Secrets and Fries at the Starlight Diner Read online

  ‘Over here OK?’ I asked Jimmy, pointing to a table in the corner.

  ‘Yeah, whatever.’

  I shook my head at him behind his back.

  So petulant.

  And he didn’t even have the right to be. It should’ve made me angry, especially after the way he’d carried on, but his behaviour was just so ridiculous that it made me want to laugh. Besides, he was doing me a big favour by representing me. I just got the feeling, with the way he was behaving, I’d never hear the end of it.

  In an attempt to lure him out of the sulk he was in I did what could best be described as a comedy-slide onto a leather chair, and said, ‘OK. Let’s get legal.’

  Looking at the smile on my face I could see some part of Jimmy wanted to smile too, but he resisted.

  ‘You know, you’re surprisingly upbeat for someone who’s on the line for murder.’

  ‘That’s because I’ve got the best lawyer my money can’t buy.’ I forced my facial muscles to move further upwards, making my smile a touch wider.

  For a moment his eyes glowed with amusement, but he once more decided against smiling back and instead opened a manila folder in front of him.

  ‘Alright, Alan has given me some information about the statements taken in Atlantic City. The witness who claims to have seen you run from the murder scene described you as wearing something different to what you said you were wearing that night. It was dark, and it’s a small detail, so that’s not going to be enough to sway a jury but it’s a strong suggestion this guy didn’t witness anything. And if he wasn’t around when Reeves was shot, he must’ve been somewhere else. All we’ve got to do is prove where he was or find some way of getting him to confess he wasn’t really there,’ Jimmy said, tracing his forefinger across a couple of lines written up in the folder.

  ‘You really think he’ll confess that?’ I asked, scraping my fingernails through the front of my hair. ‘If he’s gone so far as to write a statement, he must be under pressure from Frankie. He must have something over the guy.’

  ‘Well, that’s why it’s important we find evidence that proves where the guy was. You’re more than likely right about Frankie putting pressure on the guy.’ Jimmy glanced up from his papers to meet my eyes. I tried to hold his gaze, tried to remind him we got on quite well together if he could only remember it, but he couldn’t look at me for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

  ‘Yeah, Frankie’s pretty powerful. You think about the fact that, even if we do pick holes in the evidence, either the judge or members of the jury could be in his pocket?’

  ‘Well, first of all, anyone who thinks they can get away with murder, which Frankie probably does, is going to screw up at some point,’ said Jimmy.

  ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘People who have that much power stop caring about the little details, and that’s where they slip up. They get to thinking there’s nothing they can’t buy or shoot their way out of. And they’re wrong.’

  ‘And second of all?’ I asked, raising both my eyebrows.

  ‘Second of all, when it comes to corrupt courtrooms, that’s where you’re lucky having Jimmy Boyle as your lawyer. I’ve got an instinct. I’ve seen to the truth of people my whole damn life, whether I wanted to or not.’

  ‘Kind of like a Spidey sense?’ I said. ‘Because, you know, Peter Parker was a journalist, right?’

  ‘You’re thinking of Clark Kent,’ Jimmy said, looking at me sidelong.

  ‘I thought Peter Parker worked at the Daily Bugle?’

  ‘How do you know this?’ Jimmy couldn’t help letting out a little laugh, though he tried to keep his mouth as straight as he could while he did.

  ‘I enjoy a comic book just as much as the next person,’ I said.

  ‘He was a photographer, not a reporter.’ Jimmy began to smile, but it quickly faded. ‘Anyway, that Spidey sense, as you call it, is the reason I stopped being a lawyer. Saw too many crooks going free. And too many innocent people…’ He looked at my widening eyes and trailed off.

  ‘You know, talking to you is always such a comfort.’

  ‘Hey, if my Spidey sense even threatens to tingle at your trial I’ll be logging all the evidence as it happens. They won’t get nothing past me. Judges are more tricky to deal with on that score – if there’s some kind of corruption, I mean – but if it’s a jury member we can have them removed.’

