Sip.”
“I’ve been trained to practice law. There’s not much else I can do. I could go back to playing drums, and go on the road with Father Bob. Would you like to be our singer?”
“Only if you do ‘Ave Maria’ as a closer each night.”
“Done. What shall we call ourselves?”
“How about Sacred and Profane?”
“I like it, but which one am I?”
“Let’s think about it,” she said. “We may be able to figure it out.”
Luigi came back to the table with a basketed bottle of Chianti. “Compliments of the lady,” he said.
“Lady?” I followed Luigi’s motion across the restaurant and saw Kimberly Pincus at a table by the far wall. She was sitting with two other women. She smiled at me.
In the soft light she looked like a movie star from the 1950s. Technicolor and CinemaScope were made for Kimberly. The restaurant seemed too small.
I nodded my thanks.
“She’s beautiful,” Sister Mary said.
I snapped back to the present. “I don’t think she has a jump shot, though.”
Luigi was uncorking the bottle.
“She doesn’t need a jump shot,” Sister Mary said.
Luigi poured some wine in my glass and I went through the ritual of the cultured wine connoisseur. I almost swirled some out of my glass, like the untrained wine doofus. I tasted, and tried to come up with some clever adjectives. My mind shut down like a Teamster at four-thirty.
I gave Luigi the wine dork’s thumbs-up. He poured and left us.
“Is she a lawyer?” Sister Mary said.
“A prosecutor. City attorney’s office.”
“Ah.”
I raised my glass. “To the best investigator in the business.”
“At least the room,” Sister Mary said. We clinked and drank. And some indefinable sadness filled me. It seemed like it would only get worse if I didn’t do something.
“I’ll introduce you,” I said.
All the eyes in the place seemed to follow my investigator and me. I was used to it by now. I didn’t guess Sister Mary was.
When we got to the table Kimberly was on her feet.
“Thanks for the wine,” I said.
“My pleasure, Ty.”
“This is Sister Mary Veritas, my investigator.”
They shook hands. Kimberly introduced us to her companions. I forget the names.
“How do you like the work?” Kimberly said to Sister Mary.
“I like it.”
“Do you keep him in line?”
“I try. It takes much prayer.”
They shared a laugh.
“I’m glad you two are enjoying yourselves,” I said.
“We are, aren’t we?” Kimberly said.
“Definitely,” Sister Mary said.
Kimberly turned to me. “How’s the trial going?”
“Every day in every way,” I said.
“Maybe I’ll try to catch your closing argument. Give me a call the night before.”
I said nothing. My face got a tad warm.
“Nice meeting you, Sister,” Kimberly said.
“The same,” Sister Mary said.
When we got back to our table, Sister Mary said, “She likes you. I can see it in her eyes.”
“What’s not to like?” I said. “I’ve got the whole package, don’t I? Charm, wit, sophistication.”
“Humility, too. Maybe you and she ought to get together.”
When she said that, it was almost like a request. As if she wanted it to happen for some unnamed reason. I thought about probing a little, but decided not to. We had enough to think about without getting involved in all that.
Truth was, I didn’t want to think about it. If I did, it’d be like defusing a bomb. A chance to survive, but a chance to get blown up, too.
105
BUT THE VEAL Parmesan was a Luigi’s masterwork, and the Chianti a perfect match.
Nothing blew up or even blew around. Until we got outside.
There was a somebody next to my car at the end of the small parking lot. Whoever it was, he was bending over, looking at it.
I touched Sister Mary’s arm and pulled her back to Luigi’s front door, out of sight. “Wait here,” I said.
“What are you going to do?” she said.
“If I’m not back in five minutes, tell Luigi to bring every Sicilian he can out to the lot.”
“Wait—”
I didn’t wait. I went around the other way, circling Luigi’s. There’s a small passage between the restaurant and an antique store. Then you come to the retaining wall of Luigi’s parking lot, which is elevated in the back.
That gave me a vantage point to watch the guy, who was still eyeing my car. The lighting was dim here and I couldn’t make out much about him. Whoever he was, he was taking his time.
And he was alone.
I thought about spooking him with the alarm. But I wanted to know who it was. I was tired of not knowing.
I took off my coat and laid it on the wall.