Kisscut

Lena cleared her throat, looking down at the floor. "It's okay," she said, though clearly it was not.

Sara must have realized that she was still crowding Lena, because she stepped back. " Lena, I'm sorry," she repeated. "I had no right to say that."

Lena held up her hand to stop Sara. She took a breath, but did not let it go. Instead, she said, "I'll be in the car when you want to go."

The comment was meant for Jeffrey, he realized, and he told Lena, "Okay. Good." He fumbled for his keys and held them out to her, but she did not take them. Instead, she extended her hand, palm up, waiting for him to drop them.

"Okay," Lena said, holding the keys in her fist. She did not look at Jeffrey or Sara again. She stared at the floor, even as she walked down the hallway. Her posture was still slack, and she had an air of being completely defeated about her. Whatever Sara had said to the woman had cut to the bone.

Jeffrey turned to Sara, not understanding what had just happened, or why. He asked, "What the hell did you just say to her?"

Sara shook her head, putting her hand over her eyes. "Oh, Jeff," she said, still shaking her head. "The wrong thing. The completely wrong thing."

Chapter Seven

Lena sat in Jeffrey's Lincoln town car, her body tight as a drum. Her breathing came in pants, and she felt slightly light-headed, as if she might pass out. She was sweating, and not just from being trapped in the hot car. Her whole body felt lit up, as if she had touched a live electrical wire.

"Bitch," she breathed, thinking of Sara Linton. "Stupid bitch," she repeated, as if calling her this would take away what had been said.

Sara's words still echoed in Lena 's head: Now you know what it's like to hurt somebody.

Hurt, Sara had said, but Lena knew what she had meant. Now you know what it's like to rape somebody.

"Goddamn it!" Lena screamed as loud as she could, trying to replace the sound. She slammed her hand against the dashboard, cursing Sara Linton, cursing this stupid job.

Back in the interrogation room, drilling Dottie Weaver like that, for the first time in forever, Lena had started to feel human again, and Sara had taken that away with one simple sentence.

"Dammit!" Lena screamed again, her voice hoarse from the effort. She wanted to cry, but there were no tears left, just a seething anger. Every muscle in her body was tense, and she felt like she could lift the car up and flip it over if she wanted to.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," Lena told herself, trying to calm down. She had to be okay with this when Jeffrey got to the car, because he would tell Sara-he was fucking her, for God's sake-and Lena did not want Sara Linton to know her words had struck so deep.

Lena snorted a laugh at the thought of Sara's lame apology. As if that made a difference. Sara had said exactly what she meant. The only reason she apologized was she felt bad for saying it out loud. On top of being a bitch, she was a coward.

She took another deep breath, trying to get herself together. "It's okay," Lena whispered to herself. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters."

After a couple of minutes, Lena felt better. Her heart was not beating so hard, and her stomach seemed to unclench. She kept reminding herself that she was strong, that she had been through worse than this and survived. What Sara Linton thought did not matter in the big scheme of things. What mattered was that Lena could do her job. She had done her job. They had gotten some solid leads to follow in that interview, something that would not have happened if Sara Linton had been in charge.

Lena looked at her watch, then did a double take. She had not realized what time it was. Hank would be wondering what was taking her so long. There was no way she could go to church with him now.

Jeffrey's car had a cell phone mounted into the console, and Lena leaned over, cranking the engine so she could use the phone. She turned on the air conditioner and cracked the window to let some of the heat out of the car. The phone took its time powering up, and she glanced at the station, this time to make sure Jeffrey was not coming out.

Hank picked up on the first ring. "Hello?"

"It's me," she said. There was a pause from his end, and she realized what her voice must sound like. There was a rawness to it, and the edge from her confrontation with Sara was still there. Thankfully, Hank did not ask her what was wrong.

She said, "I'm not going to be able to make it to church."

"Oh?" he said, but did not go further.

"I've got to do an interview with Jeffrey," she told him, even though she did not owe Hank Norton an explanation. "We're going to be a while, probably. You should go without me." Lena 's voice went down on the last part of her sentence as she thought about going home and being by herself.

"Lee?" Hank asked, obviously sensing her fear. "I can stay here for you if you want. You know, just until you get home."

"Don't be stupid," she said, aware that her tone wasn't very convincing. "I'm not a three year old."

"You could come after, you know," Hank said, hesitancy in his voice. "I mean, to hear the choir sing."

Lena experienced a sinking feeling as she remembered the concert. It would be dark outside by the time Hank got home. Inside the house would be darker, no matter how many lights Lena turned on.

"I gotta get up early to go check on the bar, anyway," Hank offered. "I could come home after the service."

"Hank," Lena said, trying not to let on that her heart was about to explode in her chest. "Listen, go to the fucking concert, okay? I don't need you baby-sitting me all the time. I mean, for fuck's sake."

Sunlight flashed off the back door as Jeffrey came out of the building. Maria Simms was right behind him, holding a file folder out to the chief.

Hank asked, "You're sure?"

"Yeah," she answered before she could think about it. "Listen, I've gotta go. I'll see you when you get home."

She hung up the phone before Hank could respond.

"Jesus," Jeffrey said as soon as he opened the car door. "Is the air on?" he asked, throwing her the file Maria had handed him.

"Yeah," Lena mumbled, shifting in her seat as he got in. Without thinking about it, she had moved away from him, as close to the door as she could get. If he noticed this, Jeffrey did not comment.

Jeffrey threw his suit jacket into the back seat. "I got a call," he said, obviously preoccupied. "My mother's had an accident. I've got to go to Alabama tonight."

"Now?" Lena asked, putting her hand on the door handle, thinking she could call Hank from her car and tell him to wait for her.

"No," Jeffrey told her, making a point of looking at her hand. "Tonight."

"Okay," she said, keeping her fingers on the handle, as if she was resting them there.

"It's go

"What do you mean, like it was a lover's tiff or something?" Lena asked.

"Maybe he can tell us who the other girls were, who the mother is."

She nodded, but did not think it was likely.

"I talked to Brad. Fine wasn't on the Ski Retreat." Jef-frey frowned. "I'll call Brad again after we talk to Mark and see if I can push him to remember anything else." He paused. "I'm sure he would have said if something bad happened."

"Yeah," Lena agreed. Brad was the kind of cop who would turn in his own mother for jaywalking.

"First thing tomorrow, I want you and Brad to talk to Je

"Okay."