[SPEAKER_00]: The American, Chapter 52, a short-hand missile tail by Matthew Seam McLean.
[SPEAKER_00]: The trouble at home, part 2.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon knew something was different the moment I walked into his cafe.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was invariably the same.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bald head, white shirt, cigarette loa, and his breast pocket, waste covered with an apron.
[SPEAKER_00]: His eyes, though, narrowed as I strode in.
[SPEAKER_00]: It might have been that I was just differently than most days.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't worried about making a shift at the casino, so the black trousers have been exchanged for jeans, and I didn't bother tucking in the Oxford shirt.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that was it, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: He smiled at me in a way that he hadn't before, like he might at a mischievous child that he caught doing something that he didn't really disapprove of.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took the rag out of his apron strings and smacked it into his other hand as if considering spanking me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I found my internal landscape being plainly apparent to the outside world wholly irritating, and I gave him a gruff what.
[SPEAKER_00]: Smile unsworving Simon responded with a bun zur, and a slight bow, hands indicating the table at the rear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Walking to it, I saw myself in the mirror on the wall above, and even I had to admit it was obvious something had changed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite having to keep an eye out for wayward Russian on the way to the cafe, I had heard a slight tune in my head.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some little ditty that now, in the safety of the cafe, I remembered Cheryl humming when it mundane tasks
[SPEAKER_00]: This conjured an image of her painting, the summer light of a Colorado afternoon surrounding her as she worked in the spare room we were going to make a nursery.
[SPEAKER_00]: It came so clear and so suddenly into my mind that I had to grab the back of the chair to keep my balance.
[SPEAKER_00]: This banished Simon's grin and he stepped closer asking if I was all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I nodded, moving to sit while making faint reassuring gestures.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon swiveled his head as he said, "'Where is your lady, Fred?'
[SPEAKER_00]: She's sleeping.
[SPEAKER_00]: I answer without thinking."
[SPEAKER_00]: This caused his grin to reappear, so bright it shines through the ears of Smoker's great on his teeth.
[SPEAKER_00]: The empish expression suggested he thought my weak and state might have something to do with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you tire her out?
[SPEAKER_00]: That comment was as welcome as a playful elbow to the ribs, bringing my irritation to its feet, and a fit of rudeness to ask for the mobile before even ordering coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: That flipped Simon switch instantaneously, moving him from Comrade to Cermudgeon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I returned to Stair, waiting for the judgment to pass, and when it didn't, said the world doesn't change in the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it pleased him that I said it in French.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still unhappy though, Simon stood up straight and shuffled himself back into his kitchen.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few minutes later he came back with an espresso, setting the mobile down next to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than join me, he walked away to sit down on one of his stools and opened the morning paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could have been part of the furniture, if furniture fumed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sipped my coffee and picked up the phone, staring at until the caffeine overcame my
[SPEAKER_00]: It buzzed in high European way, enough times that I began to doubt anyone would answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just as I thought I might escape dragging anyone else into this, the line picked up.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Inspector Rotella.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it was the early morning or just hotelist constant state, the voice echoed with fatigue is issuing from a deep cave.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd practice what I was going to say, but found that the Sub-Tranian and honest voice at the end of the line caused me to lose all of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead I stupidly repeated his name back to him and said, at well gave me your number, he said we should talk, I have some information that might be useful to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Retella gave a low growl that told me his opinion of the local representative of the American intelligence community.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you are more useful than that, supine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a journalist from the Kansas City Star.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you let me buy breakfast and I can tell you all about it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was gambling that, like most French civil servants, Rotella wouldn't be averse to the idea of a free meal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nonetheless, he grumbled.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's with an American know about food?
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't say I was going to cook for you inspector.
[SPEAKER_00]: I gave him the address.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd run to dubiously, maybe recognizing the neighborhood it was in, but I reassured it it would be worth his time, even of just for the chow.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I hung up by decided I couldn't wait for breakfast and I ordered my usual.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon separated from his stool, the disappearing of the kitchen, while I waited, a young couple walked in, looked around, saw me, thought better of it, and left.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't mention this when Simon brought breakfast.
