When Diane thought of all the times she’d prayed that Jack wouldn’t think to collect the rest of his belongings, she knew what she had really been praying for was that he’d forget this one thing. Everything else meant nothing to him, she knew. But this, she thought, eyeing the oblong box on the dining room table, this he will return for. One day.
The rain hadn’t let up all afternoon and the light in early November was gray and depressing. Calling in sick hadn’t helped. Every time she looked around her living room—her bedroom, the kitchen—she saw Jack. Even though this wasn’t the house they shared in their marriage, she had brought enough of their things to it that she knew in her heart she’d brought the essence of him, too.
How many times had he visited her here? Twice? Both times just to drop off useless items she’d left behind that she insisted she needed. One of those times, he’d asked about the few things she’d inadvertently packed up with her that belonged to him.
She told him she’d look for them. She certainly wasn’t trying to steal his stuff and he was quick to reassure her that he knew that. Still…they were valuable to him and if she could make the effort to find them for him, he would be grateful.
Just not grateful in a way that would change her life very much.
Tonight she had come so close to calling him and leaving the message that she knew he wanted to hear—that she’d found the box he was looking for.
She poured the last of the Pinot into her wine glass, surprised it was gone so soon. Just thinking of the fact that she’d have to leave a message made her clench and unclench her hands in fury. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a call from her. And after that little scene in the coffee shop, she was sure he never would now.
She drained her glass and thought back to Jack’s insinuation that she might have something to do with Dave’s death. How had he made that leap? She was so sure he wouldn’t go there. She had never meant for it to go this far. Not with Dave, certainly. What a mistake that had been. And now with Jack.
Hadn’t she always known it would end this way? Hadn’t she always known their story would end in tears? She turned to the box and tried to shake off her disappointment. She would need to be in total control in order do this thing right, to finish their story. If she didn’t, she knew what the result would be.
She would end up alone. And Jack would move on to someone else.
And that could not happen.
With resolve, her stomach buckling, she positioned the shoebox in front of her on the dining room table—the table that he had made with his own hands the first year they were married. Everything he cared about was in this box. She could no longer wait for him to ask again.
The photo was the first thing she unwrapped. Framed and ready for someone’s desk. Only this was one photo that would never be displayed. Under the photo was a packet of papers, an old passport and a twisted piece of metal, its edges still sharp.
On the bottom of the box, she found her ace in the hole, her last stand, her grand play.
The moment her fingers touched the item nestled in the tissue paper, she felt a sudden peace that had eluded her since the day Jack walked out of her life. And she knew with sudden clarity and purpose, if not tonight, then soon.
With trembling fingers, she pulled the Army issue handgun from the shoebox.
***
The remnants of the Mu shu pork littered the coffee table in little white boxes and Mia was annoyed by how much she’d eaten.
Way to show him how delicate you are, she thought before catching herself. This isn’t a date. We’re partners.
But somehow it kept coming back to feeling like the beginning of a relationship. How could Dave not have gotten along with Jack? she found herself wondering again as she sat on his couch, her feet tucked under her, the television droning. So much had happened so suddenly it was hard to keep straight in her mind what it was she was supposed to be doing.
Fortunately for both of them, Jack didn’t seem to be having that kind of trouble.
“Okay,” he said, pushing away from the devastation of take-out containers in front of him and picking up his wine glass. “Let’s line up the facts in no particular order. You’re being followed. You were attacked and warned not to investigate Dave’s death any further—”
“Dave was murdered.”
“I was coming to that.”
“Do you think it could be a departmental cover up?”
“In what way?”
“You know, someone on the force kills Dave and gets his pals to rule it an accident so nobody investigates.”
“They’re investigating it now.”
“Yes, but only after you had your doctor friend establish grounds for a suspicious death.”
“Let’s hold off on the theories until we can look at all the facts.”
“Continue.”
“We’ve got an attack on you and a successful attack on your brother.”
