the job prospect he’d mentioned on the phone had not materialised. There had been some other bits and pieces – a few days offloading delivery trucks for a warehouse on the West Side, a cleaning job in an office block on the fringes of the Loop when the regular cleaner had been out with the flu. And that was it.
Robert asked how he was spending his time. Duval didn’t give a very full explanation – sometimes he went to the library, he said, but otherwise he was vague about his routine. There didn’t seem to be one, and though he mentioned his parole officer, Robert couldn’t tell how often Duval was required to see the man. He did say he liked riding the bus, and Robert envisaged Duval on a series of aimless travels around the city, content just to have the freedom to move wherever the bus took him.
Duval grew more talkative as he ate, but he talked mainly about the distant past, as if he chose simply to ignore his adult years in prison – unlike an archaeologist, he didn’t sift through the layers on his journey backwards to childhood. Robert found himself colluding with this excavating leap. Perhaps it was the trip to Hyde Park with Sophie, but he was not only intrigued to watch his old friend root around, he was also happy to do this himself.
‘Do you go to church these days?’ he asked as the waitress refilled his coffee cup for the second time and delivered Duval his pie. He didn’t remember the boy Duval as especially religious; church then seemed to mean choir, and the feeding of the singers afterwards. But Duval had been reading the Bible when they’d first met here in the coffee shop.
‘I go, though not always to the same one.’
‘How about singing?’
Duval shook his head. ‘I done lost my voice. Not that there was much opportunity for singing where I been.’ He paused. ‘Squealing, yes. Singing, no.’
Squealing? Robert didn’t know what to say. On Duval’s face a strange smile was creeping into the corners of his mouth. Then he looked down at his pie, and the two men were silent while Duval ate his dessert.
Finished, Duval put down his fork and wiped his mouth carefully with his napkin. He said, ‘Do you remember how you used to sing in the back bedroom?’
Robert laughed. ‘If you could call it that. You were the singer.’
And Duval suddenly sang, quietly but loud enough for a couple near them to stare, ‘For once in my life I have people who need me, people I’ve needed so long.’
The words weren’t quite right, but the voice remained pitch perfect and clear. Robert laughed, and it looked as if Duval were going to sing some more, when a female voice said, ‘You must be Duval.’ Robert looked up, half-expecting the waitress, but it was Anna.
‘I was done early,’ she said, addressing Robert. ‘I thought I’d come by and save you the trip.’
The trip was all of two blocks. He frowned, then remembered his manners. ‘This is my wife Anna.’ Both he and Duval stood up awkwardly.
‘I don’t want to interrupt you gentlemen.’ She looked at Robert, her expression absolutely neutral. ‘I can do some shopping and meet you later at the office.’
‘No,’ said Duval. ‘Join us. I’m glad to be meeting Bobby’s wife.’ At the name ‘Bobby’ she looked surprised, then amused. Duval got a chair from a nearby table and Anna sat down between them.
‘So how’s it going?’ she said pleasantly to Duval. She wore a cheerful summer dress, a print frock of small cherries on a white cotton background – but looked tired.
‘Just fine,’ said Duval. He had gone back into shy mode, sitting with his hands together like a pious student. ‘We was just talking about old times. We used to sing together when we was little.’
‘You did?’ Anna was laughing. ‘You must have been the lead then. Robert’s got a tin ear as far as I can tell.’
‘Thanks,’ Robert said, watching her.
She looked around at the coffee shop. ‘So is this your new hangout?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ said Duval, sensing a joke.
‘It’s where the best folks come to eat the big dinner,’ said Robert. ‘You want some coffee?’
Anna shook her head. ‘No, thanks.’ She laid a tanned arm lightly on the table. ‘Well, Duval,’ she said, then paused. Robert watched her lips press together as she weighed up her words. He was pretty sure he knew what was coming. Robert’s told me about your