Page 32 of Fifty-Fifty

Times had moved on, the factories made way for expensive waterfront condos,

and with the exception of one or two companies that remained, Edgewater was

now a kind of hip Gold Coast. At least half of it was, anyway. The town was divided by River Road, with the waterfront properties attracting the high prices.

On the other side of River Road, in the hills, property went for half the price.

Kate crossed this road into West Edgewater as soon as she left the ferry terminal.

She walked past the realtors at the end of the block and turned right on Hudson Avenue – a steep climb to Adelaide Place, her father’s house.

Louis Brooks had moved to Edgewater in the seventies. At that time he was a cop in the city, and his partner was Gerry Bloch, Melissa’s father. It was Gerry who persuaded her father to move out here. Property was cheap because the land

had been poisoned for a century or more by corn oil and chemical

manufacturers. They lived side by side on Adelaide Place. It had been a magical period. A small-town childhood with a friend who was more like a sister. Life was great. Until Gerry Bloch got arrested, that is.

By the time she saw the colonial house she had grown up in, her calves were burning and her feet were sore from the climb. She had walked up the hill in her heels – her running shoes safely locked away in a drawer at work. She walked up the brick steps, painted wooden rails framing them, when the front door opened.

Kate expected to see her father. A white-haired seventy-year-old who still thought he was forty-five. Louis Brooks – always pronounced Lou-is, never Lou-ee. He would be wearing a cotton shirt, work pants, and there would be flecks of paint or oil, or both, on his lined but welcoming face.

But it wasn’t her father who opened the door. Instead, she found herself looking up at a tall, striking young woman. Her black hair buzzed at the sides, long on top and swept back in a quiff. She wore a black denim jacket, navy-blue jeans with a green shirt. No make-up. Just a broad smile on the face of Kate’s best friend, Melissa Bloch.

Bloch had moved away for some years, become a police officer and transferred around the country. She retired, early, from the force six months ago and moved home to her old house next door to Kate’s father. This had been a solace to Kate, who had missed Bloch terribly since she’d left. Now, Bloch made a living as a freelance training instructor for the NYPD, doling out refresher courses on advanced driving, control and restraint, and investigative practice. In her spare time Louis kept her busy helping him with various DIY projects, which he said required a second pair of hands. Both Kate and Bloch knew Louis didn’t really need any help – he just needed the company.

‘Shouldn’t you be in work?’ Bloch asked.

‘I took the morning off,’ said Kate.

Tilting her head, Bloch held Kate in her gaze for a few seconds before standing aside to let her in. She knew Bloch didn’t buy that. Although Kate’s problems at work consumed her thoughts twenty-four-seven she had yet to tell anyone about it – even Bloch. It was Kate’s problem, and she was determined to

keep her head down, mouth shut, and just get through it. In the kitchen, Louis was already pouring coffee. He had splotches of some dark substance on his cheek and the collar of his shirt. If he was suspicious at the working-hours visit, he didn’t show it. Kate thought he was probably just glad to see her. He handed steaming mugs to Kate and Bloch and they took a seat at his kitchen table.

Kate took a drink, felt it warm her insides. It wasn’t just the coffee – there was something safe and rejuvenating about being home with her dad and her best friend. Apart from being neighbors, and their fathers being friends, Kate had always felt a real connection with Bloch. They were both book nerds, and they

were both highly intelligent but in subtly different ways. Kate would be the one who could breeze through class tests and exams without any effort, while Bloch

would be the only one in the whole school who could tell if one of the teachers was having an affair, and who with, and for how long.

‘How come you’re not at work?’ asked Louis.

‘I took the morning off,’ said Kate.

Bloch and Louis exchanged looks, but said nothing.

‘Bloch and I were just talking about wood. She’s gonna buy some today so we can make a cabinet. It’s about time she put some furniture in that house.’

‘I don’t need much,’ said Bloch.

Kate smiled. Bloch would have bought furniture, but Louis was running out of projects. Building a cabinet would keep him busy for weeks.

‘Your dad told me you were representing Alexandra Avellino,’ said Bloch.

‘Ah, no, well, my firm is representing her. I’m just on the team. One of the back-room brief writers. Research, note-taking, that kind of thing …’

Before she could finish, Kate’s bottom lip began to tremble. Her father reached out, instinctively, touched her arm and then the events of the past few days came flooding out. She didn’t dare tell her father she was being sexually harassed by her boss. Louis kept several guns in the house. One of the guns even had a license. And, he was old-school NYPD. He was liable to show up at Levy’s front door, stick a .38 in his face and remind him of his manners.

Kate told them what had happened that morning, and the threat Levy had made. Her father looked away, the heel of his right foot bouncing on the floor.