The Detachment

line-of-sight to the private dining room where Shorrock was being entertained. Halfway through the long meal, I felt my mobile phone vibrate in my pocket—the signal from Larison that Shorrock was heading toward the restroom. I excused myself quickly and got there ahead of him, just as we’d planned. It was empty, even the stall doors all slightly ajar. My heart kicked up a notch. This was it.
    I stood at the urinal on the far right as though taking a leisurely piss and waited. A moment later, I heard the door open behind me. I concentrated on listening and resisted the urge to glance back. Footsteps, coming closer. And suddenly there he was, walking up to the urinal on the far left, obeying the unspoken men’s room etiquette that you leave as much space between you and the other guy as the arrangement of urinals will allow.
    Larison would have signaled Dox by now, who would be waiting just outside the restaurant so I could duck out and hand off the cyanide canister when it was done. There was only a remote chance that anyone in the restaurant might immediately fall under suspicion, but I didn’t want to be holding the murder weapon if it happened.
    I glanced over and saw Shorrock was swaying slightly, his face flushed from alcohol. My phone buzzed in my pocket—Larison again, the signal for someone else on the way. But damn it, I only needed a second. I dropped my hand into my pants pocket, gripped the canister, and started to pull it out. Just as it started to clear my pocket and in the instant before I turned and advanced on Shorrock, I heard the door open again. I froze and let the canister drop back. Footsteps, and then another patron was standing between Shorrock and me, unzipping his pants.
    “Hey, Tim,” the guy said. “How are you enjoying the meal?”
    “Unreal,” Shorrock said. “I can’t believe there are still three more courses. I’m stuffed.”
    “Trust me, you have to save room for the poached apple cream puff. You’ll die.”
    I ignored the irony and kept my eyes fixed on the marble wall in front of me, hoping unrealistically that Shorrock would be so overloaded with wine that he’d piss long enough for the other guy to depart first. But it wasn’t to be. Shorrock shook off, zipped up, and headed over to the sink. I heard water running for a moment, then heard him say, “See you in a minute.” And then he was gone, the opportunity gone with him.
    I didn’t give up hope. It was a safe bet the industry executives who were wooing Shorrock had bought him not just the chef’s tasting menu, but also the accompanying wine course—a wine course that would result in frequent additional trips to the rest room. And it did—once more at Alex, and twice afterward, at the nightclub, Tryst. But every time, the restroom was occupied afterward: by another diner at Alex; by a washroom attendant at Tryst.
    After Tryst we improvised, trailing Shorrock and his party onto the casino floor, keeping Dox at a slot machine where he could watch Shorrock play blackjack and signal me the moment Shorrock excused himself for what looked like a bathroom break. Everything went smoothly, better than I would have reasonably expected, in fact—other than that I couldn’t get him alone.
    What was doubly frustrating was that even though we knew the room he was staying in, we couldn’t get to him there. The two Secret Service guys had been keeping a fairly low profile, maybe because Shorrock wasn’t in the same league as, say, the secretary of defense, maybe because they were relying in part on the hotel’s own extensive security systems, maybe because Shorrock preferred his security detail to give him room to breathe. Whatever it was, one of them always stood guard outside Shorrock’s room when Shorrock was in it, as I’d confirmed via a discreet trip to the 58 th floor, aided by a dental mirror, the day before. We could fix him in the room, but we couldn’t finish him there. It would have to be somewhere else.
    The next day was the same. Shorrock used the gym in the morning, but not the spa, not even for a toilet break. The lunchtime keynote was a no-go because of the likely security posture. Then there was Shanghai cuisine at Wing Lei restaurant for dinner; a head-splitting mix from a DJ called Pizzo at XS nightclub; and more blackjack, this time with Treven watching from a slot machine. Five restroom visits overall, not one of them offering a moment alone.
    At just before one in the morning, Treven