Chapter 20: "Dinner, Lunch, It's All the Same"

The reports of femme fatales dressing provocatively turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Well, most of the time. Cassie was waiting outside the back entrance of Tin Can in much the same attire, decidedly not that of Calypso, Colinaude had seen her in earlier, except she was wearing her leather jacket again. The first two times, at the subway and around Lou’s, she’d been wearing it, but not in the bar. She was relaxing then. "Ready," she told him. He found it remarkable that Cassie was slipping back into this kind of life so easily.

"On to Marco’s," Colinaude said.

"Where?" Cassie said.

"Marco’s," Colinaude reiterated. He was pretty sure she was playing with him, which was another remarkable development. The only time they’d danced before, it was around each other. Now they were waltzing in the general direction of the Cad, together. Cassie was not volunteering as much conversation as before. He wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Perhaps that was how she normally operated. Whatever the case, they traveled in her car to the restaurant, and she was silent then, too. Colinaude had timed it so that, according to his intelligence, they would arrive approximately ten minutes before the Cad and his party. He had an hour; that was probably not going to cover all of it, but definitely the pre-meal conversation, which was hopefully the most of what he would really need to hear. And if he really needed to, he could count on Alonzo to cover, begrudgingly, for some additional time, both behind the bar and in the books. That had happened before, and Alonzo never questioned it.

"I hope your bar money is good enough to cover this," Cassie said, waiting to be seated. "I know my paycheck isn’t."

"It’s good enough to go this one time," Colinaude said.

"And you’re fool enough to do it," Cassie said. "But we’re not making any personal judgments here."

"Of course not," Colinaude said, smiling to the headwaiter. "We’re all friends here."

"Of course we are," Cassie said. He assumed she was feeling some anxiety based on how they were dressed, and how the other patrons were. Under the jacket, she didn’t really look out of place, though, and Colinaude had slipped on a polo shirt. She took the opportunity to slip out of the jacket and place it in the coatroom. He hadn’t brought one, and in fact, rarely wore one. This, however, did not seem to calm her.

"Look, we’re fine," Colinaude said.

"You wished to dine in the smoking section?" the waiter confirmed.

"That’s correct," Colinaude said.

"Right this way, then," the waiter directed. Before long, they were seated.

"Smoking, huh," Cassie said.

"Not us," Colinaude said. "Him. But I brought along a cigar or two just in case we start to feel too much out of place."

"We wouldn’t want that," Cassie said. "I’ve been trying to quit for years. This is not the best way to go about that."

"I’m sorry," Colinaude said. "It was the only way. Speaking of habits you were trying to break, depending on what we learn this evening, how much farther do you want to go?"

"It’s something I’ve been thinking about," Cassie said, chewing on a complimentary bread stick. "You could be getting me in a whole lot of trouble."

"Which would be different how?" Colinaude playfully jabbed.

"I’m serious," Cassie said. "I know what the story is. I know who we’re dealing with, who else we’re dealing with, and what you’re dealing with."

"This has got to be the worst-kept secret ever," Colinaude said.

"I’m not talking about issues other heroes, other authorities might have with you," Cassie said.

"I’m talking about the kind of involvement you’ve been steeping yourself in. What those other guys have? It’s a personal beef, and it scratches the surface, but it doesn’t come near the real problem. Believe me, I know how far that involvement can go, where it can take you. Calypso didn’t walked with angels, but she did start off that way. And it happened because she started too hard, too fast. The opposite is even more dangerous."

"This is awkward," Colinaude said.

"It’s not just awkward," Cassie said. "It’s something you’re going to have to deal with. Same as me. What do you think had to be going through my head, when you brought this up? Some kind of button, some kind of control panel switched me from good girl to ambiguous girl, just like that? Don’t think it’s a coincidence that you saw me in three different places in one day."

"Actually," Colinaude said, "I had assumed that I just happened to be noticing you today."

"Providence," Cassie said. "Well, that’s some way of viewing it. Another way would be that I was seeking you out."

"I would say that’s another way," Colinaude said. "Yeah. But I see you all the time at the subway. That’s nothing new."

"You’re seriously attempting to rationalize remaining on the same train of thought," Cassie said.

"Look," Colinaude said. "I’m dealing with a lot here."

"So is everyone else," Cassie said.

"It’s not the same," Colinaude said.

"It is," Cassie said. "Whether you want to see it or not."

"Where’s the waiter with our orders?" Colinaude said.

"We have to order them first," Cassie said. "There he comes, and there comes someone else."

