Mistress

Chapter 40

Midnight. A man without a home, with nowhere to go, hiding out in coffee shops and department stores, showering at work, living out of a bag of clothes, afraid to use his cell phone, afraid to use his credit cards, standing half a football field from a gigantic Tudor home in a sleepy residential neighborhood in the northwest quadrant, where people don’t usually have problems like being afraid for their lives.

I approach the house from the front but move slowly, cautiously, my hands stuffed in my pockets. I don’t really have any kind of an excuse for being here. It’s not like a guy like me has any reason to be strolling the streets of Forest Hills, just killing time in a sleepy neighborhood tonight.

Still, once I commit to this, I have to walk like someone who isn’t afraid of being seen. This isn’t my first time doing something like this. I’ve bullshitted my way into buildings and exclusive cocktail parties and all sorts of places looking for stories or hoping to confront people with hard questions when they don’t have their high-priced assistants there to feed them a line.

Okay, I’ve never busted into a home. This is something new. But desperate times, as they say, call for desperate measures.

Desperate Measures had a pretty cool premise. A cop needs a bone marrow donor for his son and the only person who qualifies is a convicted multiple murderer who uses the trip to the hospital to escape. The cop has to catch him but needs him alive. Gotta love a movie with Andy Garcia and Michael Keaton.

Stop, Ben. Shake out the nerves.

I walk up onto the driveway and my heartbeat cranks up a level. The closer I get to this house, the less easily I can turn back. I walk slowly along the driveway and go around to the back of the home.

My favorite Garcia movie is Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead. Great cast. I loved Keaton in Batman, a small guy to be playing that kind of a role, but he had those eyes. Pacific Heights was a pretty freaky flick, but it had that scene with the bugs, and I hate bugs.

I get to the back of the house, and it’s got to be an acre if it’s an inch. I found the listing online earlier today, and it mentioned the “spectacular grounds.” You know you’re rich when they call your backyard “grounds.” If you have “grounds,” you probably also have an aging butler with a dry English accent who goes by a name like Hughes or Jeeves.

Actually, that’s a point I hadn’t considered. There might be more than one person in this house right now.

It’s dark back here; not necessarily what I would have expected. That probably means there’s a burglar alarm.

An alarm, possibly multiple people in the house. What else lies ahead for me?

I look over the place. Two stories, fancy enclosed deck. The listing that’s still online described the ornate furnishings inside-no surprise.

Jonathan Liu paid $4.9 million for this place eleven months ago. He’s made a fortune representing Chinese industries. He’s made a career out of playing both sides. He’s had a good life.

He’s not going to have a good night. This time we’re having a Q and A on my terms.