pay for dinner, okay? And please tell me what I owe you for your plane ticket.”
“I’ll let you get the check. As for my travel expenses, I’m a big boy, but thanks anyway.”
Andrew paid the bill and got up.
“One little thought has just occurred to me, Stilman. Assuming you
can
predict what’s going to happen in the next few months, why don’t you try to forestall what you can?”
“Because I can’t change the course of things. The few times I’ve tried to these past couple of days, all I’ve managed to do is delay events by a few hours.”
“In that case, what makes you think you can prevent your murder from happening?”
“Hope. Or despair, depending on my state of mind.”
Andrew said goodbye to the inspector and left.
Pilguez remained at the table, lost in thought. He watched the end of the game. In the last few minutes, the Yankees hit a game-winning home run.
10.
A ndrew didn’t wait to get to the office to read
The New York Times
the next morning. He bought the paper from the newsstand at the corner of his street, and noted that the front page featured the article Freddy Olson had written in haste following the Pentagon’s announcement half an hour before the paper went to print. A U.S. Navy cruiser had fired a warning shot across the bows of an Iranian frigate that had sailed a little too close to the Sixth Fleet at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. The shot had done no damage to the Iranian ship, which had turned back, but tension between the two countries was escalating by the day.
Andrew hoped Inspector Pilguez had read the article too. In the early afternoon, after a glance at the news tickers scrolling the latest stories on the television screens in the editorial offices, he called Valerie to inform her, before she heard it from someone else, that an F5 tornado had destroyed a town not far from her parents’ home. He tacked on a little white lie: she had no reason to worry about them, because as soon as he’d heard the news he’d inquired about the situation in Arcadia, and nothing had happened there.
In preparation for what he couldn’t tell her yet, he called a florist, ordered a bunch of peonies and wrote a romantic message on a card to slip in among the flowers. He’d make sure he took good care of her that evening.
He spent the afternoon doing research, but the inspector’s remark the previous evening had set him thinking. Why not try to alter the course of events? When he’d tried to avoid the argument with Olson, all he’d done was postpone it by a few hours, and it had ended up being a lot nastier than their original quarrel. When he’d gone to buy a ring before making his marriage proposal, strangely enough he’d chosen the exact same ring, even though he’d gone to another jeweler.
Still, why not try and turn his past experience to his advantage? On his forthcoming trip to Buenos Aires, maybe he’d be able to trap the man whose confession he hadn’t been able to obtain. If he could get Major Ortiz to talk, his editor would offer him the front page as soon as she’d read his story, and that meant he could whisk his wife away on honeymoon the day after their wedding.
What if I could replay my life?
Andrew scribbled on the flyleaf of his notebook. Hasn’t everyone dreamed of having that opportunity? Correcting their mistakes; succeeding where they’d failed. Life was offering him a second chance.
So you won’t be hanging out at Novecento anymore, right
? a little inner voice whispered.
Andrew chased the thought away. He started tidying up his desk, wanting to get home before Valerie. His office line rang. It was the switchboard operator transferring a call. A police inspector wanted to talk to him.
“You’re very gifted,” Pilguez declared without saying hello. “You got nearly all of it right.”
“Nearly?”
“My colleague fractured his thighbone, not his collarbone—more bothersome. I won’t lie to you. When I
“I’ll let you get the check. As for my travel expenses, I’m a big boy, but thanks anyway.”
Andrew paid the bill and got up.
“One little thought has just occurred to me, Stilman. Assuming you
can
predict what’s going to happen in the next few months, why don’t you try to forestall what you can?”
“Because I can’t change the course of things. The few times I’ve tried to these past couple of days, all I’ve managed to do is delay events by a few hours.”
“In that case, what makes you think you can prevent your murder from happening?”
“Hope. Or despair, depending on my state of mind.”
Andrew said goodbye to the inspector and left.
Pilguez remained at the table, lost in thought. He watched the end of the game. In the last few minutes, the Yankees hit a game-winning home run.
10.
A ndrew didn’t wait to get to the office to read
The New York Times
the next morning. He bought the paper from the newsstand at the corner of his street, and noted that the front page featured the article Freddy Olson had written in haste following the Pentagon’s announcement half an hour before the paper went to print. A U.S. Navy cruiser had fired a warning shot across the bows of an Iranian frigate that had sailed a little too close to the Sixth Fleet at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. The shot had done no damage to the Iranian ship, which had turned back, but tension between the two countries was escalating by the day.
Andrew hoped Inspector Pilguez had read the article too. In the early afternoon, after a glance at the news tickers scrolling the latest stories on the television screens in the editorial offices, he called Valerie to inform her, before she heard it from someone else, that an F5 tornado had destroyed a town not far from her parents’ home. He tacked on a little white lie: she had no reason to worry about them, because as soon as he’d heard the news he’d inquired about the situation in Arcadia, and nothing had happened there.
In preparation for what he couldn’t tell her yet, he called a florist, ordered a bunch of peonies and wrote a romantic message on a card to slip in among the flowers. He’d make sure he took good care of her that evening.
He spent the afternoon doing research, but the inspector’s remark the previous evening had set him thinking. Why not try to alter the course of events? When he’d tried to avoid the argument with Olson, all he’d done was postpone it by a few hours, and it had ended up being a lot nastier than their original quarrel. When he’d gone to buy a ring before making his marriage proposal, strangely enough he’d chosen the exact same ring, even though he’d gone to another jeweler.
Still, why not try and turn his past experience to his advantage? On his forthcoming trip to Buenos Aires, maybe he’d be able to trap the man whose confession he hadn’t been able to obtain. If he could get Major Ortiz to talk, his editor would offer him the front page as soon as she’d read his story, and that meant he could whisk his wife away on honeymoon the day after their wedding.
What if I could replay my life?
Andrew scribbled on the flyleaf of his notebook. Hasn’t everyone dreamed of having that opportunity? Correcting their mistakes; succeeding where they’d failed. Life was offering him a second chance.
So you won’t be hanging out at Novecento anymore, right
? a little inner voice whispered.
Andrew chased the thought away. He started tidying up his desk, wanting to get home before Valerie. His office line rang. It was the switchboard operator transferring a call. A police inspector wanted to talk to him.
“You’re very gifted,” Pilguez declared without saying hello. “You got nearly all of it right.”
“Nearly?”
“My colleague fractured his thighbone, not his collarbone—more bothersome. I won’t lie to you. When I
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