“Another dodge. How very male of you. I didn’t figure you as the typical man, but I’ve been known to misread people before.”

Walt smiled, caught off guard by Avery’s sudden probing into his personal life. He understood now, though, that her inquiry came from a natural curiosity and not from any sixth sense she had about his true intentions or the job the FBI had tapped him for. She was simply asking an obvious question. Perhaps he was thrown off because, for the past three years, none of his Jamaican friends—all men—gave a shit about what drove him to their tiny little island. Walt bought their rum and told his stories, and that was good enough for them. He had clearly spent too much time out of the presence of a woman.

“I’ve got some unfinished business here, and your call made it obvious that now was the time to take care of it.”

“Ah,” Avery said. “Some sentiment of a human being is in there after all. This unfinished business, anything you want to share with a near-perfect stranger?”

“Maybe,” he said. “But a proper drink will be needed to get into the details.”

“You need hard alcohol to talk about yourself?”

“No, the alcohol is for you so you don’t judge me.”

“Is it that bad?”

“I’ll let you decide. And it’s really not that big of a mystery,” he said, standing from the table and pointing to the bar in the other room. “Love or the law. They’re man’s only two problems in this world.”

CHAPTER 31 - Manhattan, NY Friday, July 2, 2021

CHAPTER 31

Manhattan, NY Friday, July 2, 2021

THEY MOVED TO THE BAR. IT WAS NEARLY EMPTY AT 10:00 P.M. ON A Friday night and the mass exodus of the July Fourth weekend was on full display. Only one other couple was present at the bar. Dark mahogany lined the walls and ceiling of Keens and cast everything in an auburn shadow. They sat on adjacent stools. Walt ordered a rum, Avery a vodka.

“Since you’re part of the law,” Avery said, “I’m guessing it’s love. Tell me about her.”

“It sounds so easy when you put it like that. Simple and direct.”

“I blame my bluntness on law school. They teach you to zero in on the topic and push everything else aside.”

“You went to law school?” Walt asked, forgetting for a moment that the woman in front of him had a whole other life he was supposed to know nothing about. He sensed a shift in her demeanor as her two worlds overlapped.