What Nick Saw in the Rubble
Nick knew the way he pretended to attach value to every word that Matthew had to say made the young man feel valued and important. Confrontation was not something that Nick enjoyed, and he usually avoided it by playing on the human factor. Getting rid of Matthew had been easy for Nick.
He made sure not to touch anything, as his friend Brendan had advised. He watched the NYPD officers work. One group of officers was using lasers to figure out the trajectory of each bullet; the others were busy collecting shell casings and shredded pieces of paper from the rubble. Two other officers were searching for body parts that had been strewn around by the impact of the explosion. When they found one, they put it in a body bag.
Nick stepped over to the window, and the pieces of glass lying on the floor caught his attention. He looked straight out the hole in the window, looked down, and then looked up. Above was a window washer’s platform. He nodded his head and straightened up. He looked around for Matthew, who had still not returned with the list. He completed his inspection of the conference room and stood near a corner of the room, jotting down more information on his notepad along with some of his observations. A few minutes later, Matthew returned and handed over the list of names. Nick thanked him and asked him to inform Brendan that he was leaving. Nick walked toward the door. His gait was sprightly. It seemed that he had found something to work on.
Nick walked out into the hallway and headed directly for the elevator. When he reached it, he pressed the button. The door opened and Nick stepped in. The door closed and the elevator began to move up. Nick seemed happy with himself.