Page 55 of Two Kinds of Stranger

The only problem with killing is making a mistake. One little error, one oversight, or one piece of bad luck could lead to a lot more work in covering his tracks.

A quiet street. No one around. Only the thrum of traffic on the bridge above.

He walked back to his car, parked a block away. Before he got in, he took the cloth and the gloves from his jacket and knelt at the curb, as if he was checking his front tire. Logan casually tossed everything into the storm drain, and had just got into his rental car when his phone began to ring.

Caller display readTokyo Management. A brand and marketing company that had Logan on an extravagant non-exclusive monthly retainer as a fixer. He hit answer.

‘Logan, Brett here, we need you to come in. Full crisis on the perfume launch. It’s not selling.’

The company specialized in product placement with celebrities who wanted to sell tequila, vodka, wine, perfume, clothing or even phone cases–it was all part of brand extensions and maximalization.

‘I can’t right now. What’s the problem?’ asked Logan.

‘I’ve got a mightily pissed-off A-lister and a shitload of terrible perfume that won’t move on the website. Sales are ninety per cent down on launch week.’

‘Any badpress issues I should know about?’

‘None. It’s just a bad product. What do we do? We can’t lose this client.’

‘Having a bad product doesn’t matter,’ said Logan. ‘It’s demand and saturation that we have to control. We don’t have the balance right on the universality and scarcity scale.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘People buy new products for two reasons–either because everyone is buying it, or because hardly anyone can buy it. Both have value. It’s the way we humans are programmed. You want something because few people can have it, which increases its value, or because everyone has it and you don’t want to miss out. Put a notice on the website saying that due to demand you can’t fulfill orders for twenty-four hours. Issue a press release to confirm it. Hike the price by a hundred dollars and reissue the product for sale tomorrow and watch those sales numbers go through the roof. Got to go now, Brett. Good luck.’

He ended the call, and hit the ignition button on the car. The radio came on.

‘Our phone-in today is all about the TikTok murders. What are the latest theories doing the rounds on social media? When will Elly Parker break her silence? And then later we’re going to be talking to Chef Tommy about the ultimate omelette. . .’

The Toyota’s navigation system sprang into life and Logan entered his next destination.

A business in Tribeca.

It sat above a tattoo parlor.

The offices of Flynn and Brooks, Attorneys at Law.

18

Eddie

‘Eddie, call on line three. It’s that guy again fromThe New York Times,’ said Denise, hollering at me from her desk at reception.

I was in my office, working on my third coffee of the afternoon, feet on my desk, pen tumbling through my fingers as I thought about Elly’s case.

‘You know you can call me on my office phone and tell me that. You don’t need to bellow it out across the whole office.’

‘I called your phone three times,’ said Denise. ‘You didn’t pick up. You’re miles away.’

She was right. When I get lost in thought, I go somewhere deep. The building could crumble around me and I probably wouldn’t notice.

‘Sorry, Denise. I’ll pick up next time.’

‘What do I tell the guy from theTimes?’

‘Tell him we’re not ready to make a statement yet, and I got today’s Wordle on my second try.’

Swinging my feet off the desk, I got up and took my coffee to Harry’s office. He was behind the desk, a stack of files on one side, which he was ignoring, a cup of coffee in one hand, his phone in the other. Clarence lay in his bed in the corner, dosing. The Rolling Stones were playing from Harry’s work laptop. Kate had set him up on Spotify. Harry liked listening to music as he worked, but didn’t want to haul his records and record player into the office.