Madly (New York 2)

Winston ran over the numbers Chasity had been pointing to. Added them up. Added them up again.

“Jesus. There’s probably close to three million in withdrawals over this period.”

“Right. You’d probably ask, if only to make sure you were managing well for someone who had started spending. A lot of these withdrawals are for five or ten K at a time, he probably talks to someone different on the floor every call. He’s keeping a low profile.”

“What the hell is he up to?”

Chasity pushed away from his desk, her drawn-on eyebrows lifted high. “He’s doing what he does. He’s Justice.”

“That’s a lot of art supplies.”

Chasity shook her head, very slowly, like he was a child on notice for annoying a dinner party. “He’s Justice. You’re aware of the art that he does, right?”

“Big things? Sort of in the streets and what-have-you?”

“I can’t even with you. Yeah. Big stuff. Like, he wrapped the goddamned Statue of Liberty in black nylon. One day, there she is all inspiring and green, the next day, creepy fucking bullshit out in that harbor. Don’t you get the paper in England?”

“You think he’s getting ready to exhibit something.”

“I don’t even think these withdrawals represent costs he accrued for a project. He usually has some private investor who funds these stunts. I think it’s ready to launch, somewhere, someplace in the city, and these are the costs leading right up to when it’s happening. Party planning. And if he’s called your friend’s ma here out of the blue, and she’s disappeared in the city with him, I think it’s pretty likely she’s a part of it.”

Winston stared at the spot in the corner where the ceiling tiles didn’t quite align. She had to be right, but he needed to verify her assumptions, and then to find the means to turn this information into action.

Speaking with Justice was out of the question. What else was there?

“Big stuff,” he said aloud. “Public stuff. If it’s public—when he did the Statue of Liberty, did he get in trouble? Get arrested?”

“No, he had a permit, arranged it with the city and the harbor authority. It was a big fucking mound of paperwork for somebody.”

“Can you find out if he’s doing that now? Arranging permits, hiring off-duty police for security, whatever he’d have to do to make a big public event work?”

Chasity leaned back in her chair, cracking her back so thoroughly that Winston worried she broke it. When she sat up, she gave him the crocodile look again. “You swear this is to help find this woman’s mother? That’s it, that’s your whole interest?”

He considered the wisdom of telling her that Justice was also Allie’s biological father, but it seemed beside the point, and not his secret to reveal.

“I care about Allie. I wasn’t going to help her, because there’s such a terrible conflict of interest, but…Bea. I had a dreadful fight with Bea. She compelled me to see it wouldn’t be right not to try to help, and I admit I didn’t feel right doing nothing when I had this connection.”

“Bea somehow has her head on straight, for a kid. Thing is, I’d do anything for my ma. She worked herself sick taking care of us kids. If anything like this happened to her, I’d flip my shit. This lady’s married, you say? It’s strange behavior for her?”

“Allie seemed quite motivated to get her home. Regardless of whatever decision her mother makes, she feels her mother isn’t thinking it through right now, and is…caught up in something.”

“Lemme make some calls. My brother Jeremy works dispatch in Harlem. He’d tell me where to start to look for something like this.”

“Thank you.”

She stopped at the threshold of his office. “If this comes out, just to be clear, you’re the one taking all the blame for it. I’m just following orders, right?”

Winston froze. He hadn’t stopped to consider that by sharing the truth with Chasity, he also exposed her to danger. “Wait a moment. I think—You know, it’s better if I make the calls. How do they work, the permit offices, in the States? Do I call the directory and ask for the office number or—”

He stopped because she was making a sound he’d never heard before, bent over at the waist. She smacked the door frame, hard, and straightened. Chasity was laughing. “Oh my God, like I’d let you handle it. You couldn’t find your ass with both hands, no offense. ‘Do I call the directory?’ Yeah, call the directory, see if they’ll give you directions to your apartment.” She was laughing so hard, she wasn’t making any noise except for an alarming high-pitched squeak.

He let it go.

Honestly.

“Don’t worry about me. You must know I could get a job anywhere in the city. Martha goddamned Stewart called me the other day and offered me a job, and lemme tell you, she does not like the word no. You just be grateful I got that fat bonus last quarter.”

He did feel grateful, actually.