She might’ve lied about loving me to save her life or to express a feeling that wasn’t true while I fucked her and while her emotions ran high, but Lake continues to keep her mouth shut on all the business that had to do with my family.
“If Mr. Angelini is here, why aren’t you interrogating him?” she asks the agent.
“Better get the lawyers in there now,” Niksha says.
“I need to know where she’s taking this.”
“I’m stretched with resources here and have very few connections. This isn’t funny.”
“Shhh,” I shush him. “Let me hear.”
“Do you think I should be interrogating him?” the agent asks.
“You want to know what he does for a living? Ask him.”
The agent smiles. “I wish I could, but Mr. Angelini is well-connected.”
“But I’m not, so you’re interrogating me.”
Now Koriski shifts in the chair. “That’s not why. We thought you’d be helpful.”
“I would be if I could.”
“Let’s talk about your impressions of your boss. What is your impression of him? What kind of a man is he?”
Lake picks at the sleeve of her matcha-green cardigan. This color looks nice on her. “He’s a family man.”
“I’m sure there’s more you can tell me about his character.”
“He’s a no-nonsense workaholic. Assertive.”
“Aggressive?”
She nods. “If you push him.”
“Manipulative?”
Lake starts to cry. “You don’t want to hear what my impression of him is. You want me to tell you what you want to hear. Okay, I’ll do it. What do you want me to say? That he’s a jerk who was mean to me? That the money he works so hard for, he spends on luxuries most of us will never be able to afford? Fine, I’ll tell you that. But you should know that my impression of men is often wrong.” She leans over the desk, tears running down her cheeks. “When I first met Landon, my ex, my impression of him was that he was a great guy who was going to take care of me while I took care of him. One night, he came home real late, and I pretended I was asleep because that morning I figured out that he’d replaced my birth control with a placebo. Well, he brought another man into the bedroom and told me he wanted to watch us fuck. Let me tell you, Agent Koriski, my impression of men is often wrong.”
I dial the lawyers. “Make sure Ms. Wilder isn’t bothered again.”
I look over at Niksha, who says, “I’ll deal with the ex.”
FORTY-EIGHT
I UPGRADE TO STALKING HER
Alessio
My legs barely fit in the space allotted to the drivers of this rental car, but I can’t very well stalk Lake in a luxury custom-made vehicle, can I? No.
The lack of movement in the cramped car serves as a stark reminder of why I hire others for stakeouts, but I can’t hire other men to stalk the object of my obsession. Except maybe Miro, but that would be a misuse of his talent.
However, Miro is a much better stalker than I am, and Lake’s tendency to check her surroundings as soon as she steps out of the diner at night or a grocery store in the middle of the day makes it more difficult for me to remain incognito. But I have to say, I’m pleased that she’s looking after herself this way.
I check my watch. It’s ten at night, when she normally leaves the diner. She’s been coming here every night at seven sharp since her last police interview. She orders decaf at first and then two vanilla ice cream sundaes. The first day she ordered two, I started to plan the murder of whichever person she was sharing the ice cream with, but it turns out, Lake eats both by herself.
I wish I’d known she liked ice cream that much. I would have asked Rosalba to stock Lake’s favorite brand. But alas, water under the bridge, as they say in this part of the world.