“Jack, I’m sure the attack on me was because I was looking into the attack on my brother. Don’t you?”
“I don’t know. But what we know for sure is that you aren’t safe—”
“And someone doesn’t want us investigating what happened to Dave.”
“Maybe.”
“And so far, with the exception of Heather, we haven’t been able to eliminate any suspects from our list.”
“You do know that touching people won’t hold up as any kind of evidence, don’t you?”
“It will at least get us pointed in the right direction. Speaking of which, why do you live here? Everything I touch in this place is full of sadness. It’s like a museum of artifacts all designed to bum you out.”
“Then don’t touch anything.”
“Isn’t this the same house you lived in with your ex-wife?”
“There’s nothing wrong with this house.”
“Except that it’s not a good house for someone who needs to move on. Why not find a nice house that was only the scene of a triple homicide or something? You know, jolly things up a bit.”
“You are very funny.”
“Then how come you’re not smiling?”
“I’m trying to figure out what our next move is.”
“That’s easy.”
“Oh?”
“Get everyone together in one big room, supply them with lots of alcohol so their guards are down and let me touch each one of them. I guarantee I’ll find the one who’s got a boatload of guilt or who’s just so mind-numbingly evil it’s ricocheting off of him in waves.”
“Okay, we are not going to do that.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“My plan is simple. Keep you safe. Keep updated on what the team actually assigned to this case is doing, and…no, that’s pretty much it.”
“No questioning suspects?”
“How’d that work out for us today?”
“You never told me why Carol slapped you.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Jack. We’re partners. She’s a suspect in the murder of my brother.” She pointed to his cheek. “That was an extreme reaction, some might say a guilty reaction.”
“She made a pass, I said no thanks, she got pissed.”
“Oh.” Mia frowned and felt a needle of jealousy work its way up her spine. She clenched her fists. “She has a lot of nerve. She’s married, right?”
“You know she is,” he said. “You also know she probably slept with Dave, and that the main reason you got her to come here today was by dangling me as your boy-bait. So how are you surprised?”
“I’m not.” But hearing the blow-by-blow and knowing it intellectually were two different things. She stood up, feeling suddenly antsy. “Where am I sleeping tonight? I’m happy to take the couch.”
Jack stood. “I’m taking the couch. There are too many windows in here.”
“You really think they’ll come after me again?”
“Why chance it?” he said, scooping up the dog. “Go ahead and change while I let Daisy out.”
Mia pulled out her sweatpants, tee shirt and short cotton robe from the overnight bag Jack had put together for her and found herself smiling. He was very observant to remember what she slept in. She changed and brushed her teeth and went back to the living room where he was putting sheets on the couch.
“I hate taking your bed,” she said.
“Don’t be. The couch is very comfortable.”
“Had occasion to sleep on it before, have you?” He looked at her in surprise. Mia had no idea why she said that. Was she trying to goad him? Was there something about Carol’s stunt today that Mia just couldn’t get past? Did she want him to say it wasn’t just Carol’s amorous attentions he wasn’t interested in but his ex-wife’s too?
“Can’t you tell just by touching it?” he asked, his eyes unreadable.
“You mean can I feel that it’s full of recent, unfulfilled sexual tension?” She saw him moving toward her and it wasn’t until much later that she realized she’d dropped her robe before he came for her.
He caught her up in his arms, but her lips were on his before he’d even bent his face to her. The exquisite feel of his arms encasing her, lifting her off her feet, as she abandoned herself to the kiss radiated through her like an electric charge. She moaned and ran her fingers through his thick hair as he shifted her higher into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and felt one of his hands drop to hold her ass.
“We shouldn’t…” he whispered, his lips on her neck, his kisses thrilling her from her throat to her left earlobe.
“Don’t talk,” she gasped. “And don’t stop.”
He tossed her on the couch and was on top of her. She felt the excitement of knowing he wanted her—wanted her right now.
