24. Harry
24
HARRY
Ruby tosses and turns all night, and only settles when I spoon her from behind and stroke her hair away from her clammy face, whispering to her that she doesn’t need to worry about anything. That’s what I’m here for.
The temperature in the room is comfortable, not too hot and not too cold, but despite the sweat beading on her forehead, she is shivering. I cover her with the comforter and call Lizzie.
“How did it go?” She’s talking about the trip to Diablo Lake, but I can’t stop the image of my father from popping into my head.
“Another dead end.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Harry. I hoped this one was going to bring you some closure.”
“Me too.” I glance at Ruby in the bed, her face pale against the pillow, her eyelids fluttering. “Any messages for me from Carlos Russo?”
“Yes. He said good news and bad news, but he has a proposition for you.”
“Did he say what it is?” I already know that Carlos will want to tell me himself.
“No, but he’s eager to see you today. I get the impression that if you don’t act quickly, it will be too late.”
“Can you book me on the next flight back to New York?”
“Just one ticket?” I can hear Lizzie’s smile.
“Yes. For now.”
Ruby stirs. Kneeling beside her, I study her face. Her cheeks are warm and rosy. “How do you feel?”
She swallows hard and rotates her shoulders. “Fine. Who were you talking to?”
“Lizzie. Alessandro’s brother, Carlos, has a business proposition for me.”
“You’re flying back to New York today?”
“I don’t have to. Carlos can wait, Ruby. You’re way more important to me than any business proposition.”
Her eyelids flicker as she shifts her gaze from me to the telephone like she might be able to erase the call with the power of her mind. “Of course, you must go.” She smiles.
But I’m not convinced. I thought she had a temperature in the night, and I don’t ever want her to think that she comes second to my work.
“Harry, I’m fine.”
Clutching the comforter to her naked breasts, she rises onto her knees and kisses me on the lips. Before I can tug the covers away from her, my erection is already growing, she seems to fold in on herself, like a flower curling up for the night.
The pain passes, and she gives me a weak smile. “Period pains, that’s all.” She twists her mouth into a lopsided grin. “I don’t want you to think that I’m a wimp.”
“What can I get you? Do you need anything?”
“Tylenol. I have some in my purse.”
I fetch the packet and the glass of water on the nightstand and pop the tablets into the palm of her hand. I wait for her to swallow. “Better?”
“Better. I’ll be fine by tonight.” She sits back on the bed, the comforter bunched up around her. “You don’t have to worry about me, Harry. I’m a big girl now.”
“But I do worry about you, Ruby, and the sooner you get used to it, the better.”
She nods. “I knew you were only staying a couple of days. I-I just wish last night hadn’t been such a disaster.”
“Last night was last night, and today is today. Whatever they think, I’m going to marry you in six weeks, Ruby, and I’m going to make you the happiest woman alive. Promise.” Because that’s one I can keep. I stand up and retrieve my carry-on from the closet. “You have a wedding to plan, don’t forget.”
“How could I forget?”
By the time I’ve showered, dressed, and repacked my clothes, Ruby is asleep. Her eyelids flicker open when I lean over her and kiss her goodbye.
“Promise me you’ll call if you don’t feel well.”
“I’m fine, Harry. I’m just going to doze a little longer.”
“Promise me, Ruby, or I’ll have to fuck you again before I go.”
“Hmm… How can I resist an offer like that?” She smiles mischievously, her eyes slanting sideways. I grab the comforter to pull it off her, and she grips it tightly. “Okay, okay, I promise.”
Her eyes follow me to the door, and I can’t wait for us to live together so that I don’t have to do this anymore.
Carlos is waiting for me in the office.
“I’m not sure we can recover all the money owed to you,” he says, adding cream to the cup of coffee Lizzie has placed in front of him, “but I have a joint venture that I think might interest you.”
I sit down. I haven’t stopped thinking about Ruby since I left the Drake Hotel, and I need to get my head into gear and pay attention. This is our future now, mine and Ruby’s, I’m not just doing this for me.
“I have a contact in Saudi,” Carlos continues. “He is looking to expand his income from the States, and I think that a deal will be mutually beneficial to everyone concerned.”
He runs through what the joint venture would mean to his company and Weiss Petroleum and shakes my hand before he leaves. “We are like brothers, you and I. We look after each other.”
I don’t know how I’ll ever repay him for his generosity, or even express how grateful I am that he has taken me under his wing when I need him most.
As if reading my mind, he says, “One day, I might not be in such a fortunate position, and then you will have your chance.” His booming voice follows him from the office and past Lizzie’s desk to the elevator.
I stand, remove my jacket, and walk to the window. Ruby and I haven’t even discussed where we’ll live once we’re married, but I realize that I’d just assumed that she would come here. My office is here. My family—what’s left of it. I would say my life too, but, apart from Ronnie, my friends are scattered around the country now like dandelion seeds.
And Ruby won’t want to be far from her dad.
“I swear I can still hear him talking outside the building.” Lizzie is standing in the doorway, and I didn’t even hear it open. “Can I send out for some lunch for you?”
“Please, Lizzie.”
