In the Drink (24 page)

“But what?” he pushed.

“This thing with Mal and me, it's starting to feel a little real,” I said finally, hoping he would get the hint.

“Good.”
So much for my hopes.
“The two of you need to be convincing. And from what I've heard, you are. There's already scuttlebutt down at the station about how you've taken on a new beau.”

“Maybe we're a little too convincing,” I said, trying again. “We've got a nickname for cripes' sake. Folks have started calling us M and M.”

“So?”

“So . . . like I said, the whole thing is starting to feel a little too real.”

This time my pronouncement was met with a long silence. Finally, Duncan set his coffee mug on the bedside stand and shifted his position so that he was facing me. He looked worried. “What are you trying to say, Mack? Are you dumping me for Malachi or something like that?”

“No, of course not, but—”

He held up a hand to stop me. “I get it. You're feeling neglected, and I'm sorry about that. But such is the nature of my job. I promise to try to do better.” He leaned over and kissed me then, and for the moment, my objections were forgotten.

Sometime later I dragged myself out of bed and went downstairs to assist my staff with the closing duties. By the time I got back upstairs, Duncan was fast asleep. Maybe I should have ramped up the caffeine in my coffee.

I sat on the edge of my bed and watched him for a while, listening to the sound of his breathing, which made me see a heart-shaped balloon that inflated and deflated in time with each breath. Eventually I got undressed and carefully slipped in beside him, cuddling up against his back. He stirred long enough to roll over, say “Welcome back,” and kiss me. Then he wrapped me in his arms and dozed off again.

I fell asleep sometime later engulfed in a heady cocktail of synesthetic reactions to his touch, his smell, his warmth, his sounds. The last one I remembered experiencing was a visual image of two puzzle pieces, both made out of chocolate, fitting together with exact precision and completing a picture of the two of us.

I awoke the next morning feeling content, safe, and ridiculously happy. The warmth of Duncan's body behind me was palpable beneath the covers even though we weren't touching. And when I rolled over to look at him, I was surprised to see he wasn't there. The sensation must have been a synesthetic reaction to something.

I sat up, glanced at the clock, saw it was almost nine, and wondered if he had left already. His clothes were gone from the chair where they'd been, but then I heard noises coming from beyond the bedroom door and knew he was still there. Afraid he might be in the process of leaving, I flew out of bed, donned my robe, and hurried out to the main area of the apartment. I found him in the kitchen sitting at the table, eating a bowl of oatmeal.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” he said with a smile. “The coffee is fresh and there's more oatmeal in the pan on the stove if you want. I doctored it up with some butter, brown sugar, and pecans.”

The kitchen window behind him was frosted over, but there was bright morning sunshine coming through it, casting a long trapezoid of light on the floor. The tableau seemed so ordinary, and cozy, and domestic. It gave me hope for the future.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, helped myself to a bowl of the oatmeal, and settled in across the table from him. “Did you sleep okay?” I asked him.

“Like a baby. Best sleep I've had in days. Though I'm sorry I gave out on you.”

I dismissed his apology with a wave of my hand. “Clearly, you needed the sleep. And you kind of made up for it earlier in the evening.”

“Yes, that part was very nice,” he agreed with a slightly lecherous smile and a quick game of footsie under the table. “I've missed you, Mack.”

“I've missed you, too.”

“So are we okay?”

It felt very okay at the moment. “For now, yes.”

He reared back slightly as if I'd slapped him. “For now?” he echoed. “You're a hard woman to please, Mack Dalton. I suspect you're going to keep me on my toes.”

“I'd rather keep you in my bed,” I said with a coquettish grin.

“You'll get no arguments from me on that one.”

“Does that mean you'll be back tonight?”

His smile faltered the tiniest bit and I felt my spirits start to tank. “I can't promise anything just yet. I'll have a better idea once I get in to work. I'll let you know. Now let's talk about this trip to the church you plan to make today. I don't like the idea of you going there alone.”

“I told you, Cora said she would go.”

“You know what I mean.”

I sighed. “Duncan, we've been over this.”

“I know, but I don't trust whoever is writing these letters to maintain a safe distance. At some point they could decide to kill you, or kidnap and torture you. Cora's a great asset to have on our team, but she's not much in the protection department.”

“I don't know about that,” I said with a wry grin. “I imagine she could distract any man long enough for me to get away if I had to.”

