“It’s like she ate a fucking gorilla! But then she convinced her stomach acidnotto break it down. Instead, that motherfucker sat in her pipes and turned rancid. Which is wild, by the way, cause she literally only drinks booby milk and farts all day long.”
“Okay, I’m done.” I bring the phone down and end our call, then I look out at the sun still high in the sky, because summer is seriously annoying about that sort of thing. “I don’t accept your resignation, Mr. Harrison.” Ispy the beginnings of the Malone property as we crest the top of the hill. And worse, right next door, Mayor freakin’ Lawrence’s house, which is a place I am absolutelynotgoing tonight. “Felix has been put on notice. He’s agreed to my terms.”
“You probably justensuredmy death, Chief.” Harrison studies me through the rear-view mirror, his eyes tightening so little lines fan from the sides. “His compliance was only to settle your temper. But if I don’t come to work tomorrow, it’s because he had me dealt with while you were out of the room. You don’t seem to understand that much of what happens in this business happens behind closed doors.”
“Nah.” I look down at my phone again:still no call from Archer. “Felix isn’t his father, and Micah’s too busy shopping for gifts to cross the country and whack you.” I bring my focus up again. “Did you know it’s Tiia’s birthday this week? Because I didn’t.”
He steers us off the road and onto the Malone driveway, winding through the well-kept gardens and past maintained lawns, trimmed hedges, and massive, established trees. There’s nothing wrong withthesegardens, really, and it’s not like I care enough to change anything, since I prefer digging into dead bodies, not dirt. But having spent a few minutes in New York yesterday, it’s easy to see the difference between a maintained yard, like this one, and a growing, thriving, lovingly tended ecosystem, the way Micah cares for the one across the country.
One is pretty. The other isalive.
“Your silence implies you knew.” I study the house and the wrought-iron gates protecting the front door. The guards, just two of them now that Felix is in another state, watch our approach.
Harrison brings us to a stop exactly where he always stops, and though one of the two guards comes to hover by my door, he doesn’t open it yet. Which is handy, since I’m not quite ready to get out. Instead, I unsnap my seatbelt and grab my bag. “I won’t ever have you punished for standing in the shade, Mr. Harrison. In fact, if you insist on basing your entire existence around my working and driving schedule, then I insist you come inside and at least sit down. There’s a water cooler in the corner of the ground floor lobby, plastic cups to drink from, Wi-Fi… maybe.” I shrug. “Probably. And you don’t have to worry about dead bodies… we almost never roll them past reception.”
“No, Chief. It’s not?—”
“I spend hours every day worried you’ll die of heatstroke. This isn’t a gentle request. It’s an order.”
Oh God. Do I sound like Cordoza already?
He considers for a beat, turning in his seat and meeting my eyes. “Fine.” He exhales a gusty sigh. “Assuming I survive the night, I’ll spend my days in the lobby of the George Stanley.”
“Good choice.” I drape the straps of my bag over my arm. “Also, since I saved your life and all that, I suppose it’s only fair you now owe me a favor?”
His brows wing high with surprise.
“I’m declaring it your responsibility to tell me in advance if someone’s birthday is coming up. Or an anniversary. Or Christmas.” I stop and wrinkle my nose. “Halloween’s not really a gift-giving holiday, right?”
“No.”
“Good. Am I supposed to send Zora gifts all the time now since she’s technically my niece? Three-month-old babies rarely remember forgotten birthdays, right?”
His lips twitch with the smile he struggles to lock down. “I’d say you’re good for another year or two before she starts noticing.”
“Excellent. And by then, you’ll be in the habit of reminding me ahead of time anyway.” I reach out for the handle, but the guard outside beats me to it and opens my door for me. “Oh. And before I go.” I bring my eyes back to Harrison’s. “When’s your birthday?”
“M-mine?” He gulps. I swear, the poor guy’s stress levels are gonna kill him. “December, Chief. Twenty-first.”
“December, like me. I won’t forget.”
Lies. I forget my own birthday at least half of the time.
“Put it in the calendar and remind me ahead of time. Otherwise, you can clock off now, Mr. Harrison. I’m home, and I intend to stay here for the rest of the night.” I twist toward my open door and slide out until my feet hit the ground. My bag is heavy on my arm, and the sun pelts down on the side of my face just to remind me I had it good inside the car. “Thank you.” I step around the guard whose name I don’t know and nod for the next one—don’t know his name, either. I move through the small wrought-iron gate and onto old Spanish tile, then I cross into icy cold air conditioning and the arms of a man I’ve spent the last eighteen months secretly wishing was somehow biologically related to me.
I feel silly loving a man whoisn’tmy husband. But each time he pulls me in for a hug and presses a gentle kiss to my cheek, that silliness washes away, and my heart releases a happy sigh.
Biology doesn’t matter anyway.
“Welcome home, Doctor Mayet.” Steve is a saggy old man with too much skin, not a great deal of hair on his head, a permanent quarter-inchstubble that stretches from his nostrils to his Adam’s apple, and a missing front tooth. He looks absolutely nothing like anyone in my family tree, and if we attempted to pretend otherwise, even a blind person in the street would call us out on it. But it makes me happy to know him, and happier still that he’s in this house rather than hidden away in an overheated apartment downtown.
He pulls back, his hands carefully wrapped around my arms.I know he works hard to slow the shake of his limbs.“I’m not sure if I’ve become accustomed to the stench of death, Doctor, or if you’ve simply had a good day today, but,” he sniffs the air. “I approve.”
Snickering, I detangle us and set my bag on the floor. My phone in my back pocket.Still no call from Archer. Finally, I link my arm with his and bring us around. “It’s probably a little bit of A and a little bit of B. More importantly, I’ve missed your daily updates. I recall a time not so long ago that I could come home from work and you’d tell me the gossip I’d missed throughout the day. I know we’re not at the apartments right now, but,” I tilt my ear toward the back of the house, toward Mia’s pealing laughter. “Surely you havesomethingto update me with.”
“Certainly.” He pats my hand and strolls with me along the hall. “Mia found an extensive cache of Nerf guns at approximately eleven o’clock this morning. No one seems to know where they came from, and though I have my suspicions, she’s not confessing.” His eyes twinkle and dance as he glances across. “Mia’s aim has improved throughout the day. Cato bears the scars of war to prove it.”
I snort. “Good. He deserves to be shot with foam bullets sometimes. What else?”
