Page 21 of Paranoia

“I usually get some specifics.”

“And I usually don’t talk to people. So let’s meet halfway.”

The priest was a little more tentative. “Did you hurt someone?”

“You could say that from one perspective.”

“What about from another perspective?”

“I’m helping someone else.”

The priest was clearly frustrated but after a brief further interaction gave Doyle a penance far too light for his sins.

Doyle didn’t feel any better as he walked away from the confessional toward the front door. His penance was nothing compared to his horrendous actions recently. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his leather wallet withFORT BRAGGinscribed in black. He pulled out all of his cash, about three hundred bucks, and stuffed it into the donation box next to the exit.

CHAPTER 32

ROB TRILLING FELT nervous. He took a moment to check himself in the rearview mirror of his car. He smoothed out the cowlick on the left side of his head and wished he had a little more fashion sense. Pretty much his only system was a simple one his grandfather had taught him. If he wore tan pants, he matched them with a dark shirt. If he wore blue pants, he matched them with a light shirt. His sister tried to update his wardrobe occasionally, but Rob always fell back on his grandfather’s color schemes.

He slipped out of the car and walked two blocks to the café. He’d driven past it once to make sure he knew exactly where it was. He didn’t want to make any mistakes or be late. He checked his watch for about the tenth time, then turned the corner.

Rob took a deep breath and marched directly to a table on the sidewalk in front of the café. He smiled and said, “Hope I’m not late.”

Mariah Wilson, the pretty paramedic he’d met yesterday, smiled back and said, “Right on time. I don’t know why when someone’s late, everyone at the fire department likes to say they’re on ‘NYPD time.’”

He liked that she felt she could joke with him. He sat across from her and ordered a Diet Coke when the waiter came by.

She held the stem of her glass of white wine. “I’m not on duty today. I can drink at lunch.”

Her smile captivated him. And made him more nervous. He’d been thrilled to get her lunch invitation, but he still wasn’t sure if he should be treating this as a first date or a friendly meal. Either way, he intended to use all of his limited interpersonal skills.

They immediately bonded over the fact that they were both relatively new city employees. Unlike Rob, however, Mariah had grown up in New York, on Staten Island. Her father was an administrator for the city’s public works department. She had been a paramedic for only ten months.

Mariah said, “I’m glad you could meet me.”

“I needed a break. Trust me, I was looking forward to this all morning.”

“I generally work one day on, two days off. That gives me more time to spend with my parents and little sister. Are you close with your family?”

“Some of them. My sister lives north of the city in Putnam County and I get to visit her quite a bit. Right now my mom and grandfather are over from Bozeman, Montana, visiting her. I’ll try to get up and see all of them together as much as I can while they’re here.”

“Are you close with your dad too?”

Rob hesitated. Heknewthe answer. He hadn’t really seen hisfather since he was a child. He just wasn’t clear on what he should say. He settled on “Not as close as I should be.” That was the truth.

As Rob paid the lunch bill, he noticed something behind him catch Mariah’s attention. Her eyes flickered up and then she did a double take. He looked over his shoulder to see a muscle-bound guy in his early twenties walking toward them.

Mariah mumbled, “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My ex-boyfriend.”

Now Rob Trilling was starting to remember all the problems involved in dating.

CHAPTER 33

I’D DONE ALL I could do at Roger Dzoriack’s apartment. Now I was back at the office, poring over anything I could find on philanthropic Bronx criminal Richard Deason’s family. Walter Jackson had been able to find the records of marriage and the birth of the son. The divorce decree was harder to find, but everything was in order.

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