[SPEAKER_00]: He set the plate of eggs to collect in front of me without giving any indication.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had seen or cared about the backpackers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The food was good enough that my eyes kept trying to wander from the cafe's entrance to the ceiling.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Simon and he moved to sit with me, lighting a cigarette low as he watched me enjoy his creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: We sat in silence while I tried not to shovel the food into my face like this was a mess hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: I told him in French, I was waiting for someone, and we turned that into my morning French lesson, talking around the particles of time, point of origin, and other things I answered in a vaguely French way.
[SPEAKER_00]: The second espresso had begun to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's caffeinated wonder when I spotted a mop of black hair on
[SPEAKER_00]: The aviator sunglasses and mustache-creamed cop, and shirt and tie were disheveled, and I would swear he was wearing cowboy boots.
[SPEAKER_00]: The battle over the door jingled at his arrival, causing Simon to glance up to the mirror.
[SPEAKER_00]: Confirming, I'm sure what he already suspected.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, that must be him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon rose from his seat, clearing off whatever imaginary dust he had left behind, with a few smacks of his towel.
[SPEAKER_00]: acting as if he had just been keeping it warm.
[SPEAKER_00]: He smiled at the inspector, crossing the cafe to welcome him in a much friendlier way than I would have expected anyone to get.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella's entrance was as rigid as the door handle, but he relaxed his Simon's approach introduced a domestic familiarity into this strange and unexpected rendezvous.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wackled as mustache and removed his sunglasses, inquiring assignment in words I didn't hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm certain this was out of politeness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella had already spotted the lone American at the back of the cafe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon indicated the rear table, as Rotella closed the distance I noted that I was right.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was wearing cowboy boots.
[SPEAKER_00]: I decided this was a good sign.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stayed where I was, giving the inspector all the time he needed.
[SPEAKER_00]: His strides slowed in the last few yards, stopping completely a few feet from the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are not from the Kansas City Star.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I thought to stand and then didn't the tension coming from Rotella holding me in place.
[SPEAKER_00]: I work with that well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can understand why I might not want to admit that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella snorted in that disdainful way that the French have mastered, but he sat down.
[SPEAKER_00]: He ordered a coffee, both he and Simon's server and customer treating each other with a dignity that I hadn't seen until I arrived in France.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said nothing until they finished their exchange.
[SPEAKER_00]: I may be a liar, I interjected while Simon was still in the air shot, but I wasn't fooling about the food.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's good, and I'm happy to buy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps later, was Ratella's cautious reply.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like some inverse of Peppy Lepu, I could tell that the hunger and using odors from the kitchen were already beginning to work their charm on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not even a croissant?
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon doesn't make them himself, but the bakery gets them from his excellent.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some reason, I couldn't resist trying to tempt him, perhaps remembering the water of your hose I had in the turnt-coat pocket that thousands given to me by mittening for the purpose of persuading the inspector.
[SPEAKER_00]: He declined again, and I shrugged.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roe Tella stared at me conducting his own inspection as we waited for the coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't long, and only when he had the cup and saw some in front of him, the rotella ask, what's easy to tell you ish?
[SPEAKER_00]: Merrick Midneck, I said the name simply and clearly allowed enough that I might have been trying to summon the devil.
[SPEAKER_00]: hotel of finger the rim of his coffee cup, his eyes resting on me in an expectant way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I realized then where the expectation was coming from.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was waiting for me to lie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Given his occupation and my introduction, I couldn't blame him.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the pronunciation of the name wasn't followed immediately by a falsehood, he asked, what of him?
