Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
John put the Styrofoam cup to his lips and took a sip of coffee.
He was in the passenger seat of the Daddy Guard van, watching the street and Loews hotel.
In the driver’s seat, Jack said, “You know that coffee is technically illegal.”
“What?”
“I guess the coffee isn’t. But the cup that holds it is. It’s Styrofoam. Banned this last year.”
John held the thick white cup up and inspected it. “No kidding?” He thought back and remembered hearing something about a new city ordinance. Or maybe it was a statewide thing. “I forgot all about that.”
The two watched the scene in front of them in silence for a few minutes. Ahead, a billboard for an attorney towered over the street, but it was the only one that wasn’t advertising a movie or TV show. Even the ads on the buses and plastered on the bus stops were for upcoming releases.
Tourists came in and out of the hotel and the parking garage beside it. They walked on both sides of the sidewalk. A few individuals who looked to be unhoused shuffled into a building’s doorway and sat down.
Some guy clearly leading a walking tour of some kind stopped not far from the van and used his hands to gesture about and tell a story to a group of five people who stood before him, listening intently.
After a minute, they all moved on.
“So how come that bodega still sold this to me?” John asked.
“Probably bought their cups in bulk before the law went into effect and they are waiting until they run out of ‘em to buy paper ones.” Jack picked up his own coffee from the cupholder on the console and took a sip. “Everyone prefers the Styrofoam ones anyway.”
“The cops don’t care?” John asked.
“Hell no. You know how it is. This city has a lot bigger problems than what kind of cups people prefer their coffee in. I’m sure some pencil-pushing inspectors will come by and inspect all the bodegas and restaurants at some point.
But there are so many of them, it’ll take them years to get them all. ”
John looked over at him and grinned. “I’m glad you aren’t a dick cop. Some are, you know.”
Jack threw his head back and laughed, his body shaking so much that a little bit of coffee sloshed over the side onto his finger. He didn’t seem to mind the heat. “I can’t argue with that.”
Across the street, several cars turned into the circular drive.
With all the traffic over there—and the bellhops and valets going about their work—it was hard to make out people in great detail. The distance didn’t help either.
But John could make out enough to feel pretty confident in what he was seeing.
“What the hell?” Without taking his eyes off the scene before him, he put his coffee in the cupholder and opened his door. His boots were on the sidewalk in seconds.
“What’s up?” Jack called as he got out of the car.
John stood there for a moment but didn’t waste much time before he waited for a break in traffic and darted across the road. “That’s Trixie! I swear Trixie just got out of that silver Honda that pulled in and drove away.”
“I’ll call Athena,” he heard Jack say.
John didn’t know what was going on, but he sure intended to find out.
And quickly. Before his Little girl got hurt.