“Hey, Doc,” Warren yelled. “You coming to run or are you going to stand there all night?”
Jack responded by quickly descending his front steps and jogging across the street. Warren and Flash waited for him, and they all fist-bumped.
“You were frozen there for so long, we thought you were changing your mind about running,” Flash said.
“No way,” Jack said. “I need a workout.”
The three men commenced walking toward the basketball court, which was brightly illuminated with relatively new LED lighting that Jack had again paid to have installed. It was a far better system than the first one Jack had sponsored many years ago when he’d first come to the city. As they walked, Jack gave Warren back the keys to the Escalade and mentioned it was parked practically in the same spot it had been when he’d taken it. He thanked Warren profusely and told him that he’d gotten used to driving the behemoth and started to like it.
“It’s a great set of wheels,” Warren said. “Any time you need them and I don’t, it’s available, provided you pay that parking ticket. What did you think of Dover?”
“You described it perfectly,” Jack said. “Lakes and green hills.”
“Were you able to accomplish what you needed to do?” Warren asked. They entered the playground and passed the swings and sandbox. A couple of preteenagers were using the swings, even though that area was not lighted.
“To an extent,” Jack said. “But not completely. It’s complicated, which I won’t bore you with. But I did have one rather strange experience. I ended up having a formal lunch with a Chinese billionaire businessman in his lavish private lakeside home. Strangely enough, even though the guy grew up in China, his role model was Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he’s still lifting weights into his sixties.”
Warren stopped short, grabbing Jack’s arm in the process. “Come again?”
Jack repeated what he’d said, surprised at Warren’s reaction. Warren was still holding on to his upper arm.
“That’s a strange coincidence,” Warren said. “Does your screwing around out in Dover have anything to do with investigating something shady?”
“That’s a strange question,” Jack replied noncommittally. “Why do you ask?”
“Two reasons,” Warren said. “First and most important, the last time you were investigating a flu-like illness years ago, you attracted the Black Kings gang to our neighborhood, causing trouble. You remember that?”
“Of course I remember,” Jack said. He had a chipped front tooth from being cold-cocked by the leader of the Black Kings as a lasting souvenir. Warren and a few of his friends had saved him from further bodily harm.
“And second of all, we have an Asian dude who’s been suspiciously hanging around today since the middle of the afternoon,” Warren said. Hepointed up the street toward Central Park. “See that black Chevy Suburban about halfway up the block on the right side under the streetlight?”
Jack followed Warren’s pointing finger and could clearly see the vehicle. He had learned over the years to take Warren’s misgivings seriously. He knew that Warren, with the help of a bevy of youthful eyes, kept tabs on who was in the neighborhood since he didn’t trust the police to do the same.
“What makes him stand out is that he ain’t moved,” Warren explained. “He’s been just sitting in that truck for hours, which is suspicious, to our way of thinking. I mean, I don’t know if he’s Chinese or not, but just hanging around the neighborhood is weird, if you know what I’m saying?”
“I do,” Jack said.
“You think his presence has anything to do with your bodybuilding Chinese lunch partner?” Warren asked. “Or whatever the hell you were doing out there in Jersey.”
“I can’t imagine,” Jack said, but he wasn’t entirely sure. He recalled Harvey Lauder phoning Wei Zhao after Jack’s visit, which seemed strange at the time. But why have him followed, if that was what the Chevy Suburban was up to? Zhao already knew where he lived.
“Well, we’ll keep eyes on him,” Warren said. “I like you, Doc, but you do have a drift for causing trouble. I have to give you credit there.”
The three men recommenced heading for the basketball court. Jack was silent. He couldn’t contradict Warren, as he had caused neighborhood trouble over the years, and he couldn’t help but ponder over the presence of an unfamiliar Asian driver lurking around his house and whether it had anything to do with him. Unfortunately, there was no way to know. It wasn’t as if there was anyone he could call short of Wei Zhao himself, but Jack couldn’t imagine doing that.
“What’s with the home front?” Warren asked. “Is that why you were paralyzed on your front stoop?”
“Some ways it’s worse and some ways it’s better,” Jack said. After thecontentious drive home from the OCME, Jack had braced himself for the worst. But it had turned out to be not so bad. Both Dorothy and Sheldon were watching the network news when they’d arrived, and with Sheldon there, Dorothy didn’t feel obligated to interact other than to say hello. Then the two turned toPBS NewsHour, giving Jack time to interact as best he could with Emma and then with JJ, who was still deeply involved with his school diorama project. At that point Jack had ducked out for b-ball.
“The couch is still available if you need it,” Warren said.
“I appreciate it, my friend,” Jack said.
When they reached the sidelines, Warren dealt with figuring out how the three of them were going to get into the game. As the most respected player, he could have gotten into the very next game, but he held out to play with Flash and Jack. Finally, it was determined that they would have to wait for two more game cycles.
Jack used the time to warm up by doing some running in place and other calisthenics and even shooting a few practice shots with Warren’s ball when the playing teams were at the opposite end of the court. To his surprise and pleasure, he later noticed Aretha had showed up. This time her headband and wristbands were a hot pink, which were as dramatic as her yellow-green ones, especially the way they contrasted with her sneakers. He felt drab moving over and standing next to her.
“I’m glad you made it,” Jack said. “I trust you got the new samples. At autopsy the cases were identical. The lung pathology was again off the charts.”
