Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [654]
All he knew now was that it had been only a couple of days, and the twitch, the throbbing, the restlessness had not gone away. It was with him constantly. He just wanted it to go away. And he knew exactly what it would take to make that happen.
On his laptop he clicked over to weather.com. It was raining in Boston, eighty-four degrees and ninety-five percent humidity. He had already decided he’d take the subway when he got there, as he always did when he was a kid. He had only one bag, an oversize computer case, large enough for everything he would need along with a change of clothing. He had confirmed everything, planned out every single detail. By nine o’clock this evening it would be all over with and he would be catching another flight home. And the twitching, the throbbing, the restlessness would be gone.
CHAPTER 54
Washington, D.C.
Gwen Patterson stood at her office window staring out at the Potomac River. Harvey lay next to her desk. Every move she made alerted him, his head up, those watchful brown eyes searching her out, checking on her. Maggie usually complained about his overprotective behavior, but Gwen continued to find it rather endearing and comforting. She wasn’t sure how she would have managed any of this without him.
She had canceled all of her appointments for the day and had already hired a temp who would be here at eight o’clock tomorrow morning when she could resume her business and get on with her life. Tomorrow everything would be back to normal.
Nothing would ever be normal again. Why did she bother trying to fool herself?
A knock at her office door startled her.
“Sorry,” Julia Racine said, staying in the doorway, apologetic enough that Gwen realized she must still look as bad as she felt. “No one was out front.” She stated the obvious as her excuse.
“I decided to close for business today,” Gwen said without leaving her perch at the window. “It seemed the least I could do, considering my office assistant was recently decapitated.” She knew her morbid sense of humor was simply a coping mechanism. She wasn’t sure if Racine would see it that way.
“I talked to Maggie earlier. She asked me to check on you.”
“Did she? I didn’t realize that was a service the District police department provided.” Morbid sense of humor followed by flippant remarks. Was she losing it? Surely she should be able to tell. She was a medical professional, after all.
“Also, I had a few more questions,” Racine said, inching her way farther into the office, but keeping her distance.
“Of course you have more questions.”
“You mind?”
“Would it matter if I did?”
“I could certainly come back later,” Racine told her, still patient, to the point that Gwen might have to call it polite as well. And Gwen wondered what else Maggie may have told the young detective to eke out such patience. Or was this simply some new interrogation tactic Racine was testing out on her?
“Now or later, nothing will have changed.” She turned from the window and came into the room, continuing to stand, but waved at a chair, inviting Racine to sit.
Racine took time to pat Harvey, giving him a rub behind the ears before she chose the chair next to him. By now he recognized Racine and had started to identify her as one of the good guys. Gwen wasn’t convinced that that was such a good idea. But maybe she should trust Harvey’s instincts. The dog hadn’t been wrong yet.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Racine said, but it didn’t look as if she was going to try to force it out of Gwen. She sat back, and instead of waiting for some explanation or confirmation she went on. “At first I thought maybe it was something about your