  ‘Alright. That actually does make me feel better,’ I said, looking into his eyes. ‘Thank you.’

  Jimmy’s left hand began to inch across the table towards me but then, noticing the mutiny of his own hand, he pulled it back over to his side of the table and used it to flick a page in his folder instead.

  ‘Right,’ he said, clearing his throat. ‘You’ll need to report to a police station every day between now and the trial, without fail. The preference is for the one on 34th because, technically speaking, save some kind of medical emergency, you shouldn’t be outside the East Village in accordance with the terms of your house arrest.’ The whole time Jimmy was talking he kept his eyes on the documents in front of him, which was probably for the best. It made it easier to focus on the business at hand if I wasn’t looking into those brown eyes of his.

  ‘Yeah, I’m going straight to 34th street after I’m done here, then back to the apartment, obviously,’ I said. Things had become so awkward between us, the only way I could think of to show gratitude for what he was doing for me was to meet the terms of my bail to the letter.

  ‘Good. Now, when you’re not here, the terms state you have to be back at Jack and Esther’s apartment. There are exceptions though. You can go grocery shopping, to the doctor or the dentist if you need to. You can also meet with your attorney.’

  ‘Got it. Leave the apartment only for necessities.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He paused then, his gaze moving across the documents in front of him without actually reading anything. ‘So, you know, you’re not going to be able to go out with friends or…’

  ‘Or what?’

  ‘Or on any dates or anything.’ Jimmy’s eyes rose, bit by bit, from the paper in front of him to meet mine. I shook my head in disbelief. He was actually using the case he was working as a way of inflicting his ridiculous jealousy on me. What the hell was his deal? What did he care if I had a date anyway? It was like he didn’t want me for himself but didn’t want anyone else to have me either, and that’s just screwed up.

  ‘Oh right,’ I said trying to temper my annoyance, ‘guess if I want to see a guy I’ll just have to invite him round to the apartment then. Cook him a hearty meal. Serve something special for dessert.’

  ‘What? No…’ Jimmy said, though it was obvious he’d spoken without thinking from the way his mouth hung open right after.

  ‘Well, there’s nothing in the terms of my release that forbid that, is there?’

  ‘Well, no…’

  ‘Then what’s the problem?’ I smiled a thin smile. It was mean and insincere but it was Jimmy’s fault. He was messing me around and I was sick of it. If he didn’t want to go out with me he had no reason to begrudge me seeing someone else. Especially at a time when a good kiss would really take my mind off things.

  ‘You don’t even know that guy.’ Jimmy pointed off in the direction of the door. ‘You don’t know what he’s after or if he feels anything for you.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know why that should bother you, you’ve made your feelings for me clear,’ I said. ‘You don’t have any.’

  Jimmy closed his mouth and swallowed. His eyes dropped back to the documents in front of him.

  ‘Anything else?’ I said.

  ‘No,’ he said. Still not looking at me.

  ‘Alright. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have a police station to check into,’ I said, standing up.

  ‘Wait.’ He started jotting down some digits on the back of a napkin. ‘Here.’

  ‘I’ve already got your number. And you’ve got Esther’s number,’ I said, frowning at the napkin.


  ‘This is my home number,’ he said. ‘Just in case. I’ll check in with you again next week, but if you need… If something comes up, you can call me here.’

  ‘Alright,’ I said, taking the napkin out of his hands. ‘Thank you.’ And then, not knowing what else to do or say, I walked back towards the counter.

  I pulled my leather jacket off the peg behind the counter. Jimmy walked over to me as I picked up my bag.

  ‘You…’ Jimmy started and trailed off.

  ‘What?’ I asked. Mona eyed Jimmy and Esther frowned at him.

  I hadn’t yet told Esther exactly what had happened yesterday but she could no doubt sense a certain cooling off between my attorney and me.

  ‘You take care. Alright?’ Jimmy said. But he stumbled over the words in a way that suggested that’s not at all what he had been planning to say. I sighed and thought about asking him what the hell was going on here. But then I thought back to the day before and figured it wasn’t worth it. He was probably just feeling guilty about the way he’d treated me. That made more sense than anything else.

