Part 2
“Any name that isn’t mine.”
“Boss—”
“And fix the heat in their building.”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
“The whole building?”
Dominic looked at him.
Victor sighed.
“The whole building.”
Dominic went to Sunset Park himself the following afternoon.
Lily recognized him half a block away.
“You look better.”
“I feel better.”
“Did the bad men come back?”
“No.”
That was not quite true.
People had been asking questions around his businesses since the warehouse incident. Dominic simply had not yet discovered whose questions they were.
Lily studied him suspiciously.
“How did you find me?”
“I asked around.”
“My grandma says men who ask around usually want something.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“Your grandma continues to sound smart.”
“You can walk me home, but only to the door.”
“Fair.”
Eleanor Hayes opened that door before Lily finished knocking.
She was a small woman with silver hair, tired eyes and the posture of someone who had spent a lifetime learning not to retreat simply because another person was bigger.
She looked at Dominic’s coat.
His shoes.
His watch.
Then his face.
“Lily, upstairs.”
“But Grandma—”
“Now.”
Lily went.
Eleanor remained in the doorway.
“My granddaughter told me about the warehouse.”
“She saved my life.”
“She should never have been there.”
“Probably not.”
“And you should never have followed her home.”
Dominic accepted that without argument.
“I wanted to thank her.”
“You have.”
“I also want to help.”
“There it is.”
Eleanor started closing the door.
Dominic put no hand against it.
“One hour.”
She stopped.
“Public place. You choose. I explain. After that, if you say disappear, I disappear.”
Eleanor studied him for a long time.
The diner she chose was crowded, noisy and cheap.
She picked the booth nearest the entrance.
“You have fifty-eight minutes,” she said after they sat down.
Dominic explained the brownstone he owned in Park Slope.
It had working heat.
A small bedroom.
A nearby elementary school.
No rent.
No obligation.
May you like
Eleanor listened until he finished.
“Why?”
