhh,’ said Anna, pointing upstairs.
Joe ignored her and put the meatballs into the microwave.
‘What is wrong with you?’ said Anna.
‘Nothing.’
‘There is something wrong. Just tell me.’
‘I didn’t want to stay that late, that’s all. I’ve a lot on.’
‘It was fun.’
‘After lots of drinks, maybe.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing,’ said Joe. ‘Do we have bread?’
‘Yes,’ she said, pointing to a baguette right in front of him.
‘Oh.’ He grabbed a knife and started cutting it.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘You enjoyed yourself.’
He was somewhere else, staring ahead, his face set.
