The 6:20 Man

“In my world, if you want to make it to the next round, you have to work your ass off and beat the other guys.”

“Sounds like a fast track to a heart attack.”

“Maybe. I guess you know pretty much everybody here?”

“No, not everybody. There are always new faces. Brad knows lots of people.”

“So, when you’re not here, where do you go?”

“I have a little walk-up apartment in SoHo,” she said.

He didn’t ask if Cowl had arranged it for her. He didn’t have to. She hadn’t mentioned having a job, and it didn’t sound like she came from money since she had been staying in a hostel in Italy. And even little walk-ups in New York were not cheap, particularly in SoHo.

“Do you work around there?”

She ignored the query and said, “Maybe I’ll see you sometime. Or you could come by here and go for a swim with me, maybe late at night when Brad’s not here. He stays at his penthouse a lot.”

This one caught him like a left hook. “I’m not sure how my boss would feel about my swimming with you alone at night. No, I am sure how he’d feel about it. He’d fire me.”

“Why? I’m his girlfriend, not his wife.”

“Who knows, you might end up being his wife.”

“Not in the cards. I don’t want that, and neither does he. He’ll trade me in for a younger model at some point.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t feel anything about it.”

“So what’s in it for you?” he asked.

“Just something . . . different. So, how about that swim? You game?”

Devine was having a hard time keeping up with her. “I imagine a place like this is loaded with help, servants, whatever you want to call them. Lots of wandering eyes to tell on us.”

“Like they would care. Brad treats them like crap.”

“If he’s that kind of a guy, why do you stay with him?”

“You assume I have a choice.”

“Don’t you?”

“Give me your phone number. I can text you my address if coming here makes you nervous.”

For some reason that was not entirely clear to him, Devine told her his number and Montgomery put it in her phone.

“Now I see Brad coming. So I’ll say goodbye.” She added, “I’ll be at my place tomorrow night. I’ll text you the address. Just in case you’re interested.”

She walked off as Devine turned to see Cowl bearing down on him like an Abrams tank.