Duncan chuckled. “Yes, I imagine she could.”

“Have you made any progress on the items you took to the lab?”

“Some. You were right that the filter had coffee in it at one time, and the green scrap of terry cloth did have wine in it. We also know that the petal was from a domestic pink rose. But in terms of finding any usable evidence such as hairs or fibers or fingerprints, we've come up empty. And nice try on changing the subject.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. “What choice do I have, Duncan? If I don't play this game, someone will die.”

“And if you do play this game,
you
could die, particularly if you don't take precautions. So if you're going to visit the church, I want you to at least wait until Mal can go with you. He's gone along on the other trips and it hasn't caused any issues or problems, so it makes sense to stick with what we've been doing.”

It had caused some problems, just not the kind Duncan was talking about. “Fine,” I said, caving to the pressure. Truth was, I didn't mind having Mal along. Not only would I feel safer with him around, his insight might prove critical in figuring things out. “I'll call him and see when he can go with me.”

“Thank you.” With that, Duncan got up from the table and walked over to give me a quick kiss. “I have to go. Can you come downstairs and turn off the alarm for me?”

“Sure.”

I waited while he donned his bulky parka, knit cap, snow pants, and mustache. We went downstairs together and Duncan waited at the bottom while I stepped out into the hallway to make sure no one was in the bar yet.

As I announced the coast was clear, something occurred to me. “How did you get here last night?”

“I drove,” he said, stepping into the hall and standing at the ready by the back door.

“What if the letter writer recognized your car?”

“I parked in a structure eight blocks from here. And I know how to watch for a tail. No one followed me.” He leaned over and kissed me again, this one lasting a bit longer. The feel of the mustache made me giggle, but as the kiss kept going, I found I didn't notice it as much. When we finally parted, Duncan let out a little moan and said, “Wish I could stay and spend the day with you.”

“I wish you could, too.”

“It won't always be like this, you know. Have patience. And be careful.”

“I will.” I went to my office, disabled the alarm and then poked my head back out into the hallway. “You're good to go,” I said, and in a flash of morning light and cold, he was gone.

I reset the alarm and went back upstairs to shower and dress. But first I called Mal to ask him when he could come by to get me. He didn't answer, so I left a message that said I wanted to see him, and asked him to call me back.

I went downstairs at a little after ten-thirty to help my day staff get ready. Rich had things under control in the kitchen, and Debra had Linda under her wing, showing her what needed to be done. So I stepped in to help Pete, my day bartender, get the bar set up by cutting fruit for garnishes.

My phone rang in the midst of slicing lemons. It was Mal.

“What's up?” he asked.

I abandoned my fruit-cutting station and slipped into my office for some privacy. Then I filled him in on Cora's idea about the church and my desire to go there. “Duncan insists that I not go alone and he wants you to go with me,” I concluded. “So I'm calling to see when you might be free.”

“As it turns out, I'm free now. It's too damned cold out here to do much, so the boss is cutting us loose early. Give me an hour to get home and shower, and I can be at the bar around noon. Does that help?”

“It does,” I said. “And since I'm also planning to drop in on Erik Hermann at his office today, you can go with me for that, too. In fact”—I glanced at my watch—“let's do that first.”

“That's fine by me. I'm yours to do with as you wish.”

I smiled, glad that our comfortable camaraderie seemed to have returned.

“Thanks, Mal. I'll see you soon.”

We opened at eleven sharp, and as usual, several of my regulars came in within minutes of me unlocking the door: the Signoriello brothers, Cora, Carter, and Sam. When I took Cora aside and let her know she was off the hook with regards to the church visit, she looked disappointed.

Tyrese popped in just before noon, and Mal showed up about ten minutes after that. I took both of them into my office so we could plan the trip to Erik Hermann's office. I filled Tyrese in on what Erik's office hours were and then said, “I'm hoping he might be more forthcoming if I catch him unaware and it's just me talking to him, so it's important that I do this alone.”

“No problem,” Tyrese said. “But we'll stand by just in case. I have the stuff we bought yesterday to wire you up out in my car. Let me go get it and I'll be right back.”

He headed out, leaving Mal and I alone in my office. “Remember,” I said to Mal, “Tyrese doesn't know anything about the letters or the church. So mum's the word.”

Mal cocked his head and gave me a tolerant smile. “I am an undercover cop, remember? I know how to keep a secret.”

