2 Landscape in Scarlet (17 page)

“I can’t believe you’re still here.”

“
And
I don’t think I like that smile.”

“
This isn’t a smile. It’s a grimace.
A
t least it’s stopped raining,” Juliet said
, changing the subject
.

Her moment of humor had fled.
She felt weary and depressed
and was
once again
half-hoping that Garret wouldn’t figure out the mother’s
involvement
in Comstock’s murder
,
though it was probable that the whole family had participated in
one way o
r
another
.

Davis opened the door to the bakery and waved her through. The courtesy wasn’t mocking, at least not mocking of her. He
also
seemed somewhat distracted.
Perhaps he didn’t know what to say now that they were down to the actual meeting.

Davis
waited for her to express a food preference and then
ordered more coffee
and a lemon cupcake
,
and
they
took a table as far from everyone else as they could manage.
It wasn’t hard, the rain and advancing hour had chased most everyone back home
or
to their places of employment.
Only Mrs. Hardwick was left and she was hard of hearing.

“Please don’t think me rude,” Juliet began
as she accepted the coffee
Davis slid across the table
.
She didn’t really want anything else to drink, but the mug was warm
and maybe the coffee would kick ass on her fatigue
.
Later she would pay for it. This late in the day
,
the caffeine
would continue to jump up and down and squeal
excitedly
when she finally tried to sleep.

“But could I please just pass the
official
word and let you go home?”

“Yeah. It’s been a long day and I bet we both want a hot shower
and to see a little less of each other
’
s dirty faces
.”

He nodded.
Davis did a good job of impersonating a normal human
as he considered this
, but in the end he was someone who organized his life around a different belief system that had a strange gravitational pull. He wasn’t an information shuffler like she was, or a wonk. He was an actual field operative, chosen
—
she had come to believe
—
because of visual anonymity and dogged nature. She needed him to go away so that her outside and inside worlds could once again balance.

“Fair enough. Well, I come bearing gifts as well as overtures of peace and love
from the family back east
. It’s a new phone.” Davis reached in his pocket and set the small cell on the table.
“Everyone hopes you’ll be less of a stranger.”

Juliet recognized it. It was a very ordinary phone in all ways but one. That one way was critical though
, and she thanked her boss silently for all that extra training
.

“I
—
”

“Look, just keep it around.
It isn’t from Jerome. It came from our west coast office. Just i
n case. It seems like sometimes you get yourself involved in situations
—
”

“Not voluntarily.”

“No, but does it matter?
I mean this isn’t the first time you’ve found a body. It probably won’t be the last.
”

So, he had read her file and they knew about last summer’s homicide.
She sighed.

“
No, you’re right about that
.
At least, I hope I don’t find more bodies, but I will probably
end up seeing other things and
….
”

“Help out the sheriff or your friends
when they need it
. That’s
worthy because I can see that you are damned good at it and playing on the side of the angels
. If one of those future situations turned out to be something that your old people should know, you have a direct way in. We can also find you in an emergency.
I’m only three hours away.
It’s extra insurance
, a safety net
.”

A safety net made of barbed wire and filled with black widow spiders. She would rather take the fall than jump in it, but nothing would be gained by saying this to Davis.

Juliet picked up the cell
and studied it
. She would remove the special
tracking
chip later. It would be nice to have a phone that she didn’t have to pay for.
She could save on expenses
and
also get rid of Davis.

“Okay
, I’ll keep the phone
. But take the tracker off my car. That was rude and I don’t feel like crawling around to look for it.”

Davis smiled a little.

“Sounds like a fair trade.
By the way, you drive like a crazy woman.
I damn near fell off a cliff.
”

“That’s because I am a crazy woman. You should put that in your report
along with the Green
p
eace thing
.”

“I will.”

He would. And they both knew it wouldn’t matter.
She could worship the devil and be a baby-eating cannibal and it wouldn’t bother anyone if they needed her badly enough.

All she could do was hope that her negatives were too high for casual contact and that nothing dire that suited her skills came along any time soon.

“It’s gorgeous,” Juliet said. Then added hastily
,
“I mean the frame
really makes it look special
.”

Raphael had gotten Elizabeth to
create
a
setting
for her drawing of the creepy oak. It was hanging on the wall right beside Elizabeth’s Monet quilt.

“The frame does it justice,” Raphael said.

“Hm.”

“Do you doubt my judgment?” he asked. “I am, after all, a very famous artist.”

“So you are,” Juliet agreed
and found herself smiling. She had done much of it since Samuel Levy’s arrest. “I guess your opinion matters
after all
.”

“
More than most.
You have your self-defense class tonight?” Raphael asked, changing the subject.
They were both wearing thick sweaters. A week from Thanksgiving, the weather had turned cold.

“Yes. So far both Rose and Carrie are doing really well.
They
are surprisingly willing to beat on things.”

“And you?” he asked.

“Oh, I beat on them too. Just very carefully.”

“Could you take the instructor?” he asked curiously.

Juliet hesitated and then sighed.

“With one arm tied behind my back. Well, if it wasn’t tied tight. My old boss was a great believer in having his people be prepared for any eventuality, though he never considered me for field work. I was too valuable to him in other ways.
Still, he wanted me prepared for anything.
”

And maybe he had known that she needed to feel confident that she could handle anything as a way to cope with being utterly alone.

“You have a fine mind
, Juliet
.”

“And a lack of inclination for drama and tantrums,” she said agreeably.

“He didn’t care that you knew his secrets?” Raphael was usually not so inquisitive
, but Juliet didn’t mind the questions
.
“Coffee?”

“
Thanks
, it’s cold today
.
” She turned away from her drawing.
“You know,
I don’t think he had many
secrets. He was too devoted to work,” she answered
.
“
If he did
have
them
, he hid the
m
from me.”

“
There is a fondness in your voice when you speak of him.
You miss him?”
Raphael poured coffee.

“Kind of. Not enough to go back though
—
not even if he were still alive.
And with him out of the picture, there isn’t a hope in hell
that I would return
.
”

“Do you think they’ll leave you alone now?” Raphael asked.

Juliet shrugged and accepted a mug.

“I hope so. Davis said he would put in his report that I was insane
and had joined Green
p
eace
.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Yes.
Gotta keep my negatives real high.
It may not be enough though. It may come down to making a deal with the devil to keep the deep blue sea away.”

“Does the sea have a name?”

Juliet considered not answering but then gave another shrug.
She wasn’t giving out state secrets and she owed Jerome nothing.

“Jerome Pinter. He’s a power-grubbing whore
who always has an eye to the main chance
. But no one likes him and I still have a few friends in higher places. If the situation gets desperate enough I’ll cut some kind of deal.”

Raphael nodded.

“Esteban is back. He decided to stay away until Halloween was over
and got caught up in another case
.”

“Wise, if cowardly.
Carrie is frightening.
Perhaps I had better sign him up for the self-defense course too.”

Raphael shook his head.

“Like you, I don’t think he needs it.”

About the Aut
h
or

Melanie
Jackson is the author of over 6
0 novels. If you enjoyed this story, please visit Melanie’s author web site at
www.melaniejackson.com
.

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