The Righteous Men (2006) Read Free Page A

pastrami
sandwich; the folks reading first editions of the morning papers, scanning the
pages for notices of their latest hit or flop, their cups constantly refilled
with steaming brown liquid — it was all so New York. He wanted the
waitresses to look harried, he liked it when people butted in line — it
all confirmed what he knew was a tourist’s fantasy of the big city. He
suspected he should be over this by now: he had, after all, lived in America
for more than five years. But he could not pretend to be a native.
    He got there first, bagging a table behind a noisy group of middle-aged
couples. He caught snatches of conversation, enough to work out they were not
Manhattanites, but in from Jersey. He guessed they had taken in a show, almost certainly
a long-running musical, and were now completing their New York experience with
a past-midnight snack.
    Then he saw her. Will paused for a split second before waving, just to take
a good look. They had met in his very last weeks at Columbia and he had fallen
hard and fast. Her looks could still make his insides leap: the long dark hair framing
pale skin and wide, green eyes. One look and you could not tear yourself away.
Those eyes were like deep, cool pools — and he wanted to dive in.
    He jumped up to meet her, instantly taking in her scent.
    It began in her hair, with an aroma of sunshine and dewberries that might
once have come from a shampoo, but combined with her skin to produce a new
perfume, one that was entirely her own. Its epicentre was the inch or two of skin
just below her ear. He only had to nuzzle into that nook to be filled with her.
    Now it was the mouth that drew him. Beth’s lips were full and thick;
he could feel their plumpness as he kissed them.
    Without warning, they parted, just enough to let her tongue brush against
his lips, then meet his own. Quietly, so quietly no one but him could hear it,
she let out a tiny moan, a sound of pleasure that roused him instantly. He
hardened.
    She could feel it, prompting another moan, this time of surprise and
approval.
    ‘You are pleased to see me.’ Now she was sitting opposite him,
shrugging off her coat with a suggestive wriggle. She saw him looking. ‘You
checking me out?’
    ‘You could say that.’
    She grinned. ‘What are we going to eat? I thought cheesecake and hot
chocolate, although maybe tea would be good…’
    Will was still staring at his wife, watching the way her top stretched
across her breasts. He was wondering if they should abandon the Carnegie and go
straight back to their big warm bed.
    ‘What?’ she said, feigning indignation. ‘Concentrate!’
    His pastrami sandwich, piled high and deluged with mustard, arrived just as
he was telling her about the treatment he had got from the old-timers at the
murder scene.
    ‘So Carl whatsisname—’
    ‘The TV guy?’
    ‘Yeah, he’s giving the policewoman all this Raymond Chandler,
veteran gumshoe stuff—’
    ‘Give me a break here, you know I got a lawyer friend downtown.’
    ‘Exactly. And I’m Mr Novice from the effete New York Times —’
    ‘Not so effete from what I saw a few minutes ago.’ She raised
her eyebrows.
    ‘Can I get to the end?’
    ‘Sorry.’ She got back to her cheesecake, not picking at it like
most of the women Will would see in New York, but downing it in big, hearty
chunks.
    ‘Anyway, it was pretty obvious he was going to get the inside track
and I wasn’t. So I was thinking. Maybe I should start developing some
serious police contacts.’
    ‘What, drinking with Lieutenant O’Rourke until you fall under
the table? Somehow I don’t see it. Besides, you’re not going to be
on this beat long. When Carl whateverhisnameis is still doing traffic snarl-ups
in Staten Island, you’re going to be covering the, I don’t know,
the White House or Paris or something really important.’
    Will smiled. ‘Your faith in me is touching.’
    ‘I’m not kidding, Will. I know it looks like I am because I have
a face full