I turn back to the window, searching for Carlos Russo outside, as my gaze settles on a man in a black coat standing on the other side of the street, staring up at my window. Our eyes meet, and he doesn’t look away.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. I grab my jacket off the back of my chair and make my way outside. “I’ve changed my mind,” I tell Lizzie. “I’ll grab my own lunch.”
The man is gone by the time I walk out of the lobby. I scan the street, left and right, for a glimpse of a black coat and find that everyone in the damned city is wearing black today. Everyone is drab, wearing their gray winter faces along with their hats and scarves.
I turn left. I figure it’s fifty-fifty whether I’ve chosen the right way but pointing him out in a sea filled with moving black overcoats will be like finding the ant that stole your last crumb. Because now, every face I see appears to be looking at me. Eyes following me everywhere, and I wonder again if I have imagined the whole thing.
Only I know what I saw in Chicago, and people generally don’t vanish in restrooms.
I grab a salted pretzel from a street seller and make my way back to the office, my thoughts drifting back to Ruby. Carlos may have set us up to rise above our competitors, but he’s been making waves on my behalf, and it’s entirely possible that he has upset a few folks along the way. If someone is having me followed, they will already know about Ruby, and the last thing she needs right now is a stranger gatecrashing her life because they have a beef with me.
Back in the office, I ask Lizzie to hold my calls. I contact the PI who has been trying to track down my sister.
“I was about to call you.” His voice is naturally cautious as if he has spent too much time investigating shady characters and has lost faith in his fellow man. “I have a lead on Melanie. A potential sighting in Hawaii.”
Hawaii?
Before she disappeared, my sister never travelled outside the city unless it was to visit our grandparents and cousins. This doesn’t sit right with me now. I couldn’t overlook Washington State, but I draw the line at Hawaii. It’s almost as if someone doesn’t want me here in New York City, someone perhaps, who can’t afford to settle their invoices.
“I’m calling off the search.”
Pause. “I know we’ve had a few bum leads, but I think we’re closing in on her,” he says, still in that same monotone.
“I’ve changed my mind.” I don’t want his excuses in exchange for the money I transfer into his bank account every month. “Send me your final invoice, and then we’re done.”
“Wait, is that?—”
I cut him off. Ronnie gave me the number for another PI, and I dial it now. It rings and rings, and a woman finally answers as I’m about to hang up.
“Pagan PI.” She has a faint accent, one that I can’t quite place. I ask to speak to Mr. Pagan and am rewarded with a sigh. “You’re speaking to Ms. Pagan. I’m all you’re going to get, so if it’s a man you’re after, maybe try one of the shysters who operate out of Brooklyn.”
I sense the phone being replaced and blurt out, “No, wait. I’m sorry. I need someone to keep an eye on my fiancée in Chicago.”
Pause. “I cut my PI teeth on cheating partners; it’s not something I want to get involved in again.”
“She isn’t cheating on me.” I like this woman already, and I have a feeling that Ruby would like her to. “I think she might be in danger.”
“Okay, now you’re talking.”
My next call is to Ruby’s home.
Celia answers. She and my father might’ve tried intimidating me and Ruby into calling off the engagement, but she doesn’t scare me.
“Ruby isn’t feeling great,” she says when I ask to speak to her.
“What’s wrong? Is she sick? Has she seen a doctor?” I fucking knew I shouldn’t have left her this morning.
“She’s sleeping right now, Harry. I don’t want to disturb her.” Her tone is almost pleasant like she can switch it on and off when it suits her, and I can’t help thinking that my father would’ve met his match in Celia Jackson.
“No, I understand. What did the doctor say?”
“I haven’t called the doctor. It’s just stomach cramps, Ruby always suffers with them. And anyway, she has me to look after her.”
“Will you tell her I called?”
“Sure. Any message?”
“No… Just tell her that I’m worried about her.”
“No need to worry. It’s just Ruby being overdramatic. Luckily she was at home when it happened and not in a strange country where she would’ve had no one to look after her.”
There was no mistaking that this was a dig at me.
“I would’ve looked after her.”
“Hmm, didn’t you cut and run back to New York this morning?”
“I had a meeting I couldn’t get out of.” I can’t even think why I said that, but I do believe that the less Celia Jackson knows about my affairs the better. “Ruby told me it was nothing.”
“And you believed her, of course you did.”
“I’d have stayed if she wanted me to.” I’m disappointed at the pleading tone in my own voice. I shouldn’t have to justify my actions to this woman who has made it quite clear that she doesn’t want me in her daughter’s life. “Please tell her I’ll call again later.”
The line goes dead, and I’m left staring at the silent handset.
Sitting at my desk, I replay the conversation in my head. I can’t help thinking that this has played straight into Celia’s hands. I’m here, and Ruby is there, exactly where she wants her.
The meal that never happened has left a sour taste in my mouth. My dad’s behavior was appalling, like a child who didn’t get a shot at the ball because the other kids were faster than him, but he’s still my dad, and if I don’t try to clear the air one last time, I know it will always be hanging over my head.
I call home. No answer.
I try the hotel in Chicago where he was staying, and the receptionist tells me that he checked out earlier today. I even try calling his cleaning lady, who tells me that he fired her a couple of days ago.
So, where the fuck has he gone?