Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Okay, now all we needed was to find out where the owner of Jack's Coffee House and Bar
got his spiral staircase.
I dialed the number and was told that the owner, whose name was Joseph, wasn't avail-
able at the moment.
“Is he on the island?” I asked.
“Yes,” the woman on the phone reluctantly admitted. “But he's not here.”
I cleared my throat. “Do you happen to know where he got his staircase?”
“Excuse me?” I could hear a blender in the background.
“The spiral staircase.” The one right in front of you . “Any idea where he got it?”
Silence.
“Not really. But it was his friend Charlie's idea. You know Charlie?”
“I met him once a few months ago. Does he happen to be there?”
“Nope.”
“Any chance you've got his number?”
“Everyone's got Charlie's number,” she said.
Michael called Charlie.
“This is Michael, your neighbor. From the big white house down the hill.”
“Huh?”
“We met at Jack's a few months ago.”
“Oh yeah?”
Clearly didn't ring a bell. So much for considering ourselves memorable.
Michael took a deep breath.
“We're the guys Daniel fired.”
“Oh, sure , I remember you!” he yelled. “That bastard .”
Michael held the phone away from his ear.
“I hope you don't mind my asking, but we heard it was your idea to put that spiral stair-
case in Jack's . Where'd you get it?”
“Excuse me?”
“We like the spiral staircase at Jack's and we're considering putting one like it in our
house. Do you know where it came from?”
A fair amount of hemming and hawing ensued. It was obvious that Charlie knew all
about the staircase but for some reason didn't want to tell us.
Was it stolen? Bought on the spiral-staircase black market? Or was Charlie just a jerk?
He tap-danced around Michael's questions for a surprisingly long time, but Michael
was his usual persistent self (he would have enjoyed terrific job security during the Spanish
Inquisition) and eventually Charlie caved under pressure.
AA Ironworks . A guy named Alfredo. But he's got a huge backlog. It'll take months,”
Charlie added hopefully.
“Is there anyone else who could do it?”
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