Page 60 of My Rock Star Neighbor
We leave the tent and head south, Nick leading us.
He coughs.
We stop and put the stage frame down.
“Are you talking about work on a day like this?”Pommer asks.
“Yes.The turnaround time for these new contractors is taking too long,” Ward says.“I’m noting it now before Commissioner Johnson asks me to write it up formally.I’m doing Beatrice a favor by telling her this in person so she can fix it before she receives a formal complaint letter from Commissioner Johnson.”
“Yes, I appreciate the heads-up,” she says.
The sound of drilling hides the next bit of conversation.Why are they allowed to drill on weekends?
We pick up the frame again.It will look too suspicious if we stay too long, anyway.
We carry it to the truck, where Amira and José help us load in.Amira suggests I sit in the front because I might be able to watch the rest of their interaction.I clamber into the truck’s passenger seat.
Beatrice hands Pommer a book.I’m too far away to see the title.
Ward is also holding a book—he wasn’t before.
Did she give them both books as gifts?I need to see the titles.Maybe she slipped money into the books.
I exit the passenger side and slip behind the truck in front of ours.Keeping to the street side of the truck, I inch back up to where the three of them are standing.
“One of our tenants recently passed away, and her son asked me if I wanted any of the books.He knows how much I like to read.I saw this and immediately thought of you,” Beatrice is saying.
I peek through the space between the cars and take a photo.I then enlarge the photo for a better look.The title is something with playgrounds.And the book for Ward isStreets of New York.
“I can’t accept gifts over fifty dollars,” Pommer says.
“It didn’t cost me anything,” she says.“Otherwise, it’s probably going in the dumpster.That’s where most of the books went.I saved some for our laundry library and donated some to Housing Works, but the son has no interest in doing that.There’s only so many of them that I could carry.”
“Let me look at how much it costs and give you a check,” Pommer says.
“Mine is under the fifty-dollar limit,” Ward says.“Thanks so much for this New York history book.”
“But those books add up, don’t they?”Pommer asks.
Ward looks over, and I pull back behind the car.I can’t see or hear them now because the drilling has started again.My phone buzzes in my hoodie pocket.
Nick:They’re walking away now.Both carrying books.
Nick:Something dropped out of Ward’s book
I take a chance and peek around the car.It’s something long and rectangular.It could be a thin envelope—or a bookmark.
I want to run up and talk to them to get a closer look at the books.Is it a hollowed-out book that holds the bribe money?I wait until they disappear out of sight and then scurry over to pick up what dropped.It’s a bookmark for a book titledCaper Crush.Not an envelope with money.
Beatrice knows both Pommer and Ward well enough that she gives them tailored book gifts.Galliano had no independent interaction with her, but he may be afraid to interact with her in public if he’s the one getting the payments.Galliano also knows about the quid pro quo payments, and it doesn’t seem like his daughter is in on it.
These books add up.Did Pommer mean something by that?No way Ward is getting his cut in books.Those were not rare books.But Ward did stop by the library a lot when I followed him.Are Pommer and Ward in it together?They could have ganged up on Galliano.
These seem like clues, but I need to figure out what they mean.
Chapter sixteen
Nick