She reached down to pull at his leather belt. She couldn’t undo it but she could let him know what she wanted.
He sucked in a sharp intake of breath. “Mia, no,” he said.
“Don’t tell me no,” she said, tugging harder on the belt. “Make love to me, Jack.” Her eyes were open and watching his face a mask of effort and concentration.
“No, Mia,” he said, his face twisted into what looked like physical pain. “We shouldn’t.”
“Who says we shouldn’t?”
With a single groan of frustration, he pulled away from her and staggered across the living room.
For a stunned moment Mia stayed immobile on the couch. Then she swung her legs off the couch. The insistent feeling of desire would not abate even in the face of humiliating rejection. She wanted to hit something. Or scream.
He stood facing away from her, his hands on his hips. “I’m sorry, Mia,” he said. “You’re very vulnerable right now and I—”
“Look, I get it, Jack,” she said getting up and moving to the bedroom. “I have no idea of what came over me and trust me, it won’t happen again.”
He turned to look at her. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“I often do, Jack, so that doesn’t surprise me. I’m tired and am turning in. Thanks for dinner.” She went to the bedroom and shut the door between them.
How had she misread him? Hadn’t he reached for her first? Didn’t he want her?
She shook her head in mortification. How was she ever going to face him tomorrow?
She went to the full size bed and slipped between the sheets, knowing full well she’d never be able to fall asleep. She’d face him tomorrow by pretending it never happened. Knowing Jack, the last thing he’d want to do was talk about it.
She listened for sounds in the living room and heard his steps move to her door and then stop. She didn’t lift her head but saw the door open slowly—and then little Daisy, who had obviously been sitting by the door—flew into the room and settled down on the bed. Mia pulled the dog close in to her body and instantly began to relax.
Before she drifted off, it occurred to her that the feelings Jack had brought out in her tonight seemed to heighten her sense of her ‘gift.’
Amazingly, she found herself wondering if it was possible that the one thing she’d made sure to stay away from, sexual contact, was the one thing that could actually help her get it under control?
***
Technically, Burton thought, nothing happened. Except even without doing the deed, everything was changed. He cursed himself most of the night until the morning when it became clear that Mia was going on the if-we-don’t-talk-about-it-nothing-happened principle. Relieved but tormented by how much he still wanted her, it was all he could do not to be the one who broke down and trotted it all out in the open.
I can’t seduce Dave’s sister! The woman is still grieving. Plus, she’s in danger. Her damn mother just got through thanking me for looking out for her!
What a fool he’d been. Having her spend the night—Chinese take-out—like it’s some kind of bizarre date night when he was so into her he couldn’t concentrate on basic every day functions, had been pure madness.
The girl’s a damn virgin, for crying out loud.
She sat on the barstool at his kitchen counter sipping a large mug of freshly brewed coffee, her hands wrapped around the mug, her eyes downward as if drinking it took all her concentration. He’d made eggs again and pushed a plate across the counter to her but she shook her head.
“You should eat,” he said realizing he was saying it only because he didn’t know what else to say.
“What are you doing today?”
He couldn’t help notice how beautiful she looked this morning. Her complexion was radiant—even without a stitch of makeup that he could see—and her eyes were large and clear. Her lips….Dear God, this was impossible! He turned away from her to face the stove and the skillet of scrambled eggs.
“Not sure,” he said over his shoulder. “Might go into the office to see what the new team has.”
“Will they let you just come and go like that?”
“I’ll go in the side door, so to speak.”
“You mean, you’ll meet your doctor friend.”
He forced himself not to turn around. The tone was a jealous one and it made his stomach lurch pleasantly to hear it. He wanted her to be jealous. He wanted her to want only him. So why was he standing in the middle of his kitchen facing the other way, forcing himself not to pull her into his arms?
Oh yeah. For every reason he could think of.
“That’s right. I’ll meet her for coffee after I drop you off at your mother’s.”
“I thought you were coming too.”
