friday took out her phone and set it to record.
why don’t you tell me how you met william wilson and formed this curious relationship with him?
there is not much to tell.
good, then this will not take long.
i had a long day at the office. one client in particular had tried my patience and i had barely kept my temper and refrained from summoning security to remove them. so when the day was over i decided to go for a walk in the street to wind down, something i often do.
how late in the day was this? was it night, or still daylight?
it was night. it was very dark.
was it raining? or windy?
it was not raining. i do not recall that it was particularly windy.
probably not many people in the treet.
no, there usually are not.
were you stopped and questioned by the police?
two policepersons who i knew from my frequent walks stopped and said hello, and we talked about the coming social upheavals. do you want their names?
probably not. go on.
as i started home i heard - or felt - someone coming up behind me. i heard someone say, excuse me, mister, and i turned around and there was william.
whom you did not know and never seen before?
i did not “know” him. so far as i knew i had never seen him before. he was - and is - very ordinary looking.
yes, he is. go on.
he said, excuse me, mister, do you know where i can rent a room around here?
did you think that was kind of odd?
i thought it was a little odd. tio ask a stranger in the street like that. i asked him, a room for what? i thought he meant a room to run some sort of little business.. but he said, just a room to live in.
so i asked him, why don’t you go to the housing department like everybody else?
he said, i have my reasons. and i thought, why not? i have an extra room and i could use a few extra dollars
if he does not make any trouble and he looks like he will not.
you did not press him about not going to the housing department?
no. i know from dealing with all kinds of people in my job that it is more common that people think. as a police officer, you must know that too. people fall through the cracks. they sleep on friends floors or couches , whatever.
or on the parks or in alleys..
exactly.
so you had an extra room?
j
yes, it was my room before my grandmother died. then i took her room because it has a nice view of the skyline and forgot about the one i had.
interesting. friday made a note on her phone.
