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“We knew what he did.” She paused. “That he stole things. But he never really talked about it.”
“Not to Da
She shrugged. “I doubt it. They were old friends, but Da
Nolan smiled, his lips thin. “How’s construction working out for him?”
“Fine.” She kept her tone cool. “Busy.”
“I’ll bet. Harder work,” he paused, locked eyes, “than his old life, huh?”
The sudden transition scared her. He was after something. “What do you mean?”
“Just that he wasn’t always in construction. Did you know that? That he wasn’t always in construction?”
She fought back the urge to throw her orange juice on this cop who had appeared from nowhere to mess with their lives. Instead, she made herself smile sweetly. “I know everything I need to know about Da
He nodded. “Sure, sure. So you know he came to see me last week, then?”
“I… he told me that he had been talking to you about some vandalism, something at one of the construction sites.”
He shook his head slightly, his eyes never leaving hers. “Da
Last Monday. The day Da
“But he says it’s urgent, so I meet him at this diner on West Belmont. When he gets there, he hems and haws for a while, then finally says he has a problem.” He hesitated, looked at her. “He didn’t tell you any of this?”
She felt off balance, like she needed air, or a drink of water. But she kept her expression neutral. “Any of what? I don’t tell Da
He smiled slightly, just a flicker, like throwing a salute. Then his hard expression resettled. “He told me that Evan McGa
The room warped. Her knuckles went white on her purse straps.
Something laughed from her dark place, the one that reveled in car accidents and natural disasters. It laughed, and its laugh told her that she had been right, that the suspicion she hadn’t let herself acknowledge was 100 percent dead-on. She saw a flash of a woman’s face, bruised eggplant purple. “That’s not possible. He’s in jail.”
“Not anymore. Walked from Stateville about a month ago.”
The booth fell out from beneath her. “But – he was sentenced to twelve years.”
“Welcome to the American criminal justice system.” He stabbed a piece of ci
She shook her head.
“It means that he has no intention of trying to get clean. It means he’s staying a criminal. But that’s not the interesting part. The part that gets me is that the first thing he did,” his eyes drilled into hers, “was get in touch with his old partner.”
The air in the café seemed sticky. Her pulse was pounding, and she felt a reckless disco
Oh God.
“There’s more,” Nolan continued. “Yesterday we searched Patrick’s house. There was a message from Da
“I don’t – I…” She stared at him, feeling the room contract around her. Her thoughts piled up like a car crash in the movies, each tearing and cutting and wrenching at the one before, and she knew that when it all ended, when silence fell at last, nothing would ever be the same.
“Karen?” The detective’s voice was level and calm, his eyes lasers on hers. “What’s Da
She stared at him, wondering the same thing, the last weeks coming into focus. The late nights. Da
Fuck him.
“I’m sorry.” She slid out of the booth, her purse trailing behind. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I can’t help you.”
The move startled him, and she used the momentum to escape, let it block out his voice, his last question, the one that in the movies would have stopped her in her tracks, but in real life she didn’t even hear. She stepped past the hostess and out to the open air and noise of Belmont. The sunlight startled her. A cab honked as it went by, but she shook her head and began walking.
In the whole of her years with Da
It had made her want to vomit.
She’d sat like a statue, teeth clenched, through the whole trial. Then she’d come home and made her one and only ultimatum to Da
If he ever backslid, ever fell back into the life, she was out of there.
Gone.
31
Even having been here before and lacking the time now to appreciate it, even with a federal crime on his conscience and a detective on his trail, even with his girlfriend furious and his life upside down, Da
Da
As he wandered, he found himself thinking about last night. Di