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“You’re not listening in…as you put it?”
I stopped typing a moment and looked at him. I couldn’t quite decipher the look he gave me, but my guess was that of worry and trying not to think of anything at all at the same time. That never worked. To be fair, he had gotten into my car thinking I did it all the time. And I knew how he hated it. I had to admit–that took some guts. He was in on my secret now, so the least I could do was to be honest.
“No. I can do it at will, but I never do it to people I know. I never do it to anyone without a damn good reason.”
“The interrogations—”
“Is a very good reason, I think.”
He nodded. I had talked to some seriously twisted people when helping the cops. There had to be exceptions.
I finished my short text and hit send. “Listen,” I added. “I know it’s a violation. I’ve had to learn that the hard way. I know you don’t trust me, but in this case, you have to. Or you can not give a crap about Andrea. If you’re sticking around, you’ll have to trust that I don’t listen in.Ever.The only reason I did it at Rob’s was to convince you we weren’t lying. I’m sorry I had to do that, really I am, but I had to protect Rob.”
He considered a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”
“Really?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you apologize for anything before, so I guess you mean it.”
I scoffed at him. “Ass-wipe.”
“Yeah, that’s more like your way of apologizing,” he said and laughed, a sound that startled me a little as I’d barely heard him do it before. At that point, the door opened behind me, and I turned to see Dr. Morris looking at me with a smile. Then she noticed Hansen and the smile vanished.
“Maggie, what the hell?” she said.
“Hello to you, too, Dr. Morris,” I said and walked up the few steps to the door.
“You brought a cop? Are you insane?” she said, gray eyes narrowed. She was a short woman, mid-fifties. Slim and energetic.
“No more than yesterday,” I smiled at her.
“Maggie, what have you done?” she hissed the words at me, clearly not wanting him to hear, but really wanting to yell at me at the same time. She stood behind the door, refusing to open it more than she already had. I looked back at Hansen who waited patiently at the foot of the stairs. His badge was visible on his belt. He needed to stop with that.
“Nothing that isn’t sanctioned,” I told her as I turned back to her. “He knows too much already. Gerard wants to make sure he doesn’t turn on us.”
Her mouth turned into a thin line as she considered this. “I could lose my license,” she whispered.
“No, you won’t,” I assured her. “Not because of him.”
“So he knows?”
“He’s learning, but yeah.”
She inhaled sharply and opened the door, letting us in, though she stepped in front of Hansen as he came up the stairs, extending her hand. He took it with a bemused look on his face. He might not have heard what we said, but he could probably guess. “Nice to meet you, Detective,” she said as they shook hands. “I’m Dr. Morris and I have the ability to speed up cell deterioration.”
I sucked in air through my teeth. Affiliates didn’t go around announcing their abilities, especially to outsiders. This was a threat. Shecoulddo as she said.
Hansen’s eyebrows went up a bit at this, but he did not jerk his hand back. Instead, he put his other hand over hers. “Nice to meet you, Doctor,” he said calmly. “Since I’m not decomposing yet, I guess you’re giving me a chance.”
Oh my God.I looked in stunned silence as the doctor laughed and nodded approvingly. “I like this one,” she said over her shoulder to me. “Quick on the uptake.”
An odd sense of relief flooded through me and it took me a moment to realize I felt pride for his quick handling of her. I shook my head, reminding myself he didn’t trust me and that he despised what I could do.
Get out. Get the fuck out of my head.
I shivered a moment, glad they were busy chatting and not noticing.
“I guess you’re here for my patient,” the doctor said a moment later.