“I’ll stop in when I pick you up.”
He heard the mug go down on the counter and he turned around.
“I’m ready now,” she said. “I’ll take Daisy out and wait for you in the car.”
“You know, I was thinking you might want to take Daisy permanently. She seems to prefer you.”
“Thanks. I was going to suggest it,” she said, turning to stride to the front door, the little dog at her heels.
An hour later Burton drove her to her mother’s house. Mia got out of the car, the dog in her arms, without saying a word to him. It was pretty clear to her that he’d checked out on the whole investigation—preferring to hear from others what they might or might not uncover. She tried to hide her fury on the ride over but she was never very good at that.
“I’ll call when I’m on my way back,” he said as she shut the car door.
“Great.” She turned away and walked up the drive to the house. She could tell he was watching her walk away. Good. Let him see what he’s missing, she thought, putting a little extra wiggle in her hips.
Her mother met her at the door. “Jack not coming in? Oh, my goodness, who’s this?”
Mia gave her mother a one-sided hug and, still holding the dog in her arm, said, “This is Daisy. She’s Jack’s foundling but we’re going to take care of her for a bit.”
“What’s a bit?” Jess asked, tousling the dog’s topknot.
“Probably forever. I’m starving. Is there any breakfast left?” She put the dog on the floor and moved into the living room where the family computer sat wedged up against a wall.
“I have some biscuits,” Jess said, moving into the kitchen. “They’re cold but still good with the Tupelo honey I found last weekend up in Dillard.”
“Why did you go to Dillard? You went by yourself?”
Jess’s voice came from the kitchen. “I just did a day trip up there,” she said. “It did me a world of good.”
A day trip to the mountain community the family had spent so much time in over the years? How in the world could that have done anyone good?
“Had the leaves changed?” Mia asked as she logged onto the computer.
“It’s early November!” Jess said. “The leaves had changed and fallen.” She came into the living room with a plate of buttered biscuits and a small pot of honey. “I have jam if you’d prefer,” she said, setting the plate down and looking over Mia’s shoulder. “What are you looking for?”
“I’m not sure. For starters, I thought I’d Google some of the people who knew Dave.”
“Whatever for?”
“No reason. You know Burton doesn’t even own a computer?”
“Surely he uses one for his work?”
“Well, I guess he did when he had a job.”
“Who’s that?” Jess pointed to the screen where a shot of Carol Maxwell in a bikini came up.
“She’s married to the deputy chief.”
“Oh, my.”
“Yeah, she’s a piece of work. You should see her in person.”
The next photo showed Carol in high heels standing by her mailbox—totally nude. Mia heard her mother’s sharp intake of breath.
“You know, Mom?” Mia said, turning to her. “A cup of tea would be so perfect with these biscuits.”
“Why would the wife of a deputy chief of police allow that photo on a public site?”
“Yeah, I know, shocking. The tea? Mom? Please?”
Jess moved reluctantly away from Mia’s shoulder toward the kitchen and Mia immediately clicked on the link in the caption of the photo that read “see the video.” It took her to a video-sharing website and the movie file, slated “Three on a Match,” began playing as soon as the page opened.
In the back of her mind, Mia heard her mother put the kettle on and begin to rummage on the counter for the tea bags. She kept her finger hovered over the Pause icon, in case her mother returned, but she needn’t have worried. Although the video was tagged as being five minutes long, she only needed to see the first five seconds to see all she would need to see for now.
She recognized Carol immediately because she’d been expecting to see her. Her stomach dropped when she realized she was looking at the master bedroom in her own condo—Dave’s condo. She heard Dave’s muted laughter before she saw him, nude and backlit against the bathroom door. Carol was on her knees on the bed. When the man having sex with her turned his head to say something to Dave, she saw it was Dave’s best friend Keith.
Mia closed the browser and sat staring at her search engine home page. It wasn’t until a mug of steaming tea was set down in front of her that she noticed her hands resting on the keyboard were shaking.
