Abandon - Carla Neggers [70]
“Special Agent Kowalski, Special Agent Rook,” she said, stretching out her legs. “If you’re looking for Cal Benton, he went that way.” She pointed toward the breezeway. “He’s got about a minute’s head start. He must have seen you, because we were having this nice conversation about three-legged puppies and—”
“I’ll go,” T.J. said, heading off at a light run.
Rook sat next to Mackenzie on the bench. “You look hot, Deputy Stewart.”
“I am hot. Cal hogged the shade.”
“Get your stitches out?”
“I did. Before you know it, I’ll be able to run, jump and shoot without pain.” Feeling sweaty, she looked up at the sky, but it was unchanged, no sign of the front moving through. “Cal’s trying to manipulate me. I can’t figure out why.”
“To save his own skin, probably.”
“I think he enjoys it.” She glanced at Rook, who didn’t seem to be sweating at all. “Did the doorman tell you we were out here?”
“You should have seen T.J.’s face when he mentioned a redhead,” Rook said.
“Cal called me. I didn’t just turn up. Why are you two here?”
“To follow up on last night. Time to get some answers from Benton.” Rook settled back on the bench. “I’d have told you T.J. and I were headed over here if you hadn’t sneaked out this morning while I was in the shower.”
She shrugged, pushing back a wave of heat that had nothing to do with the temperature in the courtyard. “You didn’t have the kind of doughnuts I like.”
“I didn’t have any doughnuts.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” She pointed toward the ornamental grasses. “There are spiders in there. Big ones. Of course, you’re from this area, so you’re probably used to them.”
“Mac—”
“Cal wanted to talk to me about a private matter.”
Rook leaned closer. “What private matter?”
She told him about Cal and his woman-of-the-moment at the lake, and her conclusion that there’d been other incidents. Rook listened without interrupting, and when she finished, she said, “It’s sordid behavior, but not illegal.”
“Did you recognize the woman he was with?” Rook asked.
“No.”
“How long has Cal known you saw them together?”
“Since I moved to Washington—about two weeks after I saw them. I considered pretending I hadn’t seen anything, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t trust him not to raise the stakes. I figured at least if he knew he’d been caught, he’d knock it off.”
Rook didn’t respond right away.
“What?” she asked.
“Are you sure you didn’t feel violated yourself? You grew up on that lake. Judge Peacham’s been a strong figure in your life—”
“Sure. I felt violated, too. So?” But she pressed ahead, not wanting to delve into her childhood on the lake. She opened up the sketch. “Cal now thinks our guy looks familiar.”
“Do you believe him?” Rook asked.
Mackenzie shrugged. “I don’t know. It could be more manipulation, but it doesn’t make sense that he’d lie. It doesn’t make sense he’d take a woman to Beanie’s lake house, either.”
“Why not? It’s quiet, isolated. Your parents are in Ireland. Most of the other people out there would be tourists. And if you like the idea of secretly sticking it to your soon-to-be-ex-wife—”
“That’s a sick way of thinking.”
“Who else might know about Cal’s flings?” Rook asked.
“Gus, maybe. He looks after the place when Beanie’s not there. But I haven’t said anything to him—to anyone except Cal, and now you.”
T.J. returned, not even remotely winded. “He took off. We can try him at his office.”
“He wasn’t dressed for the office,” Mackenzie said. “Of course, it’s Friday. I suppose he could stop in. He didn’t tell me where he was going.”
“I’ll wait in the lobby, where it’s air-conditioned and there’s cover if there’s a tornado,” T.J. said.
The bench was starting to feel very hard, but Mackenzie figured she’d let Rook and T.J. be on their way, then be on hers. But Rook didn’t move. She glanced at him. “Thinking?”
“Yeah. About last weekend at the lake. Did you put me in the room Cal and his brunette used?”
“I don’t know which room they used. I assume