  ‘Alright, Jimmy.’ I smiled a ‘no hard feelings’ kind of smile. ‘You too.’

  And with that I headed out of the doorway and into the cold, walking towards 34th Street.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Funny how you can interact with some people your whole life and never truly know them, while others make you feel as though you’ve always known them after five minutes. That’s how it was for me with the staff at the Starlight Diner. They let me in on their jokes, told me their life stories and listened to mine. Though I’d only been working there for one week, I didn’t want to remember a time when I’d lived without them.

  Whether I was laughing at one of Mona’s stories about her son, Donnell, trying to convince Bernie to eat eggs on wholewheat toast rather than greasy bacon for his breakfast, or watching Lucia sing Roxette into her spatula, I found myself more at ease than I’d ever been. And Esther, well, I had a sister back in Detroit and I loved her, but Esther was an only child and had spent most of the last week doling out all of her pent-up sisterly love to me. She’d barely left my side.

  ‘Thanks for walking with me to the store,’ I said. ‘I know it must seem a little pathetic. Not like anything is that far away from anything else in the East Village.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Esther smiled. ‘I speak from experience when I say that New York is a pretty scary place to be sometimes. Especially after dark.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess.’ I shrugged. ‘But growing up on the outskirts of Detroit I never thought I’d find myself going all wobbly on the mild-mannered East Coast, you know?’

  ‘Well, you’ve been through a lot,’ Esther said, putting her arm through mine. It’d be enough to put anyone on edge.’

  ‘You’re right, I know you’re right, it’s just sometimes I think I’m going nuts.’ I cleared my throat, which felt drier than usual, even though I’d had some water before leaving the diner. Was now the time to bring up the way I’d been feeling the last few days? And how sore my stomach muscles were from tensing up over the things I didn’t know if I was seeing for real or dreaming up in my head?

  ‘I’m sure you’re not going nuts, it just feels that way,’ Esther said, patting my arm.

  I stopped walking. She stopped too and looked at me, waiting.

  ‘I don’t know anymore. I’m probably just imagining things, but the past few days I kept thinking I could see someone standing just out of sight. Like I was catching glimpses of them in the corner of my eyes or something.’

  Esther stiffened. ‘A man or a woman?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’ I pressed my lips together and shook my head. ‘It might not be either. Whenever I turn around nobody’s there. Or certainly not anybody who looks in the least bit menacing.’

  ‘Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us, but I wouldn’t dismiss your concerns outright,’ said Esther, her eyes flitting up and down the length of Suffolk Street. Paranoia, it seemed, was contagious.

  ‘I don’t know. Like you say, I’ve been through a lot. I’ve been having nightmares since… Well, since I saw what I saw. Damn near screamed the place down that first night at Jimmy’s.’ I pulled my sleeves around myself, rubbing the arms of my leather jacket. ‘I never thought I’d ever see anything like that – a life ended. And the way Frankie did it, too, as easy as snuffing out a candle.’ I put a hand to my mouth, remembering.

  ‘It’s not the kind of thing a person gets over quickly,’ said Esther. ‘Seeing death, really seeing it…’ She shook her head and kept her eyes on the ground. Did she know what it meant to see the wide-eyed stare of a corpse, one that wasn’t on TV or in a movie? Then I remembered what Jimmy had said about the ‘timely death’ of Esther’s husband. Was Esther there when he died? Is that how she knew what it felt like to stare into the eyes of death?

  ‘But the dreams aren’t real.’ I figured if I said that sentence with enough confidence, I might feel a little less jittery about it all. ‘And this feeling about somebody hovering around probably isn’t real either. The whole thing is probably just a hangover from the time I spent on the run from Frankie Ray.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Esther started walking again and I followed her lead. ‘Thing is, if you’re wrong, if there isn’t anyone watching you, the worst thing that can happen is that you look a little bit silly. If you’re right, whoever it is following you could be dangerous.’