“Of course you do,” I said, worried that I'd managed to bring the tension back between us. “I said that as much for my own benefit as yours. I need the reminding.”

He nodded and said nothing more.

“So how was work this morning?” I asked, trying for some safe, polite conversation.

“Cold! I wish this guy would get me on a job site with some indoor work. But I have a feeling freezing my ass off is an initiation of sorts. He's testing me, so I don't want to complain too much.”

“Want me to get you something to warm you up?” I offered.

“No, I'm fine. I had a huge mug of hot chocolate at home and that got me thawed out enough.”

We stood there, looking at one another and then trying not to look at one another, shuffling our feet, feeling the silence wrap around us. I think we both had things we wanted to say, things we were thinking but weren't ready to put out there yet.

Tyrese finally came back and the pressure eased some. He plopped a bag on my desk and removed two packages from it. One was a small, hand-held digital recording device. The other wasn't what I was expecting.

“A baby monitor?” I said. “That's your high-tech listening device?”

“Who said anything about high tech?” Tyrese asked. “This will work fine, though we'll need to be close by in order to hear anything. If need be, we'll stand right outside the office door.”

After unpacking the device and doing some minimal setup, Tyrese handed me what looked like a small walkie-talkie. “You're going to be the baby,” he said. “I've turned the volume down on it so you won't hear anything on your end. Just clip it to your waist on the side near your back and keep it under your coat. Open your coat when you get in there, but don't let it be seen. In a worst-case scenario, just scream. We won't be far away.”

“And the recorder?”

“That you can put in your purse or your pocket. We just need to remember to turn it on before you go in there.”

I did as he instructed and Mal helped me position the baby monitor in the waist of my pants. Then we grabbed our coats and headed out.

It took half an hour to get there and another fifteen minutes to find a place to park. Then we had to walk several blocks. When we arrived at the chemistry building, Tyrese stopped to survey the area. The building consisted of two sections: one that was four stories tall and another that was an eight-story tower, both with basements.

“We could try to hang outside since Hermann's office is on the first floor,” he said, “but I think it would be best if we just came inside with you. We'll keep the volume low on our monitor and try to avoid anyone seeing what we're doing. Maybe we can find a nearby bathroom to hide in.”

We entered the building, found Hermann's office and a restroom that was close by. Tyrese told me to turn on my recording device, and then he and Mal retreated to the bathroom and had me stand in the hall a little ways past Hermann's office but within eyesight of the restroom. Mal then signaled me from the hallway just outside the bathroom and after looking around to make sure no one was close by, I said in a low voice, “Testing, testing.”

I watched as Mal disappeared into the restroom and then came back out a moment later. He gave me a thumbs-up to indicate that Tyrese had been able to hear me just fine, and then he disappeared back into the bathroom.

I sucked in a deep breath to brace myself, and then entered Erik Hermann's office. There was a small outer office with a desk, and a young man—a student, I guessed—seated behind it. He was wearing a T-shirt with the word
genius
spelled out across the front of it using element symbols from the periodic table. Behind his desk on the back wall were two four-drawer filing cabinets and a second door with an opaque glass window in the top half. The wall to my left was covered with a floor-to-ceiling bookcase overflowing with books and papers.

“Can I help you?” the young man asked.

“Yes, I'd like to see Professor Hermann.”

The kid gave me a quick head-to-toe assessment and furrowed his brow. “Are you a student?”

“No, this is a personal matter.”

“Do you have an appointment?” From the slightly smug expression on his face I gathered that he knew I did not.

“I wanted to surprise him,” I said.

“Can I have your name?”

“Sure. It's Mackenzie Dalton.” I wondered if the name would trigger any recognition with him, but if it did, he hid it well.

“Professor Hermann has someone with him right now, but if you'd like to wait, he does have ten minutes between appointments, assuming the person in there now doesn't stay much longer. But it's the end of the semester and he's pretty busy, so you'll have to be quick.”

“That's fine, I'll wait,” I said, thinking that Tyrese and Mal were probably cursing me and rolling their eyes about now.

There were two chairs along the wall beside the door and I settled into one of them, feeling the monitor at my waist shift slightly. For the next five minutes, the student behind the desk kept sneaking surreptitious looks at me while he tried to look busy by shuffling some papers around and doodling on the large desk calendar in front of him. Finally, the door on the back wall opened and a young woman came out. Her eyes were red-rimmed with tears and she scurried out of the office without a word.