The Society

Chapter 7: The Consultant Part II

The Consultant - Ian Dawn

I was walking down one of the less busy streets in TriBeCa with Andy, I could even go as far as to call this one a calm street. Andy was striding along next to me, wearing a worn out black coat with a casual black suit underneath. He held an extraordinary ability to wear suits that were worn out without looking shabby, always looking casually without being informal. He wore them in a way that almost made a mockery out of the formality that a suit symbolizes. I often tried to simulate this look, but I always came out looking slightly too crisp and clean.

"It's right up here!" Andy sounded like an excited child dragging a parent by the hand to look at a mundane object, which was amazing to their eyes. In this case I was ready to jump on the bandwagon and look at the world with the same excitement, because Andy was taking me to a new little hidden gem of a restaurant that he had found.

"And here we are!" Andy held open the door of a small ground floor restaurant, that from the outside look like the most unsuspecting and ordinary Italian trattoria. The world of restaurants in Manhattan with their constant openings, closings, re-branding and owner shifts were like a living breathing animal that was forever shifting form. Andy, like no one else I knew, held a constant finger on the pulse of that shifting, peculiar animal.

"Let me order for you!" Andy grinned as we sat down on the simple wicker chairs. The restaurant was fairly empty with traditional stone walls, white sturdy linen napkins and a fat owner walking around behind the bar pulling at his caterpillar moustache and muttering under his breath in Italian.

"Let's have the boar stew with polenta and some red wine," Andy looked attentively at the pretty, dark haired waitress and gave her a quick wink before she headed off towards the kitchen.

I had only managed half of my portion when I realised, I was nearly full. Andy, clearly in the know about the massive portion sizes had paced himself.

He was smiling at my facial expressions, "I told you it was a gem!"

I nodded and had sip of wine. Andy rested his cutlery against the plate and followed my example, pausing for a moment.

He looked at me, with direct honesty and asked, "So, how have you been getting on with Cassie?"

It had been a few weeks since we had discussed this topic last. Andy has been gracious enough not to bring it up or stress me about it. It was almost as he sensed that I needed some time to progress with my task in my own time.

"It's been good. During the last month or so we have started spending more time together, even some lunches and coffees in the last few weeks."

"So... you are getting her to trust you?"

"I would prefer to look at it like this, we are slowly becoming friends. It's important that she has a friend, who knows what she will know when she connects all the dots..."

"Okay. I see. I guess now that she no longer is reliant on her boyfriend, this is easier..."

I don't like what he's implying like I somehow made Duncan go away so I could become more important in her life. That is not the case at all, it's just a happy coincidence. 

"No, I made him back down because he was lying to her. He got arrested as a drug dealer and illegally changed his name. He abandoned his old identity and more importantly, his family. All for a chance at a clean slate. He was not a good guy and he had every chance to tell her, but he choose to be a coward," My outburst was like a bottle of emotions fizzing over, as if they were carbonated and someone had just shaken the bottle. I took a breath to calm myself down and reached for my wine glass.