[SPEAKER_00]: Since it was established, I was a liar, I decided
[SPEAKER_00]: you're investigating him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If my knowledge of this was a surprised rotella, he kept it to himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: For whatever reason this made me want to jostle him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pulled out the money roll, easily the size of my fist, and said, he wants you to stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sheer amount of cash, and it's sudden appearance put a dent in rotella's European cool, but his blue eyes wavered.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, even a dirty cop would have been an idiot to take a bribe right out in the open,
[SPEAKER_00]: And I already knew Retella wasn't an idiot, so I said, but I don't.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to admit this confusion pleased me.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I has moved from me to the wall, and back again, after a few moments, he settled with, I do not understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tapped the role of a currency.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mechnik asked me to speak with you to see if you could be made cooperative.
[SPEAKER_00]: I chose those words, expecting they would grate against the stubborn nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows you've been investigating him, and he wants to make friends with the local Muckity Mucks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Being under police scrutiny tends to make that difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rootella snorted again, with even more scoring than he had for at well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt this slight air of scandal would keep him from making friends in eyed places.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not in this town.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your friend, he's not my friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly no stranger to the undercurrents of anger and violence retellip paused, he backed his chair away from the table slightly before continuing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't fear, the extra space gave him movement maneuver, or draw a pistol.
[SPEAKER_00]: From across those safer inches, he's eyes dipped down to the currency, and yet you are his emissary.
[SPEAKER_00]: Midnik thinks so.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sipped my coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a dangerous game.
[SPEAKER_00]: All part of working for Uncle Sam, like a practically here at Will Sinical Laugh at that, particularly as none of this was in the job description.
[SPEAKER_00]: Retail of Purse Dislips, then decided, this was worth this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mintenik is already buying up much property, investigating and construction, lavishing gives upon local politicians and what their remains of the nobility.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're similar to being an extra helping of contempt that last one.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is making friends of developers, they're re-editous, they're construction industry, they're bankers, he does not need me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He may not need you, but I want him to think he has you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Mittenig may be plugged into the city, but there's something else he wants.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants the casino, or tell a laughed and unpleasant sound.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may not have been here long enough to have known many men like Mittenig.
[SPEAKER_00]: He does not want something else.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought about Mittenig in the avartette.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just Mittenig's greed we were dealing with.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want to dive into the murky waters of international conspiracy, though, so I replied, maybe so, but his designs and the casino were bringing him into conflict with a night governor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rhotela touched the bridge of his nose as if he were still wearing his sunglasses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unhidden, I could see him process everything that statement contained.
[SPEAKER_00]: My demonstration of the knowledge of the city's underworld, the gray area that casino occupied, the dangers of a gang war.
[SPEAKER_00]: I came because you said you had something that would interest me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella pushed for my promised information.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mitnick is pushing into Satre's territory, and like you said, Mitnick wants it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Smuggling, money laundering, gambling.
[SPEAKER_00]: He gets two of those if he gets controlled with Casino.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella nodded, played listening, stretching out into a non-response, so I continued with one of the rackets as human trafficking.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been bringing in women.
[SPEAKER_00]: mostly refugees from Ukraine and Syria.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he was originally cooperating with Satra, providing him with girls, but lately he's been setting up his own shops.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pause for dramatic effect.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's part of his power grab.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's claiming territory for his own outside partners.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hotel a drink is coffee making a show of being unimpressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: You said you had something that would interest me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, if I'm right, it could lead to a gang war from Paris to Marseille.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want shootouts in the street?
[SPEAKER_00]: At the thought of street fighting, the memory of a bullet-wizz passed me and I felt the desert heat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hoped Rootella couldn't see the fire behind my eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: The part of me that still lived in that violence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rootella's pretend in difference, tempered by years of hard cop work, wasn't quite enough to stay intact in the face of that idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: and what would you do to stop it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I smiled pretending that I was glad to have as interest, but found holding the grin to be painful.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have reason to believe that Mittenick is holding someone in his house against their will.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella's eyes snapped me with that statement, I could almost hear his irises narrowing.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you know this?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I admitted the truth just to keep spinning my eyes, but I do know there's a woman named Nika in his house, under guard that never officially entered the country.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's got no passport, no papers, and nowhere to go without Mittenick's permission.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't sure if I was describing Nika or the women from the cat houses at the point, but I went with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it could be proven that Mittenick was holding someone prisoner, Rochelle nodded, enthusiasm increasing with each word, then none of his friends in high places could help him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd go to prison or be deported, and there's no gang war.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shrugged, leaning back into my chair.
