Ambush

Chapter 81

Driving with my grandfather in the car is like having an uninvited know-it-all tour guide with you. He kept saying he didn’t get to lower Manhattan and Brooklyn much and wanted to see the sights. Not the Freedom Tower or the bull on Wall Street, but the little markets he used to frequent and the restaurants he knew were no longer in business. He said he just wanted to see the facades of the buildings.

He also explained everything we saw to Alonzo in minute detail. Like the history of how Little Italy evolved and the construction details of the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally I had to tell him I was on a schedule and that the NYPD expected me to work occasionally. But that didn’t stop him from making me circle the building where the TV show was being filmed.

Seamus said, “I’ve been here. I remember this place. It was a restaurant-supply distribution center I ordered from when I owned the bar.”

I said, “When’s the last time you were here?”

“Probably twelve or fifteen years ago. It brings back a flood of memories. I’d sometimes buy cases of beer that ‘fell off’ actual beer trucks. I could buy them for about 30 percent of the regular cost.”

“So you’re telling me you bought stolen beer and sold it in your legal bar?”

“Sometimes I’d tack on an extra fee, saying that there was a shortage of the beer and I was able to grab some of the last cases.” He wore a mischievous grin that made him look like a leprechaun.

It made me smile because it reminded me of when I was a child. How we would go on adventures together and he’d tell me wild tales that even then I knew weren’t true.

I was surprised to see that the side of the building facing the river housed a beautiful glass-enclosed set of offices with a receptionist at the front. The grassy park between the building and the river made it that much nicer. I wondered if this had anything to do with the TV or movie business. Maybe it was a separate part of the building the owner rented out. With the East River in front of it and some nice landscaping around the park, it was definitely upscale.

Seamus rolled down his window and said, “I don’t care what anyone says about the East River — I like the smell of it. Reminds me of home. The sea.”

As we slowly turned at the corner of the building and were driving next to the sidewalk, Seamus said, “I can’t wait to see Jules.”

I said, “Juliana.”

“She likes to be called Jules on the set.”

“How do you know that? Have you been on the set before?”

I stopped the car to stare at him as he looked sheepish and wouldn’t meet my eye.

A stagehand carrying a box on the sidewalk looked over and said, “Hey, Father.”

It was rare to catch the old man so cleanly. Now I gave him a good nod and said, “Explain that.”

Without missing a beat, Seamus said, “He’s your illegitimate uncle.”

“Funny.” I did note that Father Alonzo was laughing in the backseat. “You just said it had been a dozen years since you saw the building.”

Seamus said, “I meant it had been a dozen years since I saw the front of the building, by the river. I saw the rest last Friday when I watched them film a scene with Jules. She was fantastic. She’s really talented.”

Then I saw two women come out of the building’s door about fifty yards from us. It took me a moment to realize that one of them was my daughter.

Seamus said, “Who’s that with Jules?”

I didn’t recognize the striking woman with the long dark hair. She was chatting casually with Juliana, but there was something about her that seemed familiar.

I started to get an uneasy feeling. I pulled to the curb.