“Are you all right, darling?” her mother said softly as she pulled up a chair.
Mia reached for her tea and took a long searing sip, not caring that she was burning her tongue, lips and throat, in fact, glad of the pain. To see Dave again, to hear his laugh, his voice…but to hear him like this. Her stomach turned over and she glanced at the waste paper basket next to the desk wondering if she might need to use it. She took another painful swallow of hot tea.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “Just missing Dave. You know.”
“I know,” Jess said, taking Mia’s hand in hers. “That’s why I went to Dillard yesterday. As much as it hurt to remember happier times there, I still felt like I was with him for a little bit. That kind of pain is better than the plain missing him kind.”
“Yeah,” Mia said hoarsely. She felt an irrational sting of anger at her brother. Why did you do this? Who were you? What kind of life were you living? Did you even deserve our love? She hated herself for that last thought.
“Mia? Dear?”
Mia put the mug down and forced herself to smile at her mother, forced herself to get control.
Fine. So that’s who he was. Good and fine. I’m still not going to let the person who did this get away with it. They don’t get to take our loved one away.
“I need to borrow the car, Mom,” she said.
“Oh. Well…do you want some company? Are you thinking of going to Dillard too?”
“No, I have an errand to run,” Mia said. “Can I borrow it?”
“Of course, dear. But shouldn’t you wait for Jack?”
“Turns out Jack is less helpful than I had hoped,” she said. She stood up, collected the keys as she walked to the front door and then stopped. The little dog was sitting in the foyer, her head cocked questioningly at Mia.
“I’ll be back, girl,” she said. “You stay here. Watch her for me, please, Mom. She’s been abused and needs all the extra love you’ve got.”
Jess walked over to the dog and knelt down to it. “We’ll be fine, Mia,” she said. “You just be careful.”
“I will.” But she was out the door and down the front drive before the words were out of her mouth.
It was pretty clear to her that William Maxwell, aka the cuckold, knew a whole hell of a lot more about Dave’s murder than he was letting on. And if he didn’t, well, he was about to.
***
Karen has definitely bumped it up a notch, Burton couldn’t help notice. An attractive woman by anyone’s standards, it wasn’t always easy to tell covered up by scrubs or a lab coat. Today she was wearing makeup and heels and the lab coat was open to expose a trim, hip-hugging suit underneath.
It occurred to Burton that Karen might have met someone.
“Hey, you,” he said, after tapping on the outer doorjamb of her office. Normally he only ever saw her in the lab. Her office was outfitted in bright colors with framed photos of her parents and two older brothers as well as her elderly black lab, Cocoa.
She smiled warmly at him but didn’t stand up. “Let me just finish this file,” she said, “and we can grab a coffee.”
He sat in the guest chair opposite her desk. He’d argued with himself the whole way down here that the really smart thing to do would be to take Karen up on her open offer and let everything else cool off. He couldn’t avoid being around Mia while the issue of her safety was still unresolved but he could limit her effect on him. When Karen stood up to tuck the file she’d been working on in a tall filing cabinet by the window, he noted her long, athletic legs and was relieved to notice he liked what he saw.
“So what’s the story on your investigation with Dave’s sister?” she asked as she settled back into her chair.
“Not really much of an investigation,” he said. “We got the case opened back up and now we’re letting the professionals handle it.”
“Very wise, I have to say. There were a few of us here in the office that thought you’d lost your damn mind, Jack, when we heard you’d opened up a private investigations business with her.”
“How did you hear that?”
“You know this place. Everyone hears everything.”
“Yeah, well, she needed to feel involved, you know, in solving Dave’s death as part of the grieving process.”
“So that’s what you were doing? Helping her grieve? Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Considering your relationship with Dave?”
“I guess so. I felt like…like I owed him.”
“You felt guilt.”
“Okay, I did. I never gave the guy a chance. I mean, we were never going to be best buds, but I feel bad about how it ended.”
