Chapter 48
The Greaser was at the corner between 105 Ave and 106 Street, and whenever the traffic light turned red I would glance at the people waiting to roll again: impatient ladies nibbling on their nails, afros moving at the rhythm of the songs pumping from their stereos, men in their suits, windows up and AC on, and easy going boys in second hand cars, some happy some worried. Sometimes I would get noticed looking, and I would lower my eyes, or perhaps smile.
“Why do you stare people down?”, asked Brad
I shrugged, “I don’t stare them down on purpose, we are facing the window and these guys are just there in front of us…”
“So what do we do now?”, Alice interrupted
“Let me call Mariam Avery, I should go see her tonight and fill her in on the last events”
“I made an appointment with her, why don’t you tag along?”
“When did you make it?”, I asked
“I called her after we spoke in the cafeteria, you remember?”, Brad told me
“I know, what I meant is when are you going to see her”
“Oh, at 7 tonight”
“Perhaps I could tag along along?”, asked Alice
“Why not? I don’t know what Avery is going to think about the fact that she’ll see three people show up when she expected only me, but…”, said Brad shrugging
“I’ll come”, said Alice
I was taking another bite of my pizza when the traffic light went red. A white Audi stopped, and I looked at the car before noticing its passengers.
“Nice car”, I said
“Better than my Hyundai”, Brad commented
“Guys…”, Alice whispered
“What?”, I asked looking at her
“Did you see who’s in that car?”
“McMurrich”, said Brad, his pizza slice suspended halfway in the air
“McMurrich and Mark”, I said, my eyes magnetized to the couple in the car
“Don’t stare Iris”, Brad said
“Who’s Mark?”, Alice asked, looking at me
“We went to the DNA center to run some analyses on our samples, McMurrich put us in contact with Mark and he helped us with that”
I glanced out the window and saw McMurrich lean towards Mark, just slightly, and smile a sly flirtatious smile I had never seen on her before.
“Do you think they have an affair?”, I asked
“I think so…”, Alice said, taking a quick glance at the two
The light turned green and the Audi started. It was already past the traffic light when I saw McMurrich turn for a brief second and look in our direction, and I wondered if she saw us.
“Let’s hope not”, Brad said shaking his head when I asked
“Let’s go back guys, there’s work to do”, Alice said, getting up
“It seems like you have an idea in mind”, I replied, collecting my carton and napkins
“McMurrich asked me to order a bunch of different types of cells, antibodies and proteins to test what the polymer does to them. I don’t know what this will lead to, but I must do it since the boss asked”
“And I will try to do some more research before leaving for Milan”
“Leaving for Milan?”, Alice exclaimed, eyes wide and eyebrows arched
“Let’s go, I’ll tell you on our way back”