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Faith turned to him and raised her eyebrow. Why was Michael arguing with him?
“Sure you are. You’re sleeping with a woman who’s another man’s wife. I overheard you talking to her on your phone while the officers were booking me. She doesn’t love you, by the way. No matter what she says. Cheaters love no one but themselves.”
Michael moved so quickly that for a brief moment, Faith feared he would assault Leroy. He didn’t, but he stopped only inches from the man’s face. “Why don’t you keep your mouth shut, little man?” he whispered.
Leroy laughed. “My wife called me little man. Right before I snapped her neck.”
“Yeah? Tell you what. I’ll unlock these shackles, and we’ll see how well you do against me.”
“Michael,” Faith called.
He blinked and turned to Faith. Faith shook her head, and Michael sighed and backed up. As they left the room, he called over his shoulder, “Have fun waiting for the chair, little man.”
Outside of the room, Faith laid a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Hey,” she said, “everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “What do you always say? Right as rain.”
“He’s wrong,” Faith said. “He doesn’t know her.”
“You agree with him, though,” Michael said. “You didn’t come out and say it, but you think I’m wasting my time with Ellie too.”
Faith said nothing. Michael was right. She wished she could lie to Michael, but she knew he would see through it.
“It’s all right,” Michael said. “You’ll see. When you meet her, you’ll see. She’s the real thing.”
He spoke with confidence, but his eyes betrayed his fear that he may not be right after all.
They left the station without another word between the two of them. Turk was waiting at the hotel, enjoying a nice nap as a reward for his help apprehending the killer. He greeted them with an exuberant bark and leapt into Michael’s arms. Faith smiled as the tension in Michael’s shoulders disappeared.
Turk was a good dog. He always knew how to lift people up when they were down.
Her phone buzzed. When she read the text, she smiled.
“Oh boys,” she called. “Who likes steak?”
Michael and Turk exchanged a comical look of excitement, then looked back at Faith. “Yes, please!” Michael said.
***
“I guess I owe you two an apology,” Travis said.
They sat around the table at a steakhouse that Travis swore was the best in Tucson. He insisted on buying Michael and Faith dinner before they headed back to Philadelphia. That was the text Faith had received.
Turk, at least, seemed to agree with Travis’s assessment. After Travis had browbeat the hostess into allowing him to sit at the table with them, the manager had sent a bowl full of trimmings and bones, which Turk was now in the middle of devouring, his tail wagging contentedly.
Faith’s own steak was chewier than she liked, but she didn’t complain. Now that she knew Gina would recover, she could feel joy at the successful apprehension of another murderer.
Michael didn’t seem to share Faith’s disapproval of the steak. He shook his head in exaggerated enjoyment. “God, that hits the spot. Faith and I usually eat pizza, Chinese, and hotel food when we’re on a case.”
“Jesus,” Travis said in exaggerated horror, “Mike, you can’t do that to yourself. That stuff will rot your brain.”
“I believe it,” Michael said. “We probably would have found this asshole a week ago if they gave us a decent meal budget.”
Faith stared in wonder at the two men. In the nearly ten years she’d known Michael, he hadn’t once allowed anyone to call him Mike. He must be in a really good mood.
“You mentioned an apology?” Derek said to Travis with a slight smile.
Travis cast an irritated glance at his partner. “What are you, my conscience? I was getting to it. Actually, you know what? Since it’s so important to you, you apologize.”
