CHAPTER 11
Daniel couldn’t understand why his heart was beating as fast as it was, as he climbed the steps up to the third floor general use terminals in the NYPL building. She might not even be there – although she did say that she was in the library most days – but this was a Saturday; would she be here on a weekend?
He walked into the terminal room and scanned the people there for a curly-haired girl. There were only about twenty heads visible over the low walls separating each booth, but there, in the far corner where he’d seen her two days earlier, Eleanor sat with the same friend as before. With a deep breath he made his way around the edge of the room towards her, desperately thinking of what to do or say once he got there.
William Cross reached the top of the steps and watched Daniel make his way over to the far corner terminals. Cross frowned. There was something about Daniel’s body language which seemed out-of-place. The boy’s shoulders were too tense. Cross scanned the rest of the people in the room for what could be the cause but nothing else appeared odd.
Cross continued to watch Daniel as he reached the far bank of terminals and selected one about half way along. It looked as if the boy activated the terminal, then a strange thing happened. Daniel turned to a girl sitting six booths over, and from her reaction it seemed obvious that they knew each other.
Cross slipped his black phone out of his jacket and tapped at the screen.
Dryden sat in his office in Brinkley House, sipping at an espresso when his phone rang. ‘Yes?’
‘You asked to be informed at once about updates on Tiberius,’ Chris Matthews said. ‘He’s back in the NYPL building, sir.’
‘Is he? On the terminals again?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Put the feed through to my screen.’
‘Yes sir.’
Dryden put his phone down and looked at the images on his computer. Daniel was sitting by two girls; the one next to him Dryden had seen before. Tiberius was a young man, not unattractive, and the girl was clearly pretty but this seemed like more than just a chance meeting.
‘Matthews?’
‘Yes sir?’
‘Find out who is the coloured girl next to him,’ Dryden told him. ‘I want a full report on her within the hour.’ He hung up before Matthews could answer.
‘If you have questions, Daniel,’ Dryden said, ‘then you only have to wait a short time before you’ll have the opportunity to ask them to my face.’ He reached out and tapped at the screen.
‘Psychology,’ Eleanor said, ‘but I haven’t decided what I’d like to minor in yet.’
‘You want to be a shrink?’ Daniel asked.
‘What’s wrong with being a shrink?’ she said. ‘Every third American sees one, you know.’
‘I didn’t but I do now.’
‘It’ll soon be one in two. I’d never be out of work.’
Daniel laughed and as he did so his terminal wavered and died.
‘What is it with you and computers?’ Eleanor asked.
Daniel’s face hardened. ‘I’m not sure. I wasn’t even really doing anything on it.’
‘Well you sure have a magic touch in killing them.’
‘So it seems.’ Daniel looked around and spotted the black hemi-spherical camera clusters dotted around the room’s ceiling. ‘I think I’d better go.’
‘Oh … okay.’
‘Would you … would you like to go for a coffee, or something?’ Daniel asked. ‘I mean, if it’s not interrupting your study. Of course it’s interrupting your study, but –’
‘Relax, will you?’ Eleanor interrupted. ‘A minute before you came over, we were saying that we were pretty much done for the day. There’s only so much Jung and Skinner you can take before you start to go crazy yourself. Coffee sounds good.’
Eleanor and her friend got up from their seats, packed their things away and all three of them headed out of the library and onto the steps outside. Cross stood on the other side of the street and, using the camera on his phone, zoomed in on Eleanor’s face. He took a clear, full-face image of her and tapped at the screen, bringing up a database. He tapped the screen again; loaded her image and initiated a search run.
Eleanor hugged her friend.
‘See you Monday,’ the girl said, then eyed Daniel with a smile. ‘Have a nice day, you two.’
‘Thanks,’ Daniel replied. ‘You too.’
‘So, where’d you want to go?’ Eleanor asked after her friend had walked away. ‘Bryant Park?’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Sure.’
‘It’s just behind the library, and I know a vendor there who does the best iced Mocha.’
‘Sure, sounds good.’
‘So, tell me, Daniel-no-Peter, what’s the deal with your name?’ Eleanor asked as they sat on a bench with their drinks.
Bryant Park was busy with tourists and families alike enjoying the sun and open space in the heart of Manhattan. Daniel removed the lid from his paper cup and blew at the steam rising from his hot coffee.
‘Are you a criminal or something?’ she continued. ‘Should I be worried?’
‘No, no it’s nothing like that.’
‘Then what is it?’
Daniel took a deep breath. ‘Trust me; it’s better if you don’t know.’
‘A mystery, huh? So if it’s not the police you’re hiding from, maybe you’ve run away from school.’
‘No not at all. It’s … it’s just complicated.’
‘So tell me then. Uncomplicate it.’ She sipped her drink. ‘What is your name? Your real name, I mean.’
‘It’s Daniel. Danny.’
