One Night Stand novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Lens Cap

On Wednesday night, after Otto was asleep, I found Mateo sitting on the new step.

He had not knocked.

He had been there, Dottie told me through the window, for forty minutes.

I sat down next to him with my coat over my knees.

The street was quiet, and the board under us did not creak.

"Gary's holding," I said.

"Gary is a good board."

He did not look at me.

"I haven't come to ask for anything," he said. "I wanted to be somewhere you were."

I turned the lens cap over in my fingers, on its cord.

"You never asked me what I saw," I said.

"When?"

"That night. You asked what I'd shot, and who I worked for, and how much I took. You never asked what I saw."

"What did you see?"

"I'll tell you. And you can't say anything until I'm done."

He looked at me then.

"All right."

I took a breath.

"I saw a man at the top of a staircase who knew every bouncer's name.

"I saw him ask the bartender how his mother's knee was, and I saw the bartender's face when he answered.

"I saw him tip a coat-check girl a hundred dollars.

"When she tried to give it back, he pretended he'd dropped it on the floor."

His jaw moved.

"I thought, someone like that does not exist in a place like this.

"Then I thought, maybe he only does when nobody important is watching."

"Callie..."

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