Chapter 18
“You slept with Rick Hanson”, John states
“All I said so far is that I accepted to go for a drink”, I reply
“You said much more than that”, John argues
I cock my head slightly, and a smile half questioning half surprised appears on my lips
“You’ve been drawing a parallel”, John says and pauses
I wait for him to continue.
“You talked Rick Hanson into having dinner in his room, had sex and watched a show, just like you did with Rob Neilson. All this I know”, he tells me
I round my eyes, John shakes his head and laughs.
“Don’t give me that look, Iris. All this I know, now tell me about that show you and Rick watched”, John commands
“There was a man on a roof, aiming at a target walking in the street”, I start
“Was Rick Hanson paying attention?”, John asks
“No, not really. His mind had been elsewhere for most of the evening”, I recall
“But you, the mediator, made sure he noticed”, John prods me
I ponder for a moment, wondering if that is really what I had done.
“I asked him if he ever wanted someone dead”, I say after a moment
“This doesn’t seem the question one hears every day”, John comments ironically
“It isn’t. Rick looked at me when I asked, saying, ‘what?’ in a half-minded way. And yet I had captured his attention. I repeated the question, and he wanted to know why I was asking. I shrugged, said the scenes on the screen had made me wonder”
“And what did Rick Hanson tell you?”, John wants to know
“You’re odd, that’s what he said. Then there was a muffled explosion, a lifeless man in suit on the pavement some 20 storeys below. Rick stared at the screen, frowned deeply for a while, looked at me again. Yeah, he said, there’s someone I want dead”.