"That sounds like an ultimatum," Stride said.
Dan shrugged. "Take it however you like, but you can bet there will be consequences if you try to wriggle out of this. I won't give K-2 any choice."
"Well, I guess I'll have to give it some thought. You got any other helpful words of advice for me?"
Dan was silent.
Stride shoved open the door and clambered out. He held it open, letting the rain roar in, soaking the passenger seat and spraying Dan's nice suit. Finally, he slammed the door shut and waited in the downpour as Dan sped away.
41
Serena sat alone in the basement conference room in city hall, her eyes blurring as she made her way through a mountain of yellowing paperwork. Page by page, the records from the investigation told her the story of Rachel's disappearance. The girl was becoming real to her. They all did eventually, but this time, it was like looking in a mirror, right down to the raven hair and emerald eyes. Rachel might as well have been her twin.
That made Serena think of her mother. She's my little evil twin, her mother used to say about Serena when she was a child, because they looked so much alike.
But her mother was the evil one. Selling herself to the devil for a few grams of white powder-and her little girl, too.
She understood the venom in Rachel's heart. She didn't have to read far to know what kind of man Graeme was and what kind of game the two of them were playing. It could have been her. She had felt the same choking desire for revenge. The only difference was, she had escaped, although she knew in her soul what a very close escape it was.
Serena checked her watch, feeling lonely and distraught. The memories did that. They made her long for a drink, too, and that was dangerous. It was after six o'clock. Maggie had gone out into the rain a half hour ago to get dinner for the two of them. Stride was missing in action. He had called in the early afternoon to say he was on the scene of a bank robbery across town, playing gopher for the Feebs.
She wanted him back, and she wanted him to stay away.
Even so, her heart raced when she heard footsteps in the hall. She made a special effort to look calm and disinterested. Which was a lie.
But it wasn't Stride. Maggie breezed into the conference room in a damp raincoat, balancing a pizza box in one hand and two liters of Diet Coke in the other. The tiny Chinese cop grinned at her.
"Special delivery. And it's sausage, so don't give me any shit about vegetarian pizza or whatever it is you eat out west."
Serena laughed and opened the box, letting the aroma of mozzarella and seasoned pork waft into the room. Maggie filled two plastic cups with pop, then grabbed a slice and sat down, leaning her chair back until it was propped against the wall. Her feet dangled above the floor.
"Got the case solved?" she asked.
"I still think Graeme did it," Serena said, smiling.
"Yeah, it was a lot easier that way. Any word from Stride? Guppo called and said the boss was heading back here."
"No, nothing from Jonny." Serena took a slice of pizza and put it down without biting into it.
Maggie took a long swallow of Coke and then, watching Serena, her eyes narrowed with concern. "You okay?"
"Sure, why?"
Maggie tugged on her eyelid. "Glassy eyes. Tears. What's up?"
"Oh, that," Serena said. She shook her head. "It's nothing. Thinking about the bad old days. Something about this case, it gets to me."
That happens to all of us."
"Even a hard-ass like you?" Serena asked, teasing her.
"Me, no, I'm a rock," Maggie said. "Come on, try the pizza, it's delicious."
Serena picked up the slice again and took a tentative bite. She realized she was hungry, and she began to take larger bites, finishing the first piece and reaching for another. She washed it down with a drink, belched long and loud, and began giggling uncontrollably.
"Nice," Maggie said, straight-faced. "Do you take requests?"
Serena started laughing again and was afraid the Coke would wind up coming out her nose. Maggie lost it, too, and the two of them spent five minutes cracking up before they ran out of breath. Serena wound up hot and sweaty. She wiped her brow and used a napkin to blow her nose.
"You are too much," she told Maggie.
"Thank you," Maggie said, in her best Elvis voice. "Thank you very much."
"Oh, God, don't get me started again." Serena pushed her hair out of her face. She closed her eyes and propped her chair against the wall, like Maggie's.
"Tell me something," Maggie said.
Serena was mellow now, her defenses down. "Sure."
"Was that real smoke I saw coming off you and Stride in the airport?"
Serena flopped her chair back on the floor with a bang and opened her eyes. Maggie had a broad grin spread across her golden face. "What?"
"Oh, don't play innocent with me, girl. You know he wants you. Stride couldn't hide it if he tried. And it seems to me you want him, too."
"Maggie, he's married. And we just met."
Maggie took another piece of pizza. "Call it marriage if you want, but it's long gone and dead. The Big D is around the corner. Thank God. And don't get hung up on time, kiddo. I mean, is there a right time? A week? A month? It only took me about a day to fall in love with Stride."
"You?"
Maggie nodded. "Oh, yeah. I had it bad for years."
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened. He was in a real love match back then. When she died, I took my chance. But we were made to be friends, not lovers. Fortunately, I met Eric eventually, and he managed to break through all my cynical wisecracks, the little shit. And I think it made Stride kind of jealous, which was a nice bonus."
Serena gave her a small smile. "I admit, I'm very attracted to him."
"So go for it."
"Yeah, right. Not so simple. They don't call me Barbed Wire back home for nothing. I've got skeletons in the closet Big, ugly ones."
"You won't scare him off," Maggie said.
"Watch me."
"Do you want to sleep with him?"
"Sure I do, but I'm not going to."
"I thought everyone in Vegas had a great sex life," Maggie said.
"I've got a terrific sex life, but I'm usually alone."
Maggie laughed again, long and hard. "Hey, whatever works. But I can attest that with the right guy, there's no substitute."
Serena scrunched up her face. She wasn't convinced. "I just met him," she repeated.
"Fight it all you want, girl," Maggie said, sighing. "But it pisses me off, you know, that I tried to turn him on for years, and all you had to do was walk off the fucking plane. Your breasts ain't that great."
"Like hell they're not" Serena replied.
When he returned to city hall, Stride didn't know how to read the chemistry in the conference room, except to realize that Maggie and Serena had become fast friends during the course of the afternoon. He draped his wet coat over the back of a chair. With a tired groan, he sat down and put his feet up on the scratched wood of the tabletop.
"FBI," he announced. "Full of Bullshit Ideas."
"It's enough to bask in the reflected glow of their presence," Maggie told him.
Stride nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way. I told K-2 that you could babysit the Feebs next time."
"Thanks a lot," Maggie said.
"What happened with Dan Erickson?" Serena asked.
Stride groaned again and gave them a run-down of Dan's threats.
"I told you he was an asshole," Maggie said.
"And you were right," Stride admitted. He explained to Serena. "Maggie and Dan had a brief fling a few years ago. It ended badly. Something about her burning down Dan's house."
"That's a gross exaggeration," Maggie said. "It was an accidental cigarette burn on a Burberry coat."