Spider

82

Marine Park, Brooklyn, New York Jack stood impatiently in Yoana Grinsberg's small kitchen, while she insisted on boiling the kettle again.

'How can I help?' she said, excited by the idea of being involved with the FBI. Jack was praying she was going to give him the right answers to his questions and give them to him quickly. 'Do you know the man across the road? The guy in number fifteen?'

'Can't say I do. I've seen him from time to time. Never spoke to him once, though.'

'How long has he been living around here?' asked Jack, sensing he had to play a patient game with the old lady.

Yoana frowned so deeply that her face became completely corrugated with wrinkles. 'Fifteen, maybe twenty years. Fancy that. All that time and we've never so much as exchanged the time of day.'

The pieces were coming together. Jack fished a little further. 'Does he drive a yellow car, a four-door Japanese model, probably about three to four years old?'

Yoana shook her head. 'No, not him, that wouldn't be his car.'

'You sure?'

'I know my cars,' said Yoana, smiling as memories flooded back. 'Cars have fascinated me since I was a child. My husband once had a Buick. An Oldsmobile; beautiful it was. I think the stupid company has stopped making them these days.'

Jack's heart sank. Still, she was quite old and could be wrong. 'You really are sure?' he persisted.

'Positive,' said Yoana. 'The man across the road has a Hyundai, but that's South Korean not Japanese. And anyway it's white not yellow. I don't know of any Japanese cars around here. Mr Cohen had one…'

Jack cut her off. 'I'm sorry to stop you. But it might be our mistake. It is a Hyundai that we're looking for. Do you know exactly what type he has?'

Yoana didn't hesitate. 'Hyundai Accent SE. Nothing special, not even alloy wheels. I always thought that was a bit odd.'

'Why?' asked Jack gently. 'What was odd?'

'Well,' began Yoana hesitantly. 'Well, like I just said, I don't know his name, he never seems to be around and I've never met him, but he's always got personalized plates on his car. I used to think he was a car dealer of some sort, but then I noticed that sometimes he even changed the plates before he changed the cars.'

Jack felt a surge of excitement. His phone rang again, but he ignored it once more. Whoever it was, whatever they wanted, it couldn't be as important as this. 'Yoana, you don't know what plate he currently has, do you?'

She smiled. She liked helping the FBI, they asked such easy questions. 'Don't be silly. Sure I do. It's B – 898989.'