‘What was the Peter thing all about?’
‘It’s silly really.’ He looked around to make sure that they weren’t being overheard. ‘That was the name I used when I came into the country.’
‘Oh, so you’re an Illegal, then?’
‘Not really. Well, actually yes, I suppose I am.’
‘Funny, you don’t look Mexican. So go on, tell me.’
Daniel paused. ‘Are you trying to use your powers of psychology on me?’
‘Trying to,’ she smiled, sipping at her Mocha. ‘Is it working?’
‘Shouldn’t I be lying down on the bench or something?’
‘Sure, why not?’ she said laughing. ‘Tell me about your childhood. What’s your relationship with your parents like?’
Daniel’s face hardened. ‘I loved my parents.’ The tone of his voice and use of past tense gave a sub-text to the words that wasn’t lost on Eleanor. She stopped laughing.
‘Parents … yeah, I know what you mean. Don’t get me wrong; I love my mom and dad – they’re no longer together, by the way – but sometimes they just drive me nuts. Mom’s about as French as anyone could be, which isn’t easy in a country like this, and dad …’ She paused. ‘Well, let me put it this way; it’s no wonder that I’m trying to figure out why people’s brains work the way they do.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My dad has … secrets. A bit like you, I suppose. You’re not the only person in the world pretending to be someone they’re not, you know?’
‘I’m sorry I don’t –’
‘Never mind. It’s a long story, not important.’ She tapped the lid of her cup with one finger. ‘I don’t really want to be a shrink, not a regular one anyway. I’m looking to go into Behavioural Sciences, you know; profiling, that sort of thing.’
‘You mean FBI?’
‘Maybe,’ she nodded. ‘Maybe Homeland, who knows? I might even cross over to the dark side and go NSA.’
Daniel didn’t know how to reply, so he just smiled and took a sip of his coffee. He winced; still too hot.
‘Should’ve gone with my Mocha suggestion,’ Eleanor told him.
‘Not that keen on chocolate.’
She turned to him with a look of feigned contempt. ‘That is the devil talking,’ she said. ‘How can you not like chocolate?’
‘I didn’t say I didn’t like it, just that I’m not t
hat keen on it.’
‘You’re a strange man, Danny …’
‘Henstock.’
‘You’re a strange man, Danny Henstock,’ she repeated. ‘But still cute.’ She took another sip of her drink as Daniel blushed. ‘So do you have a girlfriend back home?’
Daniel blush deepened. ‘No.’
‘Okay. So, are you gonna be staying over here long with your complicated issues and illegal status?’
‘In New York you mean? I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘I hope so. I mean, I’d like to.’
Eleanor took a piece of paper from her bag and wrote something on it. ‘There’s a spring ball at my High School coming up in a couple of weeks’ time, on the seventeenth,’ she told him, handing him the paper, ‘and if you’re still around maybe you’d like to take me to it?’
‘What?’
‘I don’t have a date, well not any more and … and despite all the evidence to the contrary you seem like a nice guy. That’s my number.’
‘A Ball?’ He took the paper off her and held it like it was made of precious metal. ‘Thanks. That’d be great.’ A thought struck him. ‘Would I have to dance?’
She laughed and her dimples returned. ‘I think I’d have to say that yes, you would be expected to dance. But only with me, okay?’
‘Of course.’
‘Don’t I get your cell number?’ she asked.
Daniel shook his head. ‘I don’t have one.’
‘You don’t have a cell?’ she laughed.
‘Not right now.’
‘Are you sure you’re not on the run?’
‘Positive.’
She checked her watch for the time. ‘Well, this has been nice. A little odd, but nice all the same. I have to go.’
‘Really?’
‘I said that I’d help mom cook the dinner tonight. Her sister’s staying with us for a while and she likes things just so. She’s very particular. It’s a French thing, don’t ask.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’
‘Your accent is so cute.’ She stood up from the bench and kissed him on the cheek. ‘If you do get a cell call me anyway. Well, if you want.’
‘I will,’ he said, and mentally kicked himself for sounding to eager. ‘I will,’ he repeated this time trying to sound calm and relaxed, as if gorgeous girls asked him out all the time.
‘Cool. You’ll need a suit for the Ball, by the way, assuming you’re still around,’ she said turning away. ‘I’m going to have a knock-out dress so you’d better get something nice.’
‘A suit, sure. I can wear a suit. I mean, I could get one.’
‘Great. I’ll speak to you soon, yeah?’
Daniel watched as she walked away from him, her curly hair bouncing off her shoulders. ‘Yeah.’
Cross’s phone bleeped. He tapped the screen and Eleanor Turner’s details were displayed, along with those of her immediate family. She lived in Bensonhurst with her mother and younger brother, her father – now deceased – died in an auto-wreck in ‘25. He scrolled down onto the next page – she was in the top five percent at school and didn’t have a police record.