"Detective."
"I have one more question."
"Go ahead."
"Lieutenant Max Hale was at the scene before Engine 9."
I do not move.
"Yes," Val says.
"Off-duty."
"Off-duty."
"Driving home from her cabin."
"Driving home from the cabin."
"Lieutenant Hale”?
I look at her.
"Detective."
"What time did you leave your cabin Monday night?” Elise Warren is a sniffer dog.
"Around midnight."
"You didn't sleep?”
"Not well."
"Why not?”
"I don't sleep well. It's in my file."
"It's in your file.” Elise Warren is skeptical but I don’t back down on my story.
"Yes, Detective."
"You drove forty miles to get back to the city at midnight because you don't sleep well?”
She doesn’t believe me, but she can’t prove that I am lying.
"Yes, Detective."
"And you happened to see the smoke column from the road?”
"Yes, Detective."
She looks at me.
I look at her.
Her eyes are the color I remember. Grey-green, deep set, the kind of eyes that have looked at a thousand liars and have a low quiet way of telling you they know the rate of one. I sit very still under those eyes. I do not blink. I do not swallow. I make my face the face I made on the stairs Wednesday morning before I walked into Val's office.
"Lieutenant Hale.”
