The Sudden Appearance of Hope

Chapter 11

Walking barefoot away from a robbery in Dubai.

I don’t exit the hotel directly, not yet. If I do, someone with a lot of patience could pull camera footage, assess who was there when the power went, who was not there when it came back on. The comparison would yield my face.

Most police forces don’t have the time, and time is money. But the Dubai police is commanded by prince someone who is a relative of prince someone, and while a petty theft, a little assault, a touch of domestic or sexual abuse might slide for want of time and energy, no one lays a finger on a member of the royal family.

So I waited.

I put the diamonds in a plastic bag in the cistern of the third toilet along in the ground-floor ladies. In Hollywood crime capers, a bumbling fool and their winsome child will stumble on my stolen goods; japes ensue, love is found and I end up as villain, femme fatale perhaps, for it is narratively impossible for me to be anything other than a sexual predator, as well as a criminal mastermind.

As it is, the police, when they arrive, immediately set to interrogating the hotel staff, pulling grown men around by the scruff of the neck, hollering in the faces of the Filipino maids, while the expats and dignitaries mingle together in shock and excitement, for this is just the most thrilling thing that has happened for a long while and they will dine out on it for years to come.

A man in the lobby, screaming down his phone. The woman dressed all in black stands behind him, watching without expression.

“At my fucking party!” he screams. “At my fucking party stole her fucking jewels do you know what this fucking does for us, do you know how much we’ve just fucking lost…?!”

The elevator doors close, cutting him off from my view.

In my bedroom I lie down, back straight, arms on my chest.

Breathe.

Once.

Twice.

Watch the reflection of the water on the ceiling.

Discipline.

Every day: some form of exercise.

Every day: some form of social interaction.

Discipline.

I close my eyes, and breathe.