“Where’d you get this jalopy?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, like it didn’t affect her to be around him.
“Bridget requisitioned it from the local DEA. Albano must have major juice, because they dropped this one off for me and she got one, too.”
“I hope hers is better.”
“Stop complaining, princess, or you can walk back to the hotel.”
“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t do that.”
He glanced over at her. “Maybe not. You look pretty good in those shades.” He looked out at the road, then did a double take, looking back at her again. “What’s that, a bathing suit you’re wearing under that thing?”
“Yeah.” She’d been in such a rush that she’d engineered the whole profound encounter with her father-one she’d been imagining for years-while dressed for the beach! She slouched down against the mushy fabric seat, too drained to explain herself. They drove in silence for a few minutes.
Eventually she said, “Aren’t you going to ask what I was doing?”
“I already know. Had headquarters run the address while you were inside. Your father?”
“Yes.” Melanie had explained to Dan early on about her parents’ divorce and her father’s abandonment.
“How was it seeing him again?” he asked.
She started to speak, but the lump gathering in her throat stopped her.
“Aw, I’m sorry,” Dan said. He reached out and patted her head like she was a dog. It was a silly gesture, one he probably resorted to out of fear that anything more would be unwelcome, but it made her feel infinitely better. She realized that, in a strange way, ever since she’d known Dan, she felt less alone. Whether they were together or not.
“You don’t talk much about yourself. What are your parents like?” she asked, wanting to feel closer to him, to heal their breach for real.
He shrugged, studying the road. “They stuck around. I’ll say that for ’em.”
“That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.”
“What am I, on the couch now? I thought we were talking about you.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love to talk about myself,” she said, laughing. “But once in a while we have to talk about you, don’t you think? It’s only fair. I need some basic information.”
Dan took his eyes off the road long enough to see she was waiting for his answer. He smiled. “You’re not gonna let me off the hook, are you?”
“Not a chance.”
“Well, okay, it was like this. They did the best they could.”
“That’s it? Please. Details.”
He smiled again, shaking his head. “You’re somethin’, you know.”
“Come on. Spill it.”
“All right, all right.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My dad’s a hard man, but he’s got his reasons. Retired as a lieutenant. He was good at his job, and ’cause of that he drew one shithole precinct after another. They’d send him into places other guys couldn’t handle, and it took its toll. He worked so hard and had so much stress when I was growing up that he was a pain in the ass to be around. He’s more relaxed now. Sometimes I’ll go over there on a Sunday, watch the game or whatever. That’s nice.”
“And your mom?”
“Well, she had seven boys real close together. It wasn’t easy.”
“Seven? I had no idea. You have six brothers?”
“Four now. My second brother, P.J., died in a car crash when he was sixteen. Out with some buddies, and they were drinkin.’ He was my mother’s pet, so that was rough on her. And my youngest brother, Sean, was a probie in the fire department on 9/11.”
“Dan! I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. That one was hard to take. But he was doing his job, right? If the next big thing happens on my watch, I’m going down with the ship, too.”
“God, don’t say that.”
“Why not? You’d do the same. I know you step up when your name’s called. I seem to recall not so long ago walking into a room and finding the bad guy dead on the floor and you with a gun in your hand.”
“Exactly. The bad guy buys it, and you live to tell the tale. Like in the movies. The hero never dies.”
“Nice work if you can get it.”
“That’s my plan. Or at least my hope anyway,” she said.
“Don’t count on that with me, missy. Life without a plan is what you’re looking at here. I’m not too good at keeping my head down. But I’ll tell you one thing I do believe in.”
“What’s that?”
He grinned. “The hero gets the girl.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“You’re not making any promises, huh?”
She smiled tantalizingly. “I don’t want to give away the ending.”
“Keeping me in suspense. I like that.”
“So…back to business. Where were you in the birth order of all these brothers?”
“Birth order? Jeez, this is like the frickin’ shrink!” Dan said, but his smile told her that, for all his protesting, he loved talking to her about himself. “I was fourth. Smack in the middle, guaranteed nobody would pay any attention to me. Suited me fine, though. I went about my business. Always did okay, never in trouble. People left me alone.”
They stopped at a light, and Dan consulted a map. She was about to ask him another question, but when the light changed, he just started talking again. “You know, people think big families are always jolly. I love kids, and I want a bunch of ’em. But you gotta be careful. Too many, and you can’t give ’em enough of your time. In my house you had to fight for everything you got. Like with laundry. We had a clean pile and a dirty pile. When you got up in the morning, you’d go dig around in the clean pile for something that fit. You never owned anything. If I found something I liked, guaranteed somebody bigger would steal it away. Same with food. You had to get to the table early, grab what you wanted, and eat fast, or you’d go hungry. Not that I’m complaining. That’s just the way it was.” He looked over at her. “How’s that, Doc? Satisfied now?”
“You did good.”
“How the heck you always get so much information out of me? Nobody else does.”
She giggled. “Ve haff our vays.”
Their eyes met, and for a long minute neither of them could look away. Suddenly a horn blared, and Dan swerved, narrowly missing another car.
“Jeez, we better stop talking like this, or we’ll end up roadkill,” he said.
“Okay, I guess you’re off the couch for now.”
They were silent for a moment. “So any developments on the case?” Melanie asked.
“Well, Albano asked me this morning if I’d join his task force,” he said. “I mean, that’s not exactly about the case, but-”
“Permanently?”
“I think the minimum commitment is a year.”
“Did you accept?”
“I’m thinking about it. I’d like to work for the guy. My boss now is a real mutt.”
“Narcotics is kind of a backwater these days,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, but Albano’s starting up a new narcoterrorism initiative. Bureau, DEA, and PD together. Joint task forces are big again now, with all the intelligence sharing. I’d be the lead guy. Albano’s offering me primary relief supervisor, the whole nine yards. They’d probably team me with Bridget.”
“Bridget?” Anger flashed through Melanie, so powerful that her head felt hot.
“Yeah.” He glanced at her. “You don’t think much of her, do you?”
“Oh, sure. She’s fine if you want to be on the arm with Jimmy Mulqueen!”
“What?”
She shook her head. “Forget it. Never mind. Just go ahead, I’m sure it’s a smart career move.”