The Address(89)
To keep herself occupied, she headed down to Kenneth’s apartment, where he was holding what he called a “high tea.” Inside, a dozen or so men and a few women were chatting away in groups, nibbling on cucumber sandwiches and macaroons. Kenneth gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back to the kitchen to refill the trays.
Bailey curled up in a nook in one of the large window seats facing Central Park, with a cup of tea and a scone, and let her mind wander. She was so close to finding out the truth. But although she had yet to speak with her dad, there wasn’t much point of getting her hopes up. Even if he agreed, there was no way she could afford a thousand-dollar test.
A familiar, deep growl broke her out of her reverie. Renzo stood near the fireplace, listening intently as Mrs. Stellenbach, who lived in a studio apartment up on eight, explained some kind of repair job in great detail, barely pausing for breath.
He caught her eye and she smiled quickly, then looked away, pretending to be absorbed by a young man plucking away at “You Are My Lucky Star” on the piano. After a few minutes, Renzo put his hand on the woman’s shoulder and made his excuses, then joined Bailey on the window seat. It was the first time they’d been face-to-face since the debacle in the basement with Melinda and Tony.
“I assume you can’t go to a tea party without being monopolized about a clogged sink.”
“Clanging radiator, in this case. Hazard of the job. I try not to socialize too much with the tenants, but I couldn’t pass up Kenneth’s scones.” He leaned back against the wall and studied her.
She blushed. To distract him, she asked the question she’d been wondering for weeks. “How did you get your unique name?”
“Is Lorenzo Duffy unique?”
She laughed.
“My father was Irish and my mother Italian. Deadly combination, as the probability of turning into a boisterous drunk increases twofold. At least that’s my theory.”
“You seem to be doing all right.”
“I’m hanging on. How about you?”
“Meetings every day.”
“I haven’t seen you.”
He’d been looking for her. Her heart skipped over a couple of times. “Melinda warned me, well, to steer clear. Until things have been decided one way or another.”
“Steer clear of me?”
She nodded. “Although you were right to stash away the sheath in the safe the way you did. Melinda and Tony were ready to sell the thing on the black market. The fact that it’s an artifact, an important one, means nothing to them.”
“To you it does?”
“Of course.” She looked out the window, the view a sea of sparkling leaves. “Okay, I did think about the value. How could I not? But to me, the most important items from those trunks were the letter and the photo. And, in a weird way, the finger.”
“What’s the latest from the battle of the basement?”
“The co-op agreed to allow the results of the DNA test to determine who it belongs to. If the DNA from the finger bone and blood match that of Manvel Camden, it’s his and Melinda’s.”
“How are they certain that what’s in the tube belonged to Theodore Camden?”
“The plans are dated the month he died, and there are newspaper accounts about how his finger was never recovered, grisly details like that.”
“It all sounds kind of hocus-pocus-y.”
She couldn’t agree more. “I know. It’s a crazy mix of old evidence and cutting-edge science. The results will be in by the end of the month. But I don’t think I’ll even get a chance to get my DNA tested, although not for lack of trying.”
“Why not?”
She didn’t want to go into it. The money, the fact that she wasn’t a male. “Long story. It’s probably not going to happen.” She paused. “Look, I’m sorry if I’ve kept my distance. I wasn’t sure where you stood.”
“I don’t stand with Melinda and Tony, I’ll tell you that much. I hear the apartment is a disaster.”
She frowned. “God, it’s getting worse every day. It sucks that I have to do her bidding.”
“You don’t, actually.” Something dark brewed behind his slate-gray eyes.
“Until I get paid next month, I’m stuck. At that point, I’ll have enough to get me through.”
“Seems to me that you’re making excuses, staying in a poisonous relationship because you don’t have the courage to break out of it.”
She hadn’t asked him for his advice, and the implication infuriated her. As did his audacity to analyze her decisions and motives. She’d put herself out there by approaching Fred Osborn, and now having to ask Jack for a favor that she was sure he would deny. “You have no idea what I’ve been trying to accomplish the past couple of days. It’s taken every ounce of courage I have.”
“That’s great. Because I couldn’t stand the way Melinda and Tony treated you down in my office, like you were beneath them.”
He might as well have thrown a bucket of cold water over her. She felt attacked, exposed. He’d seen her prostrate herself before the two of them, and was calling her out. “What exactly was I supposed to do? Tell them to include me in the testing or I’ll quit? Melinda would have laughed in my face. The power is all theirs; I’m working with reality here.”