She got in her car, started the engine, and drove off, waving at me in the rearview mirror. I waved back until I knew she couldn’t see me. I stood there just letting the last few minutes sink in; I wasn’t sure how a promising therapy session had turned into a fight, and then into a kiss and two dates, but for once I didn’t poke at it. I took the win and got in my car. I’d talk to Charleston. He’d do his best to see that I got to see Reggie tomorrow. No guarantees on a case like this, but he’d do his best. Heck, everyone on the squad would help me see her tomorrow, at least all the regulars that knew Reggie, and the new people wouldn’t interfere. We actually had more successfully married couples in our unit than most of the other special squads. Charleston tried to run a family-friendly shop, and Ravensong as his second was seriously into happy wife, happy life. She and Louie had been together twenty-five years and married as soon as it was legal for same-sex couples to marry. Since they couldn’t get married any sooner, I counted our unit as having three couples that had passed the twenty-five-year mark and were all still blissful together. For the first time in months, I prayed that Reggie and I would celebrate our seventh anniversary with me back in the house with her and Connery. You can pray for anything, but I try not to pray if I think it will take a miracle unless it’s life and death. Being without my family felt like I was dying, but I wasn’t; I was miserable, but I wasn’t dying. Today I let myself pray that the talk tomorrow would go well, and the date would go better. We had two months until our anniversary; that didn’t seem like it needed a miracle, not if Reggie and I both wanted it. I hoped we did. I prayed we did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lila was waiting for me at the head of the stairs inside the door that gave us the privacy of the landing, because almost everyone else but Charleston and me took the elevator. I must have looked surprised, because she said, “I wanted to be sure and talk to you before Adam Thornton found me again.”
I frowned at her, confused now instead of surprised. “Why are you hiding from Adam? I know he can be annoying, but he’s not that bad.”
“He wants the evidence that we took from the parents’ house.”
“He is the medical examiner’s assistant, so she probably sent him.”
“I have Dr. Trent’s permission to show you the items before they go to her lab.”
I widened my eyes at that. “Why would the evidence go to the ME anyway?” I asked.
“Because it’s biologicals, and anything that came off a living person or being goes to the ME now.”
“Unless it needs special magical protection,” I said.
Lila nodded. “Then it goes to the most appropriate authorized body, or organization, or personage that is best capable of dealing with it in a safe and sane manner that does not endanger themselves, the public, or any property or person that might be impacted by said evidence.”
“Wow, I’m impressed that you’ve got that memorized,” I said.
“I didn’t, but I do after Mr. Adam Thornton has repeated it to me like a hundred times while we waited on you.”
“If you have the ME’s permission, why is he here?” I asked.
“Because she sent him along to make sure that the evidence goes to her lab after we’ve investigated it fully,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“That means we have time to look at it magically,” I said.
“By our definition of ‘investigated fully,’ yes, but Adam’s interpretation is a lot different from ours.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am hiding in a stairwell, Havoc, hoping I can sneak you in to look at the evidence without Adam Thornton hanging all over us.”
“He’s persistent, but he doesn’t interfere with us doing our jobs.”
“He’s persistent with you, but he’s always worse with me.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She shook her head hard enough to make her ponytail bounce. “It doesn’t matter right now; what does matter is you getting to see the evidence before Adam pillages it.” She crossed her arms, her face far more unhappy than I expected from dealing with any coworker. I felt like I was missing something but didn’t know what question to ask. For a second it felt like being back with Reggie, trying to figure out what women want, or what one woman in particular wants, or means. I closed my eyes and took a few deep, even breaths, trying to find my balance, trying to find me after therapy had ripped me open. Okay, after dealing with Reggie had made me deliriously happy, miserable, and confused.
“Sorry, Havoc, was therapy rough?”
I opened my eyes and shook my head. “The parking lot conversation was hard. She accused me of trying to follow her around to see if she was dating anyone else.”
Lila sighed and closed her eyes as if I’d said a lot more than that. “Annie accused me of that, too.”
“I know I haven’t done it, and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” I said.
“I followed her after she accused me of doing it.”
I must have looked surprised, because she added, “I know my wife, my ex-wife, she’s crazy, but there’s a logic to it. I was pretty sure if she accused me of it, she was worried I would follow her, so I did.”
I didn’t want to ask, but I wanted to know, and she’d brought it up. “You don’t have to answer, but was she?”
“Cheating on me, oh yeah. She’d found this cute brunette working as a barista at one of the coffee shops near her work. If I’d wanted proof, I could have taken plenty of pictures, she wasn’t being careful.”
“Did she want you to find out?” I asked.
Lila shrugged. “Who knows? I don’t think she cheated while we were together, but Annie isn’t a woman who likes to be alone. Once we weren’t living together, I wasn’t surprised she went looking for someone else to sleep over with.”
“Reggie is okay alone; her independence was one of the things that I liked about her.”
“Annie is not independent; she likes someone to take care of her, but then if you take care of her too much she feels smothered.”
“Sounds like a no-win situation,” I said.
Lila just nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“And I’m sorry your marriage is going to shit, too.”
I smiled before I could stop it and told her about Reggie wanting to clear the air tomorrow before our dinner date. By the time I was finished Lila was grinning at me.
“That’s awesome, Havoc, really awesome.”
“Thanks, remind me to talk to Charleston about the time off tomorrow.”
“Will do, now let’s see if we can sneak past Adam and let you see what we found.”
“Come on, Lila, give me a hint, what’s got you so excited?”
“I guess I could say standing next to a stud like you, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
I laughed. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“You’ll see it in a few minutes. Charleston told me not to tell you ahead of time in case it’s not what we think it is; he doesn’t want me to contaminate your expectations or something like that.”