Page 110 of Hanging and Burning

“Anything else, sir?” I asked, with maybe a little insolence in the tone.

“Where’d you go tonight?”

I told him.

“Did you have a drink with her?”

“I’m the designated driver, so no.”

Piermont Fell turned and walked away.

25.

THE NEXT MORNING, I picked up Roger’s daily City Edition of the New York Times at the front desk and carried it to the dining room, where I ordered an omelet with onions, tomatoes, and Boursin, along with a rasher of thick slab bacon.

Perusing the paper in an orderly fashion, I started with the cover stories, working my way back to the news that, hopefully, really interested me.

Some while later I heard a snigger, looked up and saw a happily entertained Oliya Ruez.

“Good morning,” she said through the smiles.

“Have a seat,” I offered.

She sat down next to me, shaking her head as if I had failed in some endearing way.

“What you laughin’ at?”

“You. Reading a printed newspaper in the time of electronic media.”

“You were reading a paper just yesterday.”

“That was the România Liberà, a Romanian newspaper that is not available in digital form.”

“That might be,” I said. “But the electronic papers don’t carry all the news—at least they don’t make everything easy to locate. It’s much easier to navigate the paper paper.”

I began turning pages, like a scullery maid organizing pillowcases, until getting to a small notice-like article here.

“Like this, for instance,” I said. “Human remains were found in the backyard, under the concrete deck of a small one-family house in Sheepshead Bay. Says here that these remains had been there for at least thirty years.”

“So?” Olo said dismissively. “Does that have anything to do with you?”

“There are two bodies and they were killed by the rapist.”

“Why you care?”

“I don’t, but Melton will. Anything new with you?”

“I got fired.”

“By Junior? Why?”

“They caught me coming out of the paper file room.”

“And they took your ID right there?”

“First they tried to detain me.”

“How’d that go?”