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“Anything,” I said.
“If we’re going to do this, then it can’t get…complicated. I couldn’t do that to Macy.”
“I understand.”
“We need to be friends from now on. Nothing more.”
“Okay,” I said, and felt a hopeless, rising tide of misery. I was getting what I wanted from Lola. But I also understood that, in some sense, I was losing her.
I was gaining a wife, but losing my lover.
“Okay,” she said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go pick up Macy.”
“I’ll call for the car,” I said.
And that was how I got engaged to Lola Ryder.
***
“There’s a lot to do,” said Lola. We were in the car, by the bus terminal. “If you want to make this convincing, that is.”
“I know,” I said. “To be honest, I’m wondering how I’ll even pull it off.”
“Well, don’t shut me out this time,” said Lola to me, and I felt a curious resentment. How much more could she have shut me out than she already had?
I nodded. I hugged her, gently, the way you might hug a friend. And she got out of the car, and I saw her walk to the bus terminal. Part of me wanted to stay, to linger on the sight of her, the graceful, balletic way in which she walked, or how she tossed her hair confidently over her shoulder every time she crossed a street.
But I knew that if I stayed, the dream would be over, that I’d see her meet her kid, the one with the piercing blue eyes. And I’d see a glimpse of a life that could never be mine.
“Back to the apartment, please,” I said to my driver.
As we drove slowly away, and the towering city blocks rose up around me, I got a call on my phone.
“Hello?” I said, answering it.
“Mr. Lowe. This is Inspector O’Rourke. Russell O’Rourke. You remember me?”
How could I forget?“What can I do for you?” I said between gritted teeth.
“Not a lot. This is, how can I put it. A social call.”
What does he mean by that?“I’d appreciate it if we saved the social calls for after my name’s been cleared, Detective.”
“Well, maybe it’s not so social. Your accountant turned over the company’s expense accounts to me and my office, did you know that?”
“Of course.” I’d had everything given over to the NYPD. Showing full compliance with the investigation and proving I ran a clean house was going to help clear my name, after all.
“Now, you told me that you turned Luca DeSilva loose on the 15thof the month, is that right?”
“That’s right. He retains his stake in the restaurants and bars, but he’s no longer a member of the company.”
“So could you tell me why, Alex, Luca made a trip to Philadelphia the week after he was fired from working at the company?”
“Philadelphia?” I said.
And then, it all clicked.
Luca had gone to Philadelphia. And something he’d done there had meant he’d be able to come back with the forgery of my birth certificate. I knew it.
