That made her frown-and put her back up again, a little. “You’ve done cop work before.”
“Bits and pieces it comes clear to me now, and that with some challenge and a clear end goal.”
“Challenge? Like risking your life and getting bloody.”
Calmer, he circled his head on his neck and wondered how many years it might take to get the last of the kinks out. “A lot more appealing, sad to say, than sitting in front of a screen or on a ’link for hours on end.”
“Yeah. I know just what you mean. But this is part of it, a big part of it. It’s not all land to air chases and busting in doors. Listen, you can take an hour in the crib. Probably should. I’ll clear it.”
He flicked a finger along the dent in her chin. “Not only does that sound extremely unappealing, but if you’re on, I’m on. That’s the new rule until we’ve finished this.”
Arguing took energy she didn’t have to spare. “Okay. All right.”
“Something else is wrong.” He put a hand under her chin, left it there even when she winced and tried to knock it off. “Shows what happens when your brain’s used as a punching bag that I didn’t see it before. What is it?”
“I figure having some murdering bastard who slipped by us before back torturing and killing women under our noses is pretty much enough.”
“No, something else in there.” It was the “slipped by us” that clicked for him. “Where’s Feeney?”
For an answer, she shifted, and kicked the vending machine so viciously it sent off its security alarm.
Warning! Warning! Vandalizing or damaging this unit is a crime, and punishable by a maximum of thirty days incarceration and a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars per offense. Warning! Warning!
“All right, then,” Roarke said mildly, and taking her arm, pulled her down the corridor. “Let’s just take this to your office before we’re both arrested for attempting to steal fizzies.”
“I don’t have time to-”
“I think making time is in everyone’s best interest.”
He took her straight through, so the scatter of cops on weekend evening shift barely glanced over.
Inside her office, he closed the door, leaned back against it while she kicked her desk. “When you’re done abusing inanimate objects, tell me what happened.”
“I screwed up, that’s what happened. Fuck, fuck, and shit. I messed up.”
“How?”
“What would it have taken me? Ten minutes? Five? Five minutes to give him the rundown before the briefing. But I didn’t think of it, never crossed my mind.” Obviously at wit’s end, she fisted her hands on either side of her head and squeezed in. “What the hell’s wrong with me that it never crossed my mind?”
“Once more,” Roarke suggested, “with clarity.”
“Feeney, I didn’t feed him the new data, tell him about the new angle we’d work. That the suspect had contacted the target, lured her to him rather than doing the grab on the street. The way we’d worked the first case. Damn it!”
Her desk took another slam with her boot. “I just lumped him in with everyone else, didn’t take into account that he’d led the first investigation. All I had to do was pull him aside, tell him, ‘Hey, we’ve got something fresh.’ Give him a little time to take it in.”
“He didn’t react well, I take it?”
“Who could blame him?” she tossed back. Her tired eyes were dark with regret. “Jumped on me with both feet. And what do I do? I get my back up, that’s what I do. Can’t just say, hey, I’m sorry, I got caught up in the roll and didn’t think it through. No, can’t say that. Oh well, shit!”
She covered her face a moment, heeled away the tears that got away from her. “This isn’t good.”
“Baby, you’re so tired.”
“So the fuck what? So I’m tired, that’s the job, that’s the way it is. Tired means nothing. I bitch slapped him, Roarke. I told him to take a break, to go home. Why didn’t I just knock him down and rub his face in it while I was at it?”
“Did he need a break, Eve?”
“That’s not the point.”
“It certainly is.”
Now she sighed. “Just because it was the right call doesn’t mean it was right. He said I didn’t respect him, and that’s not true. That’s so far from any truth, but I didn’t show him respect. I told you before, the other one was on him-that’s command. All I did by handling it this way was add to that weight.”
“Sit down. Oh, for Christ’s sake, sit for five minutes.” He strode over, all but lifted her bodily into her chair. “I know something about command, and it’s often not pretty, nor comfortable, and very often it’s not fair. But someone had to make the calls, the decisions. Maybe you didn’t account for his feelings, and you can regret that if it helps you. But the simple fact is, you had a great deal more on your mind than coddling Feeney.”
“It’s not coddling.”
“And he had a great deal on his, and obviously needed to vent some of the pressure,” Roarke continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Which he did, quite handily, I’d say, on you. Now you’re both feeling sorry for yourselves.”
Her mouth dropped open in sheer shock for two seconds, then twisted into a snarl. “Bite me.”
“I hope to have the energy for that at some point in the near future. You told him to go home because you understood, even if you were angry and hurt, you understood he needed to step away for a time. He went because he understood, even being angry and hurt, that he needed to. So, mission accomplished, and I imagine sometime tomorrow, you’ll both clean up the fallout and forget it. Correct?”
She sniffled, scowled. “Well, if you want to be all insightful and reasonable about it.”
“He loves you.”
“Oh, jeez.”
Roarke had to laugh. “And you love him. If you were just cops to each other, it might still be a bit tricky. Add love, and it’s a very thorny path the two of you walk when you’re entrenched in something like this.”
From where she sat she could still kick her desk. She did so, but lightly this time. “You sound like Mira 101.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Any better?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She pressed her hands to her temples. “My head’s killing me.”
He merely reached into his pocket, took out a tiny case. Thumbing it open, he held it out to her. She frowned down at the little blue pills. Standard blocker, she knew, just as she knew he’d nag her to take one if she balked-which would only make the headache worse. Or he’d just force one down her throat, which was a humiliation she didn’t want to risk so close on the heels of pity tears.
She took one, popped it.
“There’s a good girl.”
“I repeat: Bite me.”
He pulled her up, pulled her in. Nipped her bottom lip. “Just a preview of things to come.”
Since it was there, she touched his face. “You looked a little worn and down before, too.”
“I was feeling that way. Worn and down.” He rested his brow on hers a moment. “Let’s go have a sandwich and some decent coffee.”
McNab signaled the minute they walked back in.
“Getting some beeps here.”
“Wipe the mustard off your face, Detective.”
“Oh, sorry.” He swiped at it with the back of his hands. “Started the Ted search at the branch where Rossi works,” he began. “Got guys that fit the height and weight, but not the age, fit the age, but not otherwise. Fanned out to other branches. This Pi’s being really trim about it. But still nothing that really rings the bell. So I moved out to the boroughs.”
“Bottom-line it, McNab.”
“Okay, I’ve got a few-nobody named Ted-but a few who fall into the description you may want to have checked out. But they don’t fit the profile. We got married guys, with kids, grandkids, and no property like we’re thinking listed under their name or names of family members I’ve dug up so far.”