"So you know this because?”
"I read the incident summary before I came in."
She turns another page. She does not look at me. "The wife?”
Wife.I feel it in my chest before I answer. I feel it in the scar on my forearm, which I do not touch, because I am in her office and I have been in her office a thousand times and I do not touch the scar in this chair.
"Yes, Chief."
"She was out of town."
It is a sentence, not a question. She is offering me a line. She has done this my whole career. She says the thing the report says, and I confirm the thing the report says, and we both know the thing the report says is the thing the city is going to believe, and that is how we do what we do. I have saidyes, Chiefto a line like that four times before.
I sit in the chair.
I can sayyes, Chief.
I can sayyes, Chiefand she will turn the page and we will move on to the next point on the list and I will walk out of this office and drive to the cabin and the woman in my bed will stay in my bed and nobody outside this station will know she is there. I have saidyes, Chiefto a line like this so many times.
The next time arrives.
I feel the next time arriving the way you feel a step you know is coming in the dark. It's the half-second before your foot goes down. I have time to set my face. I have time to choose what tone I am going to use. I have time to know that whatever I say in the next two seconds is a thing I am going to live inside for however long this lasts.
"Yes, Chief."
It comes out steady. It comes out the wayyes, Chiefhas always come out. It is a lie this time, and it is the first one I have ever told her and it sounds exactly like the truth.
She turns another page.
"Authorities can't reach her," Val says. "She was supposed to be in Aspen. The travel agency booking hasn't been claimed atthe hotel. The father on Long Island hasn't heard from her in six weeks. Her phone is off, which could be the fire, could be travel, could be she threw it in a river. They have a BOLO out. They will escalate it to missing by end of day. Thursday at the latest they will put her on the news."
"Yes, Chief."
"Any thoughts?”
She does not look up when she says this. She is not looking at me on purpose. She does this when she wants a read on my voice without my face giving me a chance to help the voice.
"None, Chief."
"No thoughts?”
"She was supposed to be in Aspen. If she wasn't in Aspen, somebody else knows where she was. Not us."
"Not us."
"No, Chief."
"You didn't see anyone in the house?”
"I cleared the east wing visually. Daniel was the only one on the floor. I didn't do a west wing sweep. I wasn't briefed on the wife being there."
"You weren't."
"No, Chief."
"And when you walked the service drive out?”
"Quiet. No movement."