  ‘Somebody sent by Frankie.’ I shuddered. ‘I can’t believe what that man’s put me through, and there may be more to come.’

  ‘Try not to think that way.’ Esther linked her arm through mine again. ‘Regardless of what I think of Boyle as a person, there’s one thing I can’t deny: when he puts his mind to something he’s pretty much unstoppable.’

  ‘Yeah, I get that impression.’ I raised both eyebrows.

  ‘Haven’t seen him in the diner lately,’ Esther said, looking at me out the corner of her eye.

  ‘No… I told you, he’s out in Atlantic City gathering evidence for the defence case. He’s being weirdly secretive about it all too. You’d think he might let me in on it given it might decide whether or not I go to jail for the rest of my life.’

  Esther tilted her head to one side. ‘He must have his reasons for keeping things hush-hush. And I did remember he’s in Atlantic City, I just meant I thought we’d be seeing more of him, in general,’ Esther pushed. She had the cheekiest look on her face I’d ever seen.

  I sighed and shook my head at her. ‘And you say Mona is the meddler of the diner gang.’

  ‘What?’ Her smirk lapsed into a smile. ‘I’m just noting my surprise.’

  ‘Our relationship, if you can call it that, is purely professional. He says that’s the way it’s gotta be.’ I’d almost got used to the idea. Almost. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t have other things to worry about.

  ‘Can’t believe he has the audacity to utter the word “professional” after some of the things I’ve seen him do. Wait a minute, what am I talking about? Yes, I can. That’s just Jimmy Boyle.’

  ‘Who can say what his reasons are? I guess I’ve just gotta be grateful he’s still willing to work my case. My list of allies is short.’

  ‘The list might be longer than you think. Once the Starlight Diner staff take you in, they don’t let go.’ Esther paused as we reached Sullivan’s grocery. ‘You want me to come around with you?’ She was doing all she could to sound enthusiastic about this idea but we were both tired as dogs after an eight-hour shift at the diner and it was obvious to anyone, by the way she was slouching on one leg, that all she really wanted was to get home and put her feet up.

  ‘No, it’s fine,’ I said. ‘The apartment is just around the corner. I think even I can make it between here and there without getting into too much trouble.’

  ‘No, wait. I’ll stay with you. I don’t like to think of you walking around on your own when you think someone’s watching over your shoulder.’

 
I laughed. ‘Esther, go home! I appreciate the offer but really. I’ve got to stand on my own two feet sometime.’

  ‘Alright, but if you’re not back in thirty minutes I’ll send out a search party.’ She smiled, squeezed my arm and then walked off towards Ludlow Street.

  Picking up a green shopping basket, I started loading it with oranges, apples and potatoes from the baskets out front. Just a couple of each. Over the last week I’d realised just how tedious it was, going strictly between home and work each day with only a check-in at the police station in between. Despite my protests that I’d be just fine, Jack and Esther weren’t keen on leaving me by myself, and with me camping out in the sitting room there’d been a lot of long nights watching trash TV together. It was just typical of my life that I’d be living in one of the most exciting cities in the world and unable to see anything except the latest rerun of Miami Vice.

  A trip to the store to buy potatoes was now the main social event in my calendar, so I only planned on picking up one or two things. That way there’d be an excuse to come back the next day.

  I pushed through the Perspex doorway and took a left down to the canned goods aisle where I picked up a couple of tins of pineapple. I was just comparing prices on two different brands when a voice with a familiar twang to it said, ‘Blue hair, now you don’t see a woman with blue hair too often.’

  I stood from the unflattering crouching position I’d twisted myself into to see Nick standing just a few feet away. Perfect. I’d been spending an extra twenty minutes in front of the mirror every morning for the last week, combing my hair just right and even going so far as to wear red lipstick to work, and there’d been no sign of the guy. After today’s eight-hour shift my lipstick had all but rubbed off and we’d been so busy that I hadn’t had even a second to look in the bathroom mirror and see what was happening with my hair, and that’s the day I run into him. Of course it is.