Page 68 of A Breath of Life
Another grunt. Diem continued his circuit of the building.
“Full incommunicado mode, I see. Aww, the good old days. I’d say I miss them, but I don’t. What are we doing?”
Diem didn’t answer.
“We can come back tomorrow,” I suggested. “Maybe Clarence stepped out, and…” A thought struck. “Hey, D? Why do you think he discharged himself from the hospital? I mean, the guy was stabbed. On that note. Shouldn’t he be home resting?”
Diem paused on a service road beside a line of dumpsters at the back of the building. Echo sniffed at the extreme reaches of her leash. The balconies didn’t extend to this side, but a line of windows in a neat rowclimbed to the top floor. I assumed they marked the ends of interior hallways.
With hands on his hips, Diem stared, studied, and squinted as though piecing something together.
“Hello? Earth to Diem. What are we doing?” I asked again.
My surly boyfriend still didn’t answer. He grumbled something appropriately incoherent and returned to the main street and front of the building, studying it anew.
“Oh, good grief.” I rolled my eyes and waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Echo got bored and lay at Diem’s feet with an appropriate huff.
“Same, girl. Same.”
We’d parked half a block away, around a corner and down a short street. When I glanced in that direction, longing to call it a day, who did I see sauntering along the sidewalk but Mr. Converse Shoes himself.
“Oh fuck.” I rerouted my attention to the dog as though I hadn’t noticed, but surreptitiously watched the man’s approach.
By now, I recognized him despite the new accessories he had acquired. He carried a backpack over one shoulder and wore sunglasses. The ever-present phone remained pressed to his ear. That time, a one-sided conversation drifted toward me, but it wasn’t English.
My skin prickled. How had he found us? We’d left the restaurant and driven away before he exited. I’d watched for him. I didn’t have answers, but the fact was, he’d discovered our location. Somehow.
Again, I contemplated warning Diem, who was so focused on the building that he was oblivious to our incoming guest.
So far, the guy hadn’t made a physical threat against us, nor did he look capable on his own, but my hackles rose, and I moved to putDiem between us. The man’s frame wasn’t much bigger than mine, but my tank of a boyfriend could crush him under a boot like an ant if he wanted to.
“We’ll come back later,” Diem announced as the guy passed by the front of the building and continued down the road.
Echo didn’t make the connection, and Diem remained oblivious.
I didn’t stare after the guy but watched my boyfriend instead, waiting for him to turn and look, waiting for him to realize what I’d realized back at the bus stop. Nope. Nothing. Diem’s scrutiny, although astute, remained fixed on places in the distance or the task at hand.
Not once did he notice the tail right in front of his eyes.
“Why don’t we buzz the landlord and leave the card with him?” I suggested. “He can give it to Clarence.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“We need to hand-deliver it.”
Admittedly, the card was worth too much to entrust it to a nobody landlord, but it wasn’t like Clarence was especially concerned over it since he’d unloaded it onto us the other night without blinking.
“Why later? Why not come back in the morning on our way to the office?” The sun was nearly down, and with a random guy following us, I wanted to get home before the cloak of darkness gave him a reason to step from the shadow.
“No.” Diem marched down the street toward the Jeep. It wasn’t up for debate. He’d decided, and as always, I would follow.
