been set up so team leaders would be able to gather background facts on officers loaned out to them from other departments during joint ops. I slowly let out the breath I'd been holding. It was a good first move.
'Church and Wyatt probably bought Torgason off with part of the Bud Light winnings,' I said.
She nodded her agreement. 'We also need more intel on this transit company. Mike Church takes over this little nonprofit, one-bus line from his father, Juan Iglesia, and in less than a year goes out and buys four brand new city buses at a cost of one hundred thousand per. Then he equips them with satellite tracking and hidden infrared cameras-all stuff recommended by Homeland Security for maximum threat assessments. Since this bus company is only chartered to deliver handicapped people and senior citizens to their doctor's appointments or part-time jobs, why do they need all the state-of-the-art security? And why on earth does this little bus line need a transit police department?' All good questions. My panic started to subside.
'Mike Church doesn't come off as much of a social activist, so there's got to be a profit motive hiding somewhere.'
She nodded, her eyes still down on her list. 'One weird thing. Scout's SUV disappeared,' she finally said.
'Disappeared?' I couldn't believe it just disappeared. It was the crime scene in an attempted double murder of two police officers.
'Yeah. For some reason, the Kings County cops who were handling the investigation didn't tag it as part of the crime scene. They just left it in the tow company lot up by Woodville. The insurance company judged it a total. Somebody on that lot must have sold it for cash to pay Scout's six hundred dollar towing and reclamation bill. Only now that the heat's on, nobody's admitting to anything.'
'You're kidding. Didn't anybody from the Kings County Sheriff's Department even go through it and try to find those ought-six slugs? They might be good for a ballistics match if we ever recover a rifle.'
'Nada,' she said. 'It shouldn't have been left in that tow lot in the first place. It should have been in police impound.'
We traded disparaging looks over the ineptitude of small town P. D.'s. 'We have to find that car,' I said.
'Yeah, but it was a cash transaction and with nobody talking and no paper trail, that's gonna be a long shot. Probably already being stripped for parts, so let's saddle up and get started.' She picked up her purse.
'You weren't planning on starting tonight, were you?'
'No. But I've been sitting here thinking that you're looking very hot over there. Maybe we should go check out that little place we passed down the road. The Seaside Motel.'
'Damn. Let me get the check,' I said, fumbling for my wallet.
After I paid the bill, we made it to the motel in four minutes. I had my coat off before the room was unlocked. Alexa went directly into the bathroom and closed the door while I scurried around, snapping the faded curtains closed, dimming the lights, and finding a good music station on the clock radio, acting like a teenager about to get laid for the first time.
When Alexa didn't come out of the bathroom I walked to the door and knocked. 'Everything okay?'
'No.' I heard a sob.
I opened the door and found her seated on the edge of the tub, fully dressed, head in her hands, crying.
'Change of heart?'
'I just…'
'Come here,' I said, holding my arms out for her.
We walked to the bed, sat down. I held her, then rubbed her tight shoulders.
'What's wrong with me?' She asked, her voice a little more than a whisper.
'You got shot in the head. It was bound to make a difference.'
Alexa buried her face in my chest, and while I continued to rub her back, I slowly began to feel her relax and respond. Then she kissed me. It was our first real kiss in months.
'Oh, Shane, I do love you so much,' she whispered.
During the next half-hour we followed through on her offer, but it wasn't much of an experience. In fact, it was remote and stiff. I didn't seem to know what to do with my hands. The clumsy left side of my body made the whole thing feel awkward. We coupled with difficulty. Alexa was not ready, but seemed strangely resigned. Resignation is my least favorite sexual response, so I stopped. Although I was inside her, neither one of us were enjoying it.
'Please, finish,' she said, her voice on the edge of tears.
'Alexa, you have to want me as much as I want you.'
'But what if I can't? What if that part of me is gone?'
'Then we'll just find a way to deal with it.'
'Another girlfriend?'
'She was never a girlfriend,' I said softly. 'She was my partner, and now she's in ICU.'
We lay on the bed, naked and cold. I cuddled her closer, and slowly she came to life, drawing me deeper inside her. My bad left hand fumbled like it belonged to someone else. I was trying to hold her close, but my energy was spent and my spirit low. Slowly, she started caressing me until I began finding pleasure. I hoped I was giving some back. I finally released inside her and we lay still for a moment engulfed in a sense of sexual failure. Alexa got up and went into the bathroom without speaking.
When she returned, she slipped under the covers, turned, and smiled at me. 'Was it as good for you as it was for me?' she said, trying to make light of what had been a pretty dismal performance.
I looked over and saw the mischievous, reckless smile that, in the last week, I had come to fear. 'I check to the high hand,' I said cautiously.
'We always used to be great lovers, but we had a lot of practice. We're just out of practice, so we'll just have to get after that.'
'Sounds good,' I said.
'We'll keep trying and we'll get it all back, honey. I promise.'
'Deal,' I said softly.
We spent the night in the motel. It felt good to be out of the hospital, but as I fell asleep I reflected back on what had just happened. I started to feel disappointment, even shame that my sexual prowess failed to give my wife pleasure. I knew she had only made love to me out of a sense of marital obligation. But then I remembered the sexy gleam in her eye when she first suggested it across the table at our candlelight dinner and knew I was looking at it the wrong way. Whatever had just happened, it had at least been done for the right reasons. I closed my eyes and promised myself from now on, I had to keep my male ego out of the equation.
Sometimes I'm a complete jackass.
Chapter 37
Thenext morning when we returned to the hospital the doctors agreed to let me spend some time in Secada's room. I met with her father and mother for a moment before going inside.
'My daughter, we work for her college education,' Hector said in halting English, his dark eyes burrowing holes in my self-esteem while her mother looked down at her Bible. 'Many hours in fields, many nights in restaurants. She is the first in our family for degree.'
'I know.'
'Cal State University in Los Angeles,' Hector said, still searching my face for a response. 'She study criminology, graduated in top ten percent.'
'Yes. She's very smart.'
'In the police, she has many partners. Many jobs. This is first time for her to be hurt.'
Facts issued as a challenge. What he was really saying was, 'After all this, look what you let happen.' I didn't have much of an argument because Secada was my partner and she'd gone down. I'd been unable to protect her.
Hector couldn't seem to find anything more he wanted to say to me.
I finally said, 'I'm sorry I let this happen.'
Hector gave no sign that he accepted my apology.
