Mirrors (34 page)

Williams flashed a look of disdain. “She had the guy wrapped around her finger. Although he’s married and has three kids, she expected him to be at her beck and call. But I’ll tell you this: We’re gonna skewer the guy until he tells us where Bhanjee went.”

I stared at a wall as I processed what I’d learned, not just there, but during the previous week. I envisioned a game where balls dropped through a maze of pins to find the bins below. Each event of my detail bounced frenetically before grounding in my psyche. The mental pings made me oblivious to the sounds of moving chairs and shuffling feet.

By the time I came to, I was alone in the room.

In the silence,
I rubbed my eyes. Through the haze of fatigue, I looked about to find the chairs pushed back helter-skelter in an otherwise abandoned room.

I took my exit and went to the lobby to catch an elevator but stopped short when I saw the up button had been inked into a crimson eyeball. A pair of markers lay on the floor beneath the buttons, one black and the other crimson. They rested on an envelope with my name printed across it.

I lifted the envelope and opened it. Inside was a single sheet with the following words …

Sorry for falsely charging you about hiding the Lamborghini, Porche, and Corvette from the IRS. I just learned you surrendered them to the U.S. Government.

Pivoting, I expected to find Glenn Bird behind me, but no one was there.

I forsook the elevator for the stairs and began trekking to the fourth floor. When I reached the maternity ward, I found it quiet save for monitor beeps and subdued chatter from a mother and father being transferred from a delivery suite to their room. I felt remorse for missing the birth of my own child and a key week in Eve’s life, a time during which I had hoped to accompany her in the sojourn from couple to parenthood.

I strolled along the hallway looking for the room number Spud had given me, using the moments to assuage my trepidation about becoming a father. Could I—would I—be the loving, caring, doting man I wanted to be? Could I—would I—release the past seven days for the promise of a new life?

I stopped before the shut door to Eve’s room.

Gingerly, and with a wobble in the legs, I took a deep breath and pushed it open.

The answer to the questions, I assured myself, was an affirmed,
yes
.