Unidentified Woman #15 by David Housewright Read Free Book Online

collapsed a few years ago, taking with it thirteen lives and much of our peace of mind.
    “It seems much higher than it really is because of the way it looks down into the river,” Fifteen said.
    “I suppose.”
    “This view … There’s isn’t a single building in Deer River that is more than two stories. I was in high school before I even saw an elevator. Tell me, McKenzie, living so high up, does it make you feel big or small?”
    “Actually, it makes me feel a little nauseous. I have a touch of acrophobia.”
    “You’re afraid of heights?”
    “Just a bit.”
    “Why do you live in a building like this, then, with a balcony and glass walls and a view?”
    “Well, you see, there’s this girl…”
    “You moved here for Nina? Wow. That is so cool. No one has ever done anything like that for me. At least … I don’t remember, but it doesn’t feel like it.”
    “You’re still very young,” I said. “Give it time.”
    “You think?”
    “You’re very pretty. Once you get past all this, you won’t have any trouble finding somebody.”
    “Yes, but finding some one, that’s the trick, isn’t it? McKenzie, do you mind if I take a walk down there? Along the river?”
    “Do you mind if I go with?”
    “Are you asking because you think I’m in danger? Your cop friend, Commander Dunston, he thinks I am. That’s why he sent me here.”
    “Breakfast is getting cold.”
    *   *   *
    Fifteen dug into her omelet the same way she had consumed the Chinese dish the evening before—as if food were something she had just discovered.
    In between bites, she said, “You are a marvelous cook.”
    “Yes. Yes, I am.”
    “Modest, too. Tell me, how does this work?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You and Nina? I know she has a job. She said she was going to her office. Are you like, a househusband?”
    “I hadn’t thought about it. I suppose I am.”
    “She supports you?”
    “No, not at all. We—Nina owns a restaurant and jazz joint in St. Paul called Rickie’s, that she named after her daughter. It’s her pride and joy. Both the club and Erica.”
    “Erica’s not your daughter, too?”
    “Nina and I aren’t married.”
    “Ahh,” she said around a mouthful of the egg dish. I wasn’t surprised. We get that a lot.
    “What about you?” Fifteen asked.
    “What about me?”
    “What do you do?”
    “I’m what the screenwriters call independently wealthy.”
    “Really? How did that happen?”
    “I used to be a police officer in St. Paul. One day, working on my own time, I tracked down a rather enterprising embezzler with a substantial price on his head. Actually, it took longer than a day. Anyway, I retired from the cops to collect the reward. The idea was to give my father a comfortable retirement, only he passed six months later.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Thank you.”
    “So, what do you do now?”
    “Whatever I feel like.”
    “Must be nice.”
    “It has its moments.”
    “So, you basically took the reward money and started living a new life.”
    “Pretty much.”
    “God, I wish I could do that.”
    “You are, aren’t you?”
    “It’s not the same thing. I mean, how can you start a new life if you don’t know what the old one was like? It could have been the worst life ever. Or it could have been the best. I might have been in love. Someone might have loved me. I like to think I was a good person, McKenzie, except … except if I was, why did they try to kill me—kill me that way?”
    “I have an appointment scheduled for you to meet my friend at eleven tomorrow morning.”
    “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.”
    “Shakespeare. Macbeth. I’m impressed.”
    “Who’s Shakespeare? Who’s Macbeth?”
    *   *   *
    Food was consumed. Dishes were cleared. Heavy winter clothes were donned. Fifteen was smaller than Erica, yet not