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Their drinks came. After Alex took a sip of her Prosecco she said, “So why dinner? Do you have more questions?”
“Yes, but I also wanted to see you. Make sure you were okay.”
She fingered the stem of her glass and sank back in her chair. It started to rain, the drops pattering against the restaurant’s plate glass window.
“When I was little my dad and I would go up to the widow’s walk and watch the storms roll in and out. Not if it was lightning, of course. And we would talk about stuff. It was really nice. Like when I would sit in his office and watch him write while I drew things in my sketchpad.”
“Did you ever draw him?”
She smiled. “All the time, with varying degrees of success.”
“Ever think you finally captured the true essence of the man?”
Alex’s smile faded. “No,” she said. “Your questions?”
“Why don’t we eat first? Might go better.”
Devine ordered kotosoupa and pastitsada with beef, while Alex had gigantes beans to start and grilled vegetables with warm pita for her dinner.
Devine took one spoonful of his soup and looked at her. “Wow.”
“I know, right?”
The main meals were just as savory.
“Okay,” said Devine. “I’m definitely coming back here. Thanks for the introduction to Putnam’s finest Greek food.”
“You’re welcome. Now, your questions?”
He set his knife and fork down, took the last sip of his beer, and said, “You ever have any interactions with Benjamin Bing?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What a strange question. Why do you ask?”
“He was the police chief back when you were attacked. I was just wondering what you thought of him, how he handled things.”
“I don’t remember dealing with him directly. Chief Harper was a sergeant then, I believe, and they had other officers, too, but my family mostly dealt with Harper.”
“How about before you were attacked? Anything with Bing?”
“I’d see him in the little Christmas parade we have every year. My father knew him quite well. It was a political friendship, I gathered. I do recall that one of the boys I went to high school with stole a car for a joyride and wrecked it while Bing was chasing him. The story was Bing pulled the boy out of the car and...”
“And what?” prompted Devine.
“Well, beat him up.”
“How did his parents take that?”
“They sided with the chief. They thought Tim deserved to be taught a lesson. It was so unfair. He only stole that car to take a girl for a ride. And if Bing hadn’t been chasing him, none of that would have happened.”
“How do you knowTimwanted to take a girl for a ride?”
Alex blushed and rubbed the condensation off her glass. “We were sort of seeing each other then. Nothing serious. We were only fifteen. Well, he was sixteen. I was always the youngest in the class.”
“Because of your late birthday and the fact that you skipped a grade.” She looked at him in surprise. “Your mother told me, with a lot of pride in her voice. She said something like ‘not even Jenny managed to do that.’”
Alex looked down and didn’t comment.
“Did Bing know you and Tim were...dating?”