“You mean with him dead and you screwing his sister.”
“Whoa, Karen. What the hell? Where did that come from? I’m not sleeping with her.” He forced his face to take on a look of indignation which wasn’t easy since he’d been inches from sleeping with Mia just a few hours ago.
“I’m sorry,” Karen said, her face flushing pink. “I don’t know why I said that. Stupid. Especially since I can see why you’d want to do right by Dave after everything between you.”
“Can I ask you why you keep coming back to that?”
Karen looked at him, her eyes round and unsure, and then she hopped up and went to the door and closed it after first glancing down the hall. She came and perched on the corner of the desk nearest to Burton.
“I know you want information on what directions the new detectives are exploring in Dave’s death.”
Burton felt a tingling of foreboding as he watched her face, clearly torn between her allegiances.
“I shouldn’t be saying this…”
“It’s me, isn’t it? I’m their main suspect?”
“Well, they say you had motive—and everyone here has heard you say stuff on the level of why doesn’t that bastard die?—and you don’t have an alibi for that night. Some guys say you and Dave were supposed to get together that night to ‘settle it once and for all.’” She reached out and gave his shoulder a shake. “It’s early days, Jack. They’re only getting started just like they’d be focused on Dave’s wife if he had one—”
“He had a girlfriend.”
“And I understand they’re looking at her, too.”
“Just not as closely as they’re looking at me.”
“And then with you all connected at the hip with Dave’s sister…it just doesn’t look good at all. I don’t suppose you would consider cooling your relationship with her until after the case closes? I’m sure that would help.”
“I don’t have a relationship with her.”
“Well, whatever you call it. Your association with her, then. Your guilt, or why ever you’re hanging out with her and her mother, is not helping, Jack. Because, let’s face it, guilt is exactly what the team is looking for.”
Burton sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. “Is this just a rumor or have they brought it to Maxwell?”
“I have no idea. I’m just hearing whatever gets shunted around in the lunchroom. You are their prime suspect.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Dave dies and you quit immediately afterward?” Karen shook her head and returned to her desk. “Can you explain why you did that? Because there’s a very real possibility you’re going to have to in front of a grand jury.”
Burton stood up and walked to the window in her office overlooking Spring Street. From here he could see the southern-most loop of the Connector and beyond it the brick Georgia Tech dormitories that were built for the 1996 Olympics. Directly below Karen’s window, a homeless woman sat huddled under a large stained comforter.
“I thought I was unhappy with my job because of Dave,” he said, still looking out the window.
“But you weren’t?”
He shook his head. “No. When he died, it turned out I still hated my job. I guess I didn’t want to think the problem was the job…”
“You had fifteen years invested.”
“Exactly. It was easier to think it was just a personnel clash. Eminently fixable.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. I never knew. It’s hard to believe someone as good as you were didn’t love it.”
He turned to look at her and grinned. “I loved parts of it,” he said. “But these two weeks away have made me realize that maybe Mia is right about my needing to stay in the business. I’m not saying going into partnership with her is a good idea, I’m sure it’s not. But working for myself is a very good idea and I didn’t realize that before.”
“Got any clients yet?”
He laughed. “Not a one. Not yet anyway. Honestly, until we started talking about it right this minute I didn’t even know that’s how I felt.”
“Glad I could help.”
Whatever he might have felt prompted to do or say after that was interrupted by Karen’s desk phone ringing. From her expression, he knew the timing of it frustrated her, too.
“Yes?” She listened for a moment and then looked up at him. “Yes, he’s here now.”
Burton watched her eyes flick away from him to the window. The color began to fade from her cheeks.
“Okay, I’ll tell him,” she said. “Yes, I’m sure he’ll be right there.”
“What is it?”
Karen hung up and made a face like she’d just opened up a can of tuna that had gone bad. “That was Maxwell,” she said. “You need to head over there. He’s just arrested Mia Kazmaroff.”