I FELT AN edge to my day before I even opened the front door and slipped out. I couldn’t explain it. I’d managed
to sle ep reasonably well for a few hours. The kids hadn’t been any extra trouble while I made them breakfast. Yet
when I kissed Mary Catherine good-bye, somehow I was sure it would be the last pleasant feeling I might
experience today.
When I came out of the elevator on the ground floor, my mood took another st ep toward the dark side. Larry, one of
the other doormen, was in the lobby, looking like he had just come on duty—and from a bar. His thinning brown
hair was roughly combed across the top of his head to cover his bald spot. The left side of his collar was poking
straight up. He didn’t even notice me until I cleared my throat.
I said, “Good morning, Larry. Did you talk to Rodney? Did he tell you about the guy who might be a threat?”
Larry held up his phone. “Yeah, yeah, I got the guy’s photo. Rodney told me all about it yesterday morning. I’m not
sure what you want me to do, though.”
This blasé attitude was not what I wanted first thing in the morning.
“Truthfully, Larry, I’d be surprised if you could even ke ep an eye open. You should’ve called in sick again. You
don’t look like you’re ready for work today.”
“We can’t all have cushy jobs with the city and live in fancy inherited apartments.”
“You’re right, I am lucky. But we can all try to be professional and do our jobs. Is that too much to ask?” It looked
like my snarky response had hit home. In fact, I regretted my comments. But I wasn’t in the mood to apologize yet.
I’d see how Larry looked the next time he had to work early
in the morning.
Minutes later, as I pulled into my usual parking spot under the elevated train tracks in front of my office building, I
smiled at the sight of Maggie Chin leaning against her car in the very next spot. She made it look like she’d been
waiting for a long time, though I suspected she hadn’t been there more than five minutes.
“Those rust stains on your roof are from little pieces of metal coming down from the track,” Maggie commented as I
climbed out of my car.
“Every time a train passes it rattles something off the track or the train itself.”
I glanced at my roof. I hadn’t really noticed the dozen or so rust spots previously, but she was right. There were
several marks, most of them less than an inch or two long and very thin, like scratches from nails or bits of
something sharp that had dropped from the tracks. “I guess that’s your engineering background, picking up on little
details.”
“Or my common sense.” She gave me a quick smile, then patted her car.
“Hop in.”
“I thought we’d go up and talk with Walter first, to see what he’s come up with.”
“Walter and the other analysts have been texting me updates. I already have a few addresses here in the city we can
check. Even the FBI has kicked in some info and addresses.” She turned to open the driver-side door to her car, then
looked over her shoulder and said, “C’mon. We’ve got a lot to do today.”