Nick had always made a big deal about her cheekbones during the first years of their marriage, when he was still noticing things.
Eric had never remarked upon them, or any other of her physical features. Never really complimented her except when they were making love and all sorts of utterances flew out of his mouth like little birds.
Afterward, sweat-coated and panting, they shared mutual silence…
She never complimented him either.
Would he notice the little touches? No matter, she’d feel the difference.
Mascara and blush and a change into something feminine and- dare she say it- sexy?
After a day like this, could she muster up sexy?
We’ll just have to see about that.
She took the stairs down to the rear exit, nearly bumped into Isaac in the stairwell. He’d just shoved the door open and was heading up.
The kid didn’t drive. Why was he entering through the parking lot?
Probably because that’s where she took him when they exited. He recovered from the surprise and said “Hi.” His back was erect, his shoulders high. Grinning at her with… bravado?
“Hi,” she said.
“I hoped I’d catch you,” he said. “You were working pretty late last night.”
Last night? Their meeting. Oh, crap.
“I’m sorry. Something just came up.”
“On the Paradiso shootings?”
“Yup,” she lied.
He waited for elaboration. When none followed, he started swinging his briefcase against his leg. Little boy, disappointed. No more bravado.
“And I’ve got to leave now,” she said.
“Sure,” he said. “Whenever you have time.”
The decent thing would be to go back upstairs and shmooze with him. She was just too tired.
He said, “I’ve got someone, a librarian at Doheny, the university library, checking out historical references.”
“What kind of references?”
“Old crime stories, out-of-print books, papers. Anything related to June 28.”
“You think someone’s studying history and reliving it?”
“It’s all I could come up with,” he said, sounding anything but confident.
Petra thought about that. Isaac must have taken it for skepticism because he blushed. “I didn’t tell her why I was asking, just asked her to focus on the date. She has access to the rare-book section, so if something bypassed the Internet, she’d be the one to find it.”
“I thought the Net swept up everything,” said Petra.
“That’s exactly what the Net does- sweep. It’s a big cyber-vacuum cleaner that sucks up everything in its path indiscriminately. But corners get overlooked. For all the garbage that gets ingested, you can find arcane- obscure references- that never make it to any website. I had one situation, in a graduate anthropology course, where we were looking into tribal matchmaking rituals and you’d think there’d be absolutely nothing not already covered in the primary and secondary sources, but- ”
He cut himself off. Kicked one foot with the other. “I also spooled some microfiche of the main L.A. papers but all I got through was the last thirty years. If I have time, I’ll do some more. Of course, if the source isn’t local, that would be a problem.”
Petra said, “I appreciate all the time you’re putting in on this.”
“It’ll probably end up being futile.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like me,” she said.
His smile was weak. “Anyway, have a nice evening.” He began to move past her.
“You’re sticking around?” she said.
“Seeing as I’ve got a desk, I might as well do some work.” He chewed his lip. “Of course, if you’re free for dinner or something…”
“I wish I was, Isaac. Unfortunately, I’ve really got to run- catch you tomorrow?”
“Probably,” he said. Tight voice. “I’m not sure when I can make it over. I’ve got a couple of meetings, then I was planning to go back and do more microfiche.”
“Don’t exhaust yourself,” she said. Sounding nothing but maternal.
“I’m okay,” he said. Sounding nothing but adolescent.
She smiled in his general direction but he was looking away again. Without another word, she shoved at the door and hurried out to the parking lot.
The night was warm and sweaty. Two detectives she didn’t recognize slouched toward the far end, laughing, chatting. One pivoted to look at her, then returned his attention to his partner’s banter.
She hurried to her car, putting Isaac’s discomfiture out of her mind.
Time to focus: me, me me. Mongolian hot pot, they treat me well, I deserve to be treated well.
Maybe she’d pick up a magazine and read while she ate. Something not too challenging.
Playing with her chopsticks. Pretending to be content.
Then she’d go get Eric.
CHAPTER 27
Stupid!
Isaac hunched at his desk, faced a grubby wall. Hot and sandy-eyed and abashed, alone in the detectives’ room except for that old guy, Barney Fleischer, who always seemed to be around but never seemed to be really working.
Fleischer had a radio on at low volume, some sort of easy-listening instrumental, didn’t even look up when Isaac entered. By now, no one in the detectives’ room noticed his comings and goings. He was a fixture to all of them.
Including Petra.
Asking her to dinner when she’s rushing out on a case! What had he been thinking?
Unlike Fleischer, Petra worked. The job mattered to her. Despite all the frustration, chasing down leads that failed to materialize.
A woman like that needed to parcel out her time carefully. Why in the world would she even contemplate stopping for dinner?
With him.
To her, he was an assignment, nothing more.
And yet, she’d been generous with her time. Letting him ride along, sharing details of cases.
That skin, those eyes. The way her black hair just floated into place.
Stop it, stupid.
He started to wonder again about the June 28 murders. Was his hypothesis all part of an inane infatuation?
He’d been so certain. The thrill of discovery when he first came across the pattern had nearly blown him out of his seat.
Eureka!
Ha.
At the time, he thought he’d been careful not to leap into conjecture without calculating and recalculating, subjecting his hypotheses to multiple tests of significance. The data had seemed clear. This was something.
But what if he’d convinced himself a mathematical quirk was meaningful because he’d been blinded by his own bullshit?
Because he’d wanted to produce for Petra.
Did it all boil down to preening, the ludicrous mating rituals of an absurd little game bird?
God, he hoped not.
No, it had to be real. Petra was an expert and she believed it.
Because he’d worn her down?
All his life- his academic life- he’d been told he was built for success. That the combination of brains and perseverance couldn’t miss.
But perseverance could be pathological, couldn’t it?
He had that in him: the blindered compulsiveness, the irrational relentlessness.
Barney Fleischer looked over his shoulder and stared and said, “Hey, there.”
“Hey, Detective Fleischer.”
“Burning the midnight oil?”
“A few hours left till then.”
“She’s out, you know. Left a few minutes ago.”