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“That’s a side of him, too. He can be a real cut-up.”
She watched Drex disappear into the rain. He was walking shoulders hunched, his hands crammed into the pockets of his windbreaker. “How long has he been doing this?”
“Officially? Since he got his PhD in criminal psychology.”
She looked back at Mike, who took up more than half of the back seat. Seeing her surprise, he tipped his head in the general direction Drex had gone. “Dr. Easton.”
“I had no idea.”
“He doesn’t let on.”
“I take it that he and Rudkowski go way back.”
“Way back.”
“They had a falling out?”
“No. That implies they were once allies. They started out like oil and water.”
“Over what?”
“Rudkowski’s ineptitude. It became readily apparent to Drex early on, out in California. Santa Barbara woman went missing.”
“Never found.”
Mike nodded. “Or her money. Anyhow, after that case, Rudkowski relocated to Louisville. He hated like hell that Drex settled in Lexington. Being that close makes it easier for Drex to keep a finger on Rudkowski’s pulse, but it also makes it easier for Rudkowski to stay on top of Drex. And he does. Like chain mail.”
“Which is why Drex works around him.”
“Rudkowski is a joke and knows it. He’s envious of Drex. Drex is smarter, a born leader, better looking, gets lots of girls.”
He’d paused before the last phrase, and Talia understood that he’d tacked it on only to provoke her. She opted to be provoked. “Are you trying to put me in my place? To let me know where I stand with Drex? With you?”
He didn’t say anything.
“You know, Mr. Mallory, in the past thirty-six hours my life has collapsed around me. It’s in shambles, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to free myself of the wreckage, or even survive. So winning you over is not a priority. The truth is, I really don’t care if I do or not.”
She didn’t flinch from his sharpened scrutiny, but it surprised her to see a twitch at the corner of his wide mouth that was as close to a smile as she’d ever seen from him. “After that speech, you’re beginning to.”
Drex chose then to return. He opened the passenger door and slid in. “It’s really starting to come down. Did I miss anything?”
Talia glanced at Mike, then shook her head no.
Mike asked Drex if Locke had called him back yet. “No, but he probably—”
All three of them nearly jumped out of their skins when someone rushed up to the passenger side of the car and knocked hard on the window. Menundez was looking in on them, his face a rain-streaked grimace.
Drex opened the door. “How’d you know where we were?”
“Locke sent me to get you.”
Drex already had one leg out of the car. “What did you find?”
“Lewis.”
Drex froze. “What? Gif?”
Menundez shot a look toward Talia, another toward Mike, before coming back to Drex. “The ambulance just left with him.”
