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“You too.”
He was in discussion with Compton and Perkins for half an hour. As he exited the building, he couldn’t suppress an effervescent hope that Elle was still there.
She wasn’t.
Shauna was.
Fuck!
She was sitting on a concrete bench, her ever-present shoulder bag at her side. She sat with her legs crossed, the top one swinging like a lazy pendulum. For once, she wasn’t busily navigating her phone. Her gaze had been fixed on the door through which he’d just come, keying to him that her being here wasn’t happenstance. It was an ambush.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hey.”
She nodded down toward the bench. “Have a seat.”
He scanned their surroundings to see how many people were around to witness what he anticipated would be an ugly scene. He spotted no more than a handful of people, and all were out of earshot and going about their business.
He sat down. “What brings you here?”
“The same as you, I would imagine.”
“What do you imagine?”
“That there’s been a breakthrough in the investigation of the shooting.”
“You have a source in this precinct,” he said, and not in question form.
“I believe I knew that there’d been a development even before you did.”
“It was easy enough for you to deduce, Shauna. You were sitting three feet from me last night when Detective Compton called.”
“Did she tell you then what was up?”
“No.”
“She wanted to inform you in person?”
He spread his hands as though to sayI’m here.
“After talking to her last night, why did you hide out in the guest room? Why not tell me that you had been summoned to meet with her and Perkins?”
“Because I didn’t want to get the third degree like I’m getting now. And before you try to drub out of me why they wanted to see me, understand right now that I can’t talk about it.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.”
“But you talked to Elle Portman about it.”
For the first time since joining her on the bench, he turned his head and looked straight at her.
“At least I assume that’s what you were talking about in your little two-person huddle. Of course, you could have been talking about something else entirely.”
She pointed across the street. “I was parked right over there, so I couldn’t miss your arrival. I wasn’t all that surprised to see you because it explained Compton’s call. I was about to get out of my car and hail you, when Elle Portman came through the exit and the two of you had that…moment.”
She paused, lowered her chin, raised her eyebrows. “Care to comment?” When he said nothing, she continued. “I’m sure you know the moment I mean. The one when you both stopped dead in your tracks, deer-in-the-headlights fashion, and then sort of gravitated toward each other as though drawn by an irresistible compulsion to be closer.” Again, she paused. “Still nothing to say?”
