Page 36 of I Need You to Read This
He leans toward her. “Well, a couple of days prior Regina had come up to the office to meet him. She was super dressed up, so I thought they were going to one of their gala things. I said, as she was leaving, ‘Don’t worry, I booked your reservation for Wednesday night.’
“I knew as soon as she whipped around to look at me I had done something unspeakable. ‘Excuse me?’she said. I had this crazy bolt of recognition then. The reservation wasn’t for her.”
“What did you do?”
“I tried to backpedal, naturally. I felt so terrible. But she is too smart, I could see her putting things together. I think there was something that added up to her then, something about Howard.”
“That he was having an affair.”
“So, you’ve heard the rumors too?” Jonathan sighs. He puts his head in his hands for a few seconds, like he is hiding from the truth of it.
“Do you know who it was?” She is so close to the information she needs that she can almost taste it.
“No. The thing about Howard is he’s always very, very discreet,” Jonathan says. “I assumed he’d put an end to it. But then a few months later, he started looking really bad. He lost weight and his skin got that waxy look to it. The way it does now most of the time. You’ve seen it.”
“Like he’s drinking a lot?” Alex ventures meekly.
He nods, looking miserably down into the stairwell.
“But he didn’t stop wearing his wedding ring until recently. He had it on when he interviewed me a couple of weeks ago,” Alex says, confused.
“I know. I’m not sure what happened. They must have been trying to make it work and it all just fell apart. It can’t be easy to be married to Regina.”
“No,” Alex agrees. “Do you like working here, Jonathan?”
“I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that. Except my boyfriend, who is constantly trying to get me to quit.”
“He thinks it’s bad for you?”
“Look, this place is in transition. You have to understand I was devoted to this job before. I always thought it would be the place I stayed forever. Back before Francis died I was happy with that. But there has been a real shift. The vibe has changed. Everything is different now, or at least feels different. I loved her, truly. It was her who kept me from getting fired during the whole Regina debacle. So to answer your question, yes and no.”
“I wish I could have seen it then,” Alex says.
“You would have liked it, I think.” He looks down over the tops of his arms into the endless loop of the stairs. “So creepy back here, isn’t it?”
“The architect died, apparently,” Alex says, shuddering. A door opens and closes somewhere far below, echoing up through the opening.
“Oh God, how morbid. I never heard that.” He straightens up and brushes the dust off his pant legs. “Well, duty calls, I suppose.”
“No rest for the wicked,” Alex says.
“Yes, I’m sure Regina would agree.” He turns toward the door.
“Hey, Jonathan.” Alex begins to follow him. “Where did you say you made the reservation for Howard?”
“I don’t know why he always went to this place inside some old hotel.” He makes a face. “I think the bar is called the Bird or the Wren or something.”
“The Nest?” she asks, her heart pounding.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” he says as the door shuts behind him, echoing into the stairwell.
Before she follows him back into the hall, Alex pulls out her phone and texts Raymond.
Want to go out for a little fact-finding drink tonight?
THIRTY-TWO
Raymond is already standing on the corner of Eighty-Sixth Street when Alex gets there after work, rushing to arrive for their 8 p.m. meeting time. Instead of his typical T-shirt and jeans he’s got on a dark-charcoal-colored suit. It is cut wide and boxy, a style that went out of fashion a good twenty years ago. He reminds her of the detectives in the eighties shows her mom would watch as reruns when she was little. The jacket is wrinkled and the shoulders bulge hollowly. She has a feeling from the way he shuffles back and forth that he’s been there awhile already and his feet are getting tired. He lights up when he sees her approach.
