Page 95 of Love Is an Art
He walks out.Yes.Heavy, plodding footsteps. Howard inserts a key into the keyhole.He still has keys.And then a woman opens the door, talking excitedly, and she hugs him.And they kiss.
Yes! My hunch was correct.
His deep voice responds in an unintelligible murmur.
The family that was getting ready emerges into the hallway, and the high pitch of the excited kids’ voices echoes in the hallway.
“You need to share your marinade recipe before you move,” the neighbor says.
Bingo. The neighbor just confirmed he lives there and is only now “moving.” Maybe I can interview this neighbor.
“I tell you it’s easy,” he responds. “And we definitely need your picadillo recipe.”
Nobody is carrying any garbage, thankfully. I text Zeke.
Me:Neighbor woman with 3 kids coming out. She has red shirt. Kids wearing blue shirts. Can you follow?
Zeke:On it.
It’s a good lead. Although neighbors will usually be reluctant to testify.
The family takes the elevator, and Howard’s door closes.
The hallway is now quiet. I remove my mirror and look around for the placement of the security cameras, then hurry back to the stairwell.
Me:Coming down. He kissed woman!
I get into the elevator on the next floor.
On the ground floor, I approach the security guard.
“I’m a lawyer investigating a housing court case, and I’d like to see your security camera footage. Is there someone I can talk to about that?”
“Sure.” The guard scribbles a number down on a piece of paper and hands it to me. “Try him.”
“Thank you.” I leave the building.
Zeke:At playground around north corner.
I find Zeke by the CVS next to the playground. I tell him what I saw and what the neighbor said.
“But maybe they got back together after the grandmother died?” he asks.
“Still. Show a bit of respect for your last girlfriend and have some waiting time. It’s only been a few months. If you really cared for someone, how can you immediately jump into another relationship? Even if it’s returning to a former flame.” I huff. “But I get your point.”
I stare at the window display of suntan lotion in the CVS window. “I’m still going to argue he and Mrs. Robinson were not in a relationship. But if he insists that they were, he was not faithful. My argument is that he was also in a relationship with Ms. Morris that preceded his ‘relationship’ with Mrs. Robinson and that he was just using Mrs. Robinson for her apartment. I need to show him romantically involved with Ms. Morris during the time in question.”
I bite my lip. “We’ll see what the video footage shows. If they even have any. Maybe the neighbor will be willing to talk to us. And then I think we should hang around and see if they leave together. If we could get a photo of them physically together, that might at least spark some doubt in his picture of devotion to Taylor’s grandmother.”
“Won’t the security company want a subpoena?”
“Not always.”
I call the number the security guard gave me. I explain that I’m a lawyer on a housing court case requesting permission to see any security camera footage for a specific hallway for any weekends that they still have. The guy says sure and that they retain the footage for sixty days. He gives me the central office address. I make an appointment for Monday.
“Okay, let’s go talk to the neighbor,” I say.
“What? How are we going to talk to her?”
