dennis led the two security men to the nearest conference room. it was one of the larger ones, used for the interminable “meetings” of whole departments and not just for one-on-one conferences or performance reviews, or meetings with clients.
but it was empty, and the door was not locked. dennis opened the door and switched on the light, and and the security men followed him. the door clicked closed behind them
there were twelve chairs scattered around the long table. loosely, not pulled up neatly to it. a long window looked down to the darkening street twelve stories below.
dennis took a chair with his back to the window. the beach bum sat down across from him, and the man in black sat in the chair at the head of the table.
the beach bum took a phone out of his pocket and put it on the conference table. the man in black took a small spiral paper notebook and a pen out of his jacket pocket and tossed them on the table.
the beach bum stared at dennis without speaking.
“do you guys have names?” dennis asked, just to be saying something.
“he wants to know our names,” the beach bum said to the man in black.
the man in black did said nothing, just folded his hands on his stomach and leaned back a little in his chair at the head of the table.
“why do you want to know our names?” the beach bum asked dennis. “will it make a difference in the answers you give to our questions?.”
“i guess not,” dennis replied. for the first time, he felt a little nervous. the beach bum was emanating a bit of hostility. until now, dennis had found the encounter mildly exciting, like watching something on tv. and at least a break in his routine, alhtough it would probably result in his having to stay a little later, because he and annie and marcie would still have to finish phil johnson’s project.
”but we are not bad guys,” the beach bum said, as if sensing dennis’s fear, “so since you are such a friendly little fellow, i will tell you our names. my name is john - john dillinger. and this handsome gentleman is named al - al capone.”
“thank you,” dennis replied. “my name is dennis - dennis knight. but you already knew that.”
“we already knew that,” john, the beach bum agreed. “now let’s get down to business.” he reached down and pressed a button on his phone.
al, the man in black, picked up his pen and little notebook. to write down things that were too terrible to record in electrons? dennis wondered.
“tell us everything you know about bob,” john began.
“you mean bob that i found dead outside the office?” dennis asked.
“don’t be a smarty pants, dennis, of course that is who i men.”
“i don’t know anything about him. i don’t even know his last name.”
“i am sorry, but i don’t believe that.”
“but, it’s true,” dennis protested. “i mean, i might have heard it, but i don’t remember it. he was just bob - a guy in the e c department. i think he was in the e c department. i said to adele i thought he was in the e c department and she didn’t say he wasn’t.”
“stop babbling,” john said, “ and tell us everything you know about bob.”
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