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Chu was silent as this sunk in. Finally he asked, “You okay?”
“I’m annoyed that this is bothering me. For chrissakes, he brought out fruit, cut up the way he used to do it when I was a kid, and I started blubbering.”
“Do you feel like you’re not in control?”
“Exactly! I had everything in my life all figured out, and then he shows up out of the blue. He used to do this to me after the divorce. I’d get used to things, get myself into a routine, then he’d come into town or fly me out to Vegas, and I would be an emotional mess for weeks.”
“He is quite a presence, I noticed that yesterday,” Chu said while shaking his head. “Do you need me to have us reassigned? We certainly have reasons to request it.”
“No,” Pro said and slapped her desk. “Dammit, I will not let him make me back off a case. And to be honest, Tom, I think my knowledge about magicians might help.”
He nodded. “Okay. But if you feel you can’t handle it, you let me know. And you are due some days off—”
“Vacations are for wimps,” Pro said with a wave of her hand.
“Now that sounds like my partner,” Chu chuckled and turned his attention to the paper in her hand. “So, anything popping for you?”
“Yes, there are repeated emails from one specific sender about ‘the item.’ Can we get the information from the cyber unit about who this person is?”
“I already did. It hit me as well. They should be getting back to us with a user soon.”
“Well, from the return email address, it is in the United States, but it could be anywhere in the country.”
“Or down the street. Did you finish the paperwork on the bodega shooting?”
“No, sorry, I wasn’t quite done.”
“Well, if you finish writing it up, I’ll do the follow up with Cyber.”
She gave a nod as Chu headed back to his nearby desk. Pro watched him go. He was a good partner and a great mentor, always looking ahead to what they needed.
The words her mother said suddenly ran through her head: “You could use someone in your life that would inspire a little fire.”
Well, Chu wasn’t that person. She admired and liked her partner, probably would take a bullet for him if it was needed, but she didn’t feel attracted to him on a physical level. In fact, there had been very little of that as she struggled to go from uniformed officer to detective with a single-minded purpose that shut out all the other aspects of her life.
At her workstation, she pulled up the report and began to type on her keyboard, but her mind continued to wander.
She thought about her former lover, Julius Trent, back when she was at the police academy. He was a tall, African-American man with a shaved head and the body of a weight-lifter. During her training, they had a friendly competition that inspired both of them to work harder. It had consummated with nights of some very nice sex, satisfying if not particularly exemplary.
Her last serious relationship had been with a street magician, Jamie Tobin, over a year ago. They met when she was a uniformed officer and called in to secure the crime scene where another performer had been murdered. With Tobin’s help, and Chu with his partner at the time, Detective Franks, she helped close that case. When the older Franks retired a month later, Chu asked her to be his new partner.
Over the next month she learned the ropes, and at night, Jamie brought forth a passion she didn’t know she’d possessed. He hadn’t been her type at all—thin, red-headed, and Irish—but the things he could do with those talented hands…
She shook her head to clear it. Why was she letting that memory come to her now? It was useless and only brought up feelings she didn’t want to deal with. The relationship ended with his return to Ireland twelve months ago.
He’d been a magician. And magicians always leave.
Had it been an entire year since she’d last made love?
She sighed at her desk. Why was she letting herself dwell on this? Because her mother had not been with a man since Joe’s death, which was two years. A part of her assumed her mother would just be celibate. Then she spent the night with Max, of all people.
All at once, it hit her. She realized a childish part of her wanted to see her parents get back together, to reunite them back into a family. She shook her head in disbelief that she allowed such silly feelings to take hold.
“You still on that report?” Chu said as he approached with a paper in hand.
“What?” Pro said, sitting up in her chair and wondering how much time had passed.
“I have a lead from Cyber. They traced the IP address of that email, and I have a name and a physical address. It’s right here in Manhattan.”
