“Nine forty-seven last night,” I tell him. “I am sure because I looked at my watch.”
He glances at me,then enters something on his hand-comp.
“Do you park in the same spot every time?”
“Usually,” I say. “The parking places aren’t numbered, and sometimes someone else is there when I get home from work.”
“You got home from work at nine”—he glances down at his hand-comp —“forty-seven last-night? ”
“No, sir,” I say. “I got home from work at five fifty-two, and then I went—” I don’t want to say “to my fencing class.” What if he thinks there is something wrong with fencing?With me fencing? “To a friend’s house,” I say instead.
“Is this someone you visit often?”
“Yes. Every week.”
“Were there other people there?”
Of course there were other people there. Why would I go visit someone if nobody but me was there?
“My friends who live in that house were there,” I say. “And some people who do not live in that house.”
He blinks and looks briefly at Mr. Bryce. I do not know what that look means. “Ah… do you know these other people? Who didn’t live in the house? Was it a party?”
Too many questions. I do not know which to answer first. These other people ? Does he meant the people at Tom and Lucia’s who were not Tom and Lucia? Who didn’t live in the house ? Most people did not live in that house… do not live in that house. Out of the billions of people in the world, only two people live in that house and that is… less than one-millionth of one percent.
“It was not a party,” I say, because that is the easiest question to answer.
“I know you go out every Wednesday night,” Mr. Bryce says. ‘Sometimes you’re carrying a duffel bag—I thought maybe you went to a gym. “
If they talk to Tom or Lucia, they will find out about the fencing. I will have to tell them now. “It is… it is a fencing… fencing class,” I say. I hate it when I stutter or maze.
“Fencing?I’ve never seen you with blades,” Mr. Bryce says. He sounds surprised and also interested.
“I—I keep my things at their house,” I say. “They are my instructors. I do not want to have things like that in my car or in my apartment.”
“So—you went to a friend’s house for a fencing class,” the other policeman says. “And you’ve been doing it—how long?”
“Five years,” I say.
“So anyone who wanted to mess with your car would know that? Would know where you were on Wednesday nights?”
“Maybe…” I don’t think that, really. I think someone who wanted to damage my car would know where I lived, not where I went when I went out.
“You get along with these people okay?” the officer asks.
“Yes.” I think it is a silly question; I would not keep going for five years if they weren’t nice people.
“We’ll need a name and contact number.”
I give him Tom’s and Lucia’s names and their primary contact number. I do not understand why he needs that, because the car was not damaged at Tom and Lucia’s house, but here.
“Probably just vandals,” the officer says. “This neighborhood’s been quiet for a while, but over across Broadway there’ve been a lot of tire slashings and broken windshields. Some kid decided it was getting hot over there and came over here. Something could’ve scared him before he did more than yours.” He turned to Mr. Bryce. “Let me know if anything else happens, okay?”
“Sure.”
The officer’s hand-comp buzzes and extrudes a slip of paper. “Here you are—report, case number, investigating officer, everything you need for your insurance claim.” He hands me the paper. I feel stupid; I have no idea what to do with it. He turns away.
Mr. Bryce looks at me. “Lou, do you know who to call about the tires?”
“No…” I am more worried about work than about the tires. If I do not have a car, I can ride public transit, but if I lose the job because I am late again, I will have nothing.
“You need to contact your insurance company, and you need to get someone to replace those tires.”
Replacing the tires will be expensive. I do not know how I can drive the car to the auto center on four flat tires.
“You want some help?”
I want the day to be some other day, when I am in my car and driving to work on time. I do not know what to say; I want help only