[SPEAKER_00]: or at least it's a rain day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella looked at me quizzically and I clarified with, at least it's delayed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella nodded again and then did the cops thing and asked the obvious question.
[SPEAKER_00]: How would we prove this?
[SPEAKER_00]: I smiled, feeling the repercussions of my statement before I made it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I asked her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella's astonishment caused him to fall into French.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kiss, kiss, hey.
[SPEAKER_00]: I nunched the role of money towards him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You take the cash, go flash for a round town for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make a show of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell Mitnick you're in, but you've got one concern.
[SPEAKER_00]: You heard a rumor that he's holding someone against their well.
[SPEAKER_00]: We play the, this is a series of funs kind of thing, and tell him you can't play ball if it's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell him you've even heard rumors of a raid, which would be seriously embarrassing for midnight and put a dent in his social climbing plans.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I tell him you want me to meet with his girl, confirm that, you know, confirm she's there of her own free will.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once I do that, I say, you can cooperate.
[SPEAKER_00]: She probably won't be able to have an honest conversation, so I slipper her note to speak up if she's safe.
[SPEAKER_00]: If she doesn't, then we know she's being held against you.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's proves nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It gives you a reason to rate his house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if she's too afraid to come out, a raid would call out all kind of problems.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe meeting and getting in trouble with his partners.
[SPEAKER_00]: And possibly ends my career.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would I do this?
[SPEAKER_00]: This sounded like such bureaucratic bullshit.
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt the flicker of fire in my chest grow, but I had anticipated that Rottella might not be the naive crusader I'd hoped for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I took out an address I'd copy from Sophie's map and slithered across the table to Rottella.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the location of one of Midnight's cathouses.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember hotel I didn't understand it, I added his brothel.
[SPEAKER_00]: There should be enough evidence there for you to corroborate everything that I'm saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: The inspector put a fourth finger on the note and slid a closer to himself, flipping it over as evaluating the latest playing card and dealt to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: After thoroughly reading its contents, he said nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: on and I've got a map of every legal broth one town.
[SPEAKER_00]: You hope Uncle Sam out with this and I'll give it to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can bust every operation they've got running.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe expose the entire human trafficking ring.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have this map, why bother with the girl?
[SPEAKER_00]: She could link midnight directly to kidnapping.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not going to be anything and those cat houses that
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella, read the note again, flicking the edge of the paper with his thumb.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is at worst plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would it make you feel better if it was?
[SPEAKER_00]: He stared levelly at me, tugged at his mustache, then came to the conclusion of, none.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we're good.
[SPEAKER_00]: None.
[SPEAKER_00]: A temporary dip into confusion quickly became rising anger, my feet swelling beneath me as I asked, what?
[SPEAKER_00]: I must meet this girl, this Nika.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will come with you to meet Nicks.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to admit that's a prize me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate being surprised.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell a level to his cool stare on me because I do not know you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not trust you and I wish to meet Nick for myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He disappeared the note and was pocket.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will visit this house.
[SPEAKER_00]: That seemed backwards to me, and I said so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella only replied, this is the way it will be, or it will not be at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stared hard at him across the table, reminding myself that I couldn't intimidate him, and that violence wasn't an option.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella sipped his coffee, bathing in my hostility with all the calm of a duck and water.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I palm the mobile and some piss-ant way of re-establishing control, I said, order some breakfast and stood and walk away from the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt Simon sweeping behind me as I moved to the front of the cafe and out the front door.
[SPEAKER_00]: I slipped around the cafe's front into a side alley, dialing the mobile's only number as I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's buzzing was quickly answered with the same gutter-roll Russian as before.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't bother with any preamble just stating, tell the boss the inspector is willing to play ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shook off the American colloquial cosms I kept slipping into.
