“Right. That.”
“I figured. That’s usually what it is. Well, then I’d say you have to do wonderful things.”
Raymond felt his eyes go wide. “Me?”
“Somebody has to. And you’re the one asking the question.”
“So if I do wonderful things . . .” He stalled there.
“The world will still be a place where people do terrible things. But here’s the thing about despair. We fall into despair when the terrible gangs up on us and we forget the world can also be wonderful. We just see terrible everywhere we look. So what you do for your friend is you bring up the wonderful, so both are side by side. The world is terrible and wonderful at the same time. One doesn’t negate the other, but the wonderful keeps us in the game. It keeps us moving forward. And, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Raymond, but that’s as good as the world is going to get.”
Raymond didn’t answer. He just sat thinking.
“Is that a bad answer?” she asked after a time.
“No. Actually, I’ve asked a couple of people, and that’s the best one I’ve gotten so far.”
Chapter Seventeen
* * *
Flames in the Darkness
Raymond opened the door and stepped into the upscale outer office of Luis Javier Velez, Esquire. The receptionist was a pretty, middle-aged black-haired woman with flashing eyes. Not in a good way. She turned those eyes on Raymond, and he froze.
There was no one else in the outer office. But someone was in with Mr. Velez. Raymond could hear the dull murmur of voices and make out vague shapes through a tinted glass window.
“Can I help you?” she asked. It was clear by her tone that she did not want to help him, and assumed she could not.
“I was hoping to get just a minute to talk to Mr. Velez.”
“But you don’t have an appointment?”
“Well. No.”
“He doesn’t see anyone without an appointment.”
“Okay. I get that. I almost called. But I know him. I’ve met him. I’ve been to his apartment, actually, and I know his wife. But it was a while ago now, and I thought if I called on the phone, he might not remember me. I wanted him to see my face.”
“Regardless—” she began.
But Raymond simply kept talking.
“See, he gave me his card.” He held the card out for her to see, but her eyes just bounced across it and came up to his. He kept his gaze averted as he spoke. “He told me if there was ever anything he could do to help . . .”
The receptionist sighed. Raymond braved a glance at her face as she lifted the receiver of her telephone. She was disappointed, he thought. Because she had to deal with him now. She couldn’t just turn him away.
“Mr. Velez,” she said. “Sorry to disturb you while you’re with a client, but you didn’t tell me to hold calls. There’s a young man here to see you, but he doesn’t have an appointment. But he says you gave him your business card and told him to get in touch if there was anything you could do to help him.”
A pause as she listened.
“Right,” she said, and hung up the phone.
Raymond’s heart raced, waiting to hear what she would do.
“He says that doesn’t narrow it down much. But if you want to sit and wait, if he has a couple of minutes between clients, he’ll talk to you.”
Mr. Velez did not turn his eyes to Raymond until he had walked his client to the outer door, said his goodbyes, then closed the door behind the man.
Then he gave Raymond his full attention.
“Oh,” he said. “Uh-huh. I do remember you, yes. I came home one day to find you in my kitchen having breakfast with my wife.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t remember your name, though.”
“Raymond.”
“Well, Raymond, I’ve got exactly three minutes until my next client, unless she shows up late. So come on in and tell me what you hope I can do. And talk fast.”
Raymond followed him into his expensively decorated office. It was modern and sleek, all black leather and gleaming stainless steel. He sat in an uncomfortable chair facing Mr. Velez. The attorney sat behind his massive desk, leaning his chair back, steepling his fingers in front of his chin and staring at Raymond. Waiting for him to speak.
When Raymond didn’t open his mouth immediately, Velez jumped in.
“I know what happened,” he said. “It’s hard to escape the details of a case when the victim shares your name. Legal colleagues kept coming up to me and telling me they were so happy to hear I was still alive. I knew that must’ve been the guy you were looking for. I mean, Luis Velez. Disappeared suddenly. It just all fit.”