LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I pulled the NTSB report on the plane accident. The official verdict was accidental debris on the runway, but there were two dissenting investigators who thought it might have been intentional damage done to the plane’s tires.”

      Kayla drew in an audible breath. “So if we accept that these were all caused incidents, we’re down to who caused them.”

      “And if we can figure out who caused them, it should lead us to who killed her,” Alex said. Then she looked at Christine. “Did you have any suspicions, at the time it happened?”

      “I never thought it was someone who’d been against Athena,” Christine answered. “Not that there weren’t plenty of them. But Athena already existed, and was successful, by the time Marion was killed. Why would anyone wait that long?”

      “I tend to agree,” Alex said. She knew that Christine had excellent instincts about people, and a great deal of common sense.

      “Judging from what I’ve heard around town over the years,” Kayla offered, “it could just as easily have been some conspiracy freak, with a crazy idea about what Athena is. People still have some out-there theories.”

      “I guess I hadn’t realized,” Alex said, “that so many people had such wild ideas about us.”

      Christine chuckled. “It’s the price we pay for the low profile. When people don’t know exactly who or what you are, they either don’t care or tend to make it up for themselves. And most people who make it up have outrageously over-the-top imaginations.”

      “Tell me about it.” Kayla’s tone was wry. “When I applied at the PD, and they found out I went here, the first thing one of the old farts on my oral board asked was if that was the school that taught women to take over the world and drive men out.”

      “Good grief,” Alex said. “What did you answer?”

      “I said no, but that it did teach us to recognize men whose masculinity was so fragile they were afraid of strong women, and how to treat them gently.”

      As Christine laughed, Alex hooted aloud; she’d never heard that story from Kayla before. “And yet you still got the job?”

      Kayla grinned. “Turned out they dragged out the old dinosaur for every female’s entrance exam. Figured if she could deal with him without getting rattled or angry, she had a chance of making it.”

      “Sounds like a good plan,” Alex said.

      “It is,” Kayla agreed. “And come to think of it, the idea came from Eric Hunt. The detective who handled the investigation, although he was still the dinosaur’s partner when I came on. He was Phoenix PD then, but he’s ours now.”

      “What’s he like?”

      “He’s a cop,” Kayla said, as if that said it all. As perhaps it did, Alex thought. But then Kayla added, “A good one.”

      Alex waited, sensing there was more but not wanting to push. At last, with a sigh, Kayla went on.

      “He’s just in a rough place right now. Tired. A string of tough cases and long hours. He’s liable to be a little touchy at first, that’s all.”

      Alex nodded. “I’ll be gentle.”

      Kayla laughed. “Don’t be. Eric doesn’t need it. As long as he knows you’re not there to make cops look bad, he’ll help you.”

      “You know that’s not why I’m doing this, right?” Alex asked. It was an aspect that hadn’t occurred to her before Kayla had mentioned it.

      “Of course I know,” Kayla said. “But it’s him you have to convince.”

      “I’ll manage.”

      “You always do,” Christine put in. Then, settling back in her chair, she eyed Alex with interest. “So…tell me about you and the Dark Angel.”

      Alex nearly groaned. “Can’t we stick to something easy, like ten-year-old murders?”

      It was Kayla’s turn to laugh. Alex quickly turned on her friend; anything was fair game now. “Why don’t we talk about you and Peter instead?” she said, referring to the detective Kayla had gotten involved with during Rainy’s murder case.

      “Because he’s not an Athena legend,” Kayla said with exaggerated blitheness.

      “Fine,” Alex said, defeated. “He’s fine. I’m fine. We’re still testing the waters, trying to make the long-distance thing work.”

      “Wasn’t he supposed to be in D.C. about now?”

      “Yes.” She tried to leave it at that, but Kayla and Christine were both watching her too intently. “He is in a D.C. Training seminar. We’ll be getting together when he gets back here.”

      And if I weren’t the biggest coward on the planet, I’d probably be staying at his place, like he’d offered, instead of a hotel.

      Later, she tried not to fixate on the thought as she headed back to her nice but impersonal room at that hotel. Justin had been great about not pushing for more than she was ready to give, while at the same time making it clear that he wanted more. Much more.

      Not that she didn’t want it, too. She was just…what? Cautious? Careful? Wary?

      Afraid?

      She didn’t like the idea, but she couldn’t definitively say it wasn’t true. She was honest enough with herself to admit it, even to figure out why. It annoyed her that she was letting her mother influence her, but it was an example she’d had all her life.

      But she knew she couldn’t drag it out forever. Either they were in a relationship that would by definition have to progress, or they weren’t. Justin was tacitly giving that decision to her, telling her that his was already made.

      He’d also understood her need to dive into this investigation, and accepted easily her leaving for Arizona so soon after he’d left it for D.C. He was going to be busy most of the rest of the week, anyway. He’d simply changed his schedule to come back when he was done, instead of hanging around there an extra few days to spend them with her.

      She wished she wasn’t so confused about her feelings. There was more to it than the fact that she’d barely escaped what she was sure would have been a disaster with her former fiancé, Emerson. She just wasn’t sure what it was. While her maternal grandparents and her parents had had a rocky relationship, G.C.’s had been solid and happy until her grandmother’s death, and that was what she thought of when she thought of such things.

      And while she’d been relieved to end her engagement to Emerson, she hadn’t been wary of marriage itself. Not that she was sure that was what Justin had in mind, of course. Nor was she sure how it would work out if it was. Not with careers that had them currently living with most of the country between them. Twenty-three hundred plus miles was at the upper end of geographically undesirable.

      The only thing she really was sure of was that Justin wouldn’t wait forever.

      Alex shivered.

      She had to be having a flashback to the last time she’d been here, when they’d been trying so desperately to disprove the assumption that Rainy, their beloved Rainy, had fallen asleep at the wheel and died in the ensuing accident. Why else would she feel a sudden chill, despite the fact that the temperature was a balmy, Phoenix-in-spring seventy-two?

      She pulled the rental car into the left lane to pass a slow-moving gardening truck. Someone behind her had the same thought and also pulled to the left. She glanced at the truck as she passed, noting the lawnmowers in the back, and wondering about the people who insisted on having a lawn in this climate.

      She smiled at the driver as she passed, silently congratulating him for managing to make a living at being an anachronism.

      She eased back into the right lane so she could make the turn up ahead that would

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