Page 37 of Dirty Valentine
“What can I get you?Your usual?”
“We’re here on business,” I said.“Is Leena working today?”
“Called in sick,” she said, the aggravation thick in her voice.“Third time this week.If you ask me, she’s either pregnant or on drugs.”
“We need to speak with her,” Jack said.“In an official capacity.Do you have her address?”
“Is she in trouble?”Jane asked, looking more curious than concerned.
“We just need to ask her some questions,” Jack said, his tone carefully neutral.“Her address?”
“Sure, sure.”Jane pulled out her phone and started scrolling.“Leena Cross.Lives at 47 Mockingbird Lane in the Willows Apartment Complex.Not a great area of town.”
“We appreciate it,” Jack said.“And I’ll take that donut you mentioned.Can’t let good hospitality go to waste.”
I was weighing whether or not I’d lost my appetite after watching Jane’s calculated interest in my husband, but by the time I’d made the decision I had a bag of fresh pastries in my hand and Jack was ushering me back outside.
As we walked back toward the Tahoe, I felt eyes on us from every direction.The few people moving around the square seemed to be watching without watching, their gazes sliding away just a second too late.Even the windows of the shops felt like they were staring.
“That was weird,” I said.
“I appreciate your restraint in not clawing her eyes out.”
“I really wanted a donut,” I said.“I figured that might put a damper on things.But just in case, it’s probably best you don’t go there again.She seems aggressive.”
“That’s the talk around the bullpen.That place is like a cop’s kryptonite.There’s a pool going to see who ends up with her.”He hesitated for a second.Long enough to let me know he was thinking twice about saying something.
“What?”I asked.
He was silent as he navigated the narrow streets and headed out of downtown.And then he said, “My guess would have been Cole.She had her hooks in him pretty good, and she wanted a ring out of the deal.I thought for a time he was going to cave.”
“You’re kidding,” I said, shocked at that bit of news.“Surely a guy like Cole would know to stay far away from a woman like that.”
Jack laughed.“A woman like that screams trouble, and that’s exactly the kind of woman that most cops are attracted to.When you add in sex then even an experienced pro like Cole can be wrangled.Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush.Who knows.But cops tend to make terrible decisions when it comes to their personal lives.I think it’s because they always have to make the right decisions in their professional lives.”
“And you?”
“I’m different,” he said, giving me a wink.“I made all my stupid decisions about women when I was younger.I’ve gotten smarter as I’ve aged.Marrying you was the best decision I’ve ever made.And you still give me the adrenaline rush.I haven’t completely recovered from seeing you tied to a chair and that bastard hitting you.”
“Just another day at the office,” I said.
“Which is weird since I’m the cop and out on the streets and you’re the one who’s supposed to be safe in your lab.”
“Here, have a donut.”I shoved one of the eclairs under his nose.“You’ll feel better.”
Twenty minutes later, we were pulling into the Willows Apartment Complex, and the feeling of being watched hadn’t left me.This was a run-down area of King George, close to the county line, just before you crossed the Rappahannock River.
The buildings were generic brick rectangles that squatted like sleeping beasts under the threatening sky, surrounded by patchy grass that looked more dead than alive.Everything about the place screamed temporary—a way station for people who didn’t plan to stay long enough to care.
Building C sat at the back of the complex like it was trying to hide, its entrance marked by concrete steps that had crumbled at the edges.The hallway inside smelled like industrial carpet cleaner and something else—something organic and unpleasant that made me breathe through my mouth.
Apartment 47 was on the second floor, behind a door that had been painted institutional beige so many times the handle looked like it was drowning in layers of paint.Jack knocked, the sound echoing off the narrow hallway walls with hollow finality.
Silence.
He knocked again, harder this time.“Leena Cross?”
The door across the hall cracked open before the echo died, revealing a slice of face belonging to a woman with gray hair and eyes that held the kind of sharp intelligence that came from watching neighbors and filing away their secrets.
