I awoke just before the alarm went off, no recollection of a dream, but my face damp with tears.
“Don’t start this shit,” I said to myself, blew my nose, and tried to pull myself together.
There was a soft knock at the door, and when I opened it Cassidy stood leaning against the jamb. He studied my face just a little too long to carry off his pretense of not noticing the tears. “Got a minute?” he said. “I’d like to talk to you.”
I nodded.
“Let’s go out back,” he suggested.
We walked through a side door to the backyard, avoiding the crowd in Bea’s house. Cassidy told me that my sister-in-law had returned; Mike had stayed home with the kids.
I heard motors running and saw that the front yard was bathed in light.
“Local TV news,” Cassidy said. “Hoping to get a reaction from the family. I think they’re going to have to be satisfied with a shot of the outside of the house. Ol’ Bea is pretty tough.”
“Yes, she’s had to be.”
He waited, and when I didn’t say more, he kept walking. We sat down on a couple of chairs on the back porch.
He stretched out his legs and sighed. “So how are we gonna work this out, Irene Kelly?”
“Work what out?”
“You seem to be feeling a little fenced in,” he said.
“More than a little. But I understand. You’ve got your job to do, I’ve got mine.”
“As a reporter?”
“No. As Frank’s wife.”
He tapped the tips of his fingers together, then said, “The conversation with Mrs. Szal was recorded, you know.”
“Don’t you think she should have been made aware of that?”
“Probably,” he agreed. “Why don’t you tell her that you knew we were legally recording calls on this line, but you failed to tell her?”
The truth was, I had thought only in terms of incoming calls, although I should have known better.
“Well, now you know why I had a ‘hankerin’ for a NeHi,” I said.
He smiled. “You wake up cranky, don’t you?”
“You haven’t even seen the free preview for cranky yet,” I said.
“A chill just went down my spine,” he drawled lazily. “Look, how about letting Pete go out there with you? He doesn’t have to go inside the house. Just let him go along. That way, I don’t get shot at dawn for letting you wander all over Bakersfield on your own.”
“I’m supposed to be in mortal danger from someone who teaches people how to stop stuttering?” I asked.
“Someone who has been in communication with Ryan and Neukirk. Who speaks of them as her ‘favorites.’ ”
I sighed. “What’s the alternative? A patrol car tailing me?”
“Yep.”
“You’re a devious son of a bitch, Cassidy. You know I won’t refuse Pete a chance to feel useful. And you know I won’t try to give him the slip, because you know I won’t want him to… well, right now, he doesn’t need to feel like he’s failed at anything.”
The smile built up to a full-fledged shit-eating grin.
An hour later Rachel, who had come along for the ride, was laughing and congratulating Pete, who was gleefully ditching the last of the handful of reporters who had tried to follow us away from Bea’s house.
I was wondering what it would take for me to do the same to Cassidy.
21
THE SZAL HOUSE WAS OFF a small rural road, near a vineyard east of the city. It was a modest stucco home on a large lot. Pete pulled into the gravel driveway, took a look at the darkened house, and said, “Looks like they’ve turned in for the night.”
“No, they’re night owls,” I said. “They told me they might be in the backyard.”
“Cassidy said to let you go alone,” Pete said, “but I don’t know….”
“She’ll be fine,” Rachel said.
“This may take a while,” I said, not for the first time.
“We’ll find something to do. Don’t get worried if the windows are steamed up,” Pete said.
Rachel laughed.
“I’ll pound on the hood before I open the car door,” I said. I got out and walked to the front of the house. No one answered the doorbell. I walked to the back gate. Peering over it, I couldn’t see anyone, but softly glowing solar yard lights lit a path between the house and fence. “Hello?” I called.