[SPEAKER_00]: The inspector is willing to cooperate.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a sound of a muffled hand over the phone, covering some conference on the other side, until a quick reply came back with good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to meet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: The inspector wants to meet.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had some questions, and I've had a visit from some Russians.
[SPEAKER_00]: So until I get that settled, I feel a lot safer in the company of a cop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another muffled consultation took place, and ended with... ...call you back.
[SPEAKER_00]: The line went dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stared at the phone as if it's screen, like, some magic a ball could give me an answer to what to do next.
[SPEAKER_00]: When it provided no useful advice, I'd dialed another number.
[SPEAKER_00]: The phone buzzed until the recording of Max, sounding bored, and slightly hung over.
[SPEAKER_00]: spoke in a heavily accented French that I wasn't even sure what's French.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a beep though, so I did the voicemail thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd better have the hideout for your princess ready soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Things are moving fast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hung up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Outside the morning sun was beginning to heat the cobblestones chasing away the moisture from the night's rain.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even this far from the ocean, a salty breeze gently rolled down the alley.
[SPEAKER_00]: I breathed that in the narrow bleached walls of the lane reminding me of Capon, and the golden light reminding me of Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Between the two things I stamped my feet trying to get my anger to a bait, there was still a lot of work to be done.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the cafe, Ratella was eating the breakfast he was smart enough to order and speaking evidently to Simon.
[SPEAKER_00]: It sounded like they were talking about local politics.
[SPEAKER_00]: From the cafe's entrance, the stranger like myself might even think that they were happy.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I crossed the distance though, I saw the gestures of his arms and rapid motions of his head, or animated by a nervous energy, like an alcoholic who's found a group of strangers to drink with.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he was happy, it was a tense happiness.
[SPEAKER_00]: brought on by possibilities and dangers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to the table and opened my mouth, but the mobile buzzed in my pocket.
[SPEAKER_00]: I rode the number on and it's displaying and conveyed surprise to Rotella with raised eyebrows.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I flipped the phone open before I could say anything in spoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are welcome with the inspector.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come to the house tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I put the mobile to my chest and spoke to Rotella like we're old acquaintances making dinner plans
[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, between mouthfuls of delicious food or telerespondent known tomorrow afternoon, during the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stared at him, briefly impressed with the entitlement that apparently all cops had, even French ones.
[SPEAKER_00]: I blinked that away and repeated what he had said into the mobile.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was another muted conference on the other end of the line, and then a,
[SPEAKER_00]: I put the phone down picking up the coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow afternoon it is then.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella wiped his mouth and said, I would visit the address tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was my turn to cock and eyebrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why bother?
[SPEAKER_00]: I just told you we're meeting with midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was dimmin' states my seriousness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I slowly nodded, uncertain how that was gonna play.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, midnight could exhibit an ability to deal with bluster and violence, so I was confident things wouldn't get out of hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be expecting me with you, before Rotella could offer his own plan, I said, I'll pick you up in a taxi and we can travel together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you want to meet?
[SPEAKER_00]: Inspector Shrugged, then asked something loudly and quick French to Simon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it was, Simon responded in an equally fast fashion and Rotella said to me, we will meet here.
[SPEAKER_00]: He checked his wristwatch, a black and utilitarian thing, and added
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I stood up by way of announcing my departure, enjoy your breakfast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rotella, predictably it ensnared by the wonders of Simon's cooking, not in held up his coffee cup and a mock toast that he tapped the money roll with, do not forget your euros.
[SPEAKER_00]: I waved it off, but Rotella made no move towards it, continuing to eat, as if it weren't there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't really blame him for not wanting it, so I took it over to the counter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I set the money in the mobile-down asking Simon if he could hold on to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simon stared at the cash with a restraint I think is singular to French waiters.
[SPEAKER_00]: After that brief pause he shrugged, disappearing both the money in the phone under the counter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uncertain as to what I had done to earn such loyalty, but grateful for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, take as much as you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: I walked down before you could protest.
[SPEAKER_00]: With the inspector behind me in the cafe, it left me with a little over 24 hours to plan a kidnapping.