Night Watch

THIRTY-THREE

It was after ten o’clock when we left ‘21,’ Gina Varona and Peter Danton going their separate ways, and Mike and Mercer driving Luc to his hotel on their way to take me home.

“Don’t look so discouraged, darling,” he said, getting out of the car and kissing me on the top of my head. “There’s a lot to sort out here. We’ll get there, I promise. The detectives don’t need me tomorrow, so I’ll probably go up to the restaurant and do some work. Will I see you, Alex?”

“Better ask our keepers,” I said, slumped against the back door of the car.

“I’ll be in touch with you,” Mike said to Luc.

“Listen, Mike. I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done for me these last two days,” Luc said, leaning into the front passenger window of the car.

“It seemed like the right thing to do-for you and for the blonde in the backseat,” Mike said. “She’ll figure out how to express her gratitude. Have a quiet night, Luc.”

We watched him enter the lobby before Mercer started up the car for the short ride to my apartment.

“So where’s your head, Coop?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“You’ve been hanging out with some high rollers. You got any vibes?”

“They’re not like the friends of Luc’s we’ve spent time with in Mougins. Truly. I mean I met Luc through Joan and her husband, who’s the most grounded guy I know. I’m as shocked as you are by the amounts of money involved.”

“Who’d you think was putting up the dough for the restaurant, Coop? The tooth fairy?”

“I knew his father was kicking in to help him, and that he was using a lot of his own money as well. Luc told me he was taking a big loan from a bank. He mentioned that he had silent partners, but I never asked who they were.”

“Any of your old man’s Cooper-Hoffman heart device money about to disappear into crab cakes à la Gina Varona? Maybe a Gowanus bi-valve? Bi-valve replacement surgery?”

“No. And I’m not amused.”

“Luc ever asked you for any dough?”

“No.”

“You really think it’s about love and not your money?”

“Ease off the girl,” Mercer said.

“You take all the pleasure out of a late night ride, m’man,” Mike said.

“What do you guys think?” I asked.

“About what?”

“Luc’s caught in the middle of these two murders. I’m heartsick about it. I know him well enough to believe he’s got nothing to do with either one, but I hate that all this deadly stuff is spinning around him, close enough to leave a permanent stain.”

Neither man spoke.

“I hear you. What did the Brooklyn detectives do with him today, Mike? How do you think that went?”

“Hey, Luc was great. Very forthright, answered all their questions, didn’t seem to have anything to hide.”

“They asked him about Luigi? I mean he identified the guy from the morgue photos?”

“He did.”

“I hope he told them how he knew Luigi. I mean, from his dinners at Tiro with the perfume queen,” I said, taking a swipe at Gina Varona.

“Luc actually told them he’d seen Luigi more recently.”

I picked my head up. “Really? When was that?”

“In Mougins last weekend. In fact, Luc was kind of surprised when I told him you hadn’t recognized Luigi when I showed you his photo. He said he’d been a guest at your dinner in white on Saturday.”