The Cad, along with a blonde beauty and another couple, Jewish by the looks of them, sauntered in and were seated, not far as it happened from Colinaude and Cassie. They were joking. Cad was already working his charms, on both ladies. The business associate did not seem to notice, or did and had assuaged to the notion that this was something he just had to deal with. Colinaude looked toward Cassie, and saw that she wasn’t interested, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was now deciding on what to eat, having already chosen a white wine for the both of them.

"They’re like children," she noted.

"Someone could confuse a line like that for jealousy," Colinaude said.

"Hopefully you wouldn’t be one of them," Cassie said. "No limits?"

"The wine might have already broken that ceiling," Colinaude said. "Go with what looks good."

"Actually, I prefer the taste," Cassie said.

"That’s what I meant," Colinaude said. He’d already made up his own mind. He didn’t like to waste time if he didn’t need to. "How are you at listening and talking at the same time?"

"The man with the same hair color as mine has just mentioned Taipei," Cassie said.

"What about it?" Colinaude stammered.

"It seems everything went well there," Cassie said. "They’ve already turned the conversation elsewhere. That’s all I got."

"That could mean any number of things," Colinaude said. "Have you decided?"

"Oh," Cassie said. "I did about five minutes ago."

"Good, because it’s not like we’re under any time constraints," Colinaude said, motioning toward the waiter, who appeared promptly. Over the waiter’s shoulder he could see the Cad’s table. This was the only way he was allowing himself to look there. The Cad was helping himself to the bread sticks, while his companion got up to use the lavatories, bringing with her the associate’s wife. Colinaude knew it was the associate’s wife because he recognized the associate himself, Herman Schwartz. His close friends called Herman Logan, for reasons Colinaude didn’t know. He had no contacts that close. None of his contacts, in fact, were moles, which made the information he got all the more remarkable. He knew from personal experience that moles did not last long in Traverse. Why Traverse was singled out in that regard he didn’t know, and probably never would. He concentrated instead on giving his order, after allowing Cassie to give hers first. They cracked the wine open.

"There’s nothing else important being said," she remarked.

"I could have guessed that," Colinaude said. "Herman here is a relay man. Most of Cad’s men are relay men. That’s what kept his operation small for so many years. He preferred to keep instead a low profile, which always seemed to work. It appears that his relay men finally scored him something. He wouldn’t be talking about Taipei unless he was dealing with Rancor. I should have known if that rat was up to anything."

"Maybe he wasn’t," Cassie offered.

"Well, we’ll know soon enough," Colinaude said. "There’re other things I’d like to know."

"I think you need me," Cassie said.

"I don’t need anything," Colinaude said. "Nobody needs anything."

Cassie minded her glass. "That’s not really true."

"It’s gonna be a long wait for our food," Colinaude said. "Just thought you should know."

"I knew," Cassie said. She studied her glass for a moment, knowing Colinaude was following her eyes, waiting to hear what else she had to say. "You don’t have to do it."

"I don’t know what else to do," Colinaude said. "It’s my life. It’s been my life, longer than the world has known. These things don’t just happen. You didn’t just flip a switch to be here. I didn’t just decide one day to become this. It’s been a process, the whole way through, from the idealism to realizing the idealism was a myth I’d created to justify myself, to justify what I had become and what I was becoming. I realize what’s happening to me. I really do. But I can’t stop it, not without doing something drastic. And the thought of that scares me, more than the thought of where I’m headed if I don’t…

"Pleasant dinner chat," he smiled, raising his glass.

"Pleasant dinner chat," she said, meeting his glass. "That’s the way it goes."

"Yeah," Colinaude said.

"It sucks," Cassie said.

"That it does," Colinaude said. "And he makes for a lousy dinner date."

"The only one I know who could carry on so casually," Cassie said. "Apparently they’re both lousy golfers as well."

"Serves them right," Colinaude said.

"Without a doubt," Cassie said. "And he keeps staring at me. That makes him irritating, too."

"To give the man some credit," Colinaude said. "That’s not hard to do. Staring at you, I mean. If you don’t mind my saying."

"You get a free pass," Cassie said. "You kept me out of prison. That puts you in favorably enough with me, foibles and all."

"I don’t know what to say," Colinaude said.

"Try this word. It’ll do you more good than I ever could," Cassie said. "Perspective."

"All I can say is that I’ll try," Colinaude said. "It’s the best I can do."

"And it’s the best you could hope for," Cassie said. "I’ll help however I can. Cad here won’t be bothering you for much longer. We can see to that."

It was a good thing about Alonzo. Colinaude was going to have to count on him again, because this was going to be a lunch hour he was not soon going to let slip away. He had made up his mind about Cad. Tonight was going to be his night, and from then on there was going to be a new Colinaude. He finally allowed someone to help him see that he could no longer avoid that. Yes, he was going to enjoy the rest of his time at Marco’s, and he hoped Cad did as well.