“What arrangement exactly?” Jessie asked, trying to sound intrigued.
“The deal was: I could have liaisons with men and she could too. I toldher she shouldn’t feel guilty about it because I wouldn’t be jealous.”
“Because you were actually sleeping with other women too?” she said.
“Right,” he confirmed. “Whenever I’d hook up with someone, I’d tell herit was a man. But the truth is that I’m not into guys.”
“What about Philip Blake?” Jessie asked, knowing he’d be suspicious ifshe didn’t bring it up.
“I really did help him up to his room. But I didn’t go in. I don’t knowwhat his intimate interests are. But I know what mine are—women. Especiallywomen like you.”
“Like me?” she asked, trying to look flattered.
In the distance she thought she could hear a siren and silently cursed.She wanted backup but not the cavalry coming in all at once, undermining herdelicate maneuver. Luckily, Ferro seemed oblivious to it.
“Yes, you,” he said. “We could have a really good time without anystrings attached.”
“But your wife is asleep in the house right now!” she exclaimed, hopingshe sounded equally scandalized and titillated.
“She’s so zonked that she wouldn’t hear a thing,” he assured her.
Jessie pursed her lips as she played at considering the idea. Shenoticed that the sirens had faded into the distance and wondered if they werehaving the same trouble finding the place that she had.
“I’m not saying no,” she replied coquettishly. “But wouldn’t that be aviolation of your intermingling policy? The Landers said it was the cardinalrule for the group.”
He smiled, apparently delighted by her hard-to-get routine.
“First of all, you’re not in our group, so it doesn’t count. Andsecondly, it’s more of a guideline than a rule.”
Jessie knew she was at a crossroads. If her suspicion was correct andshe wanted to get confirmation of it from Ferro, she needed to pull the ripcordfast. The guy wasn’t thinking with his upper half right now. He was primed toaccidentally reveal whatever sins he may have committed. But he wasn’t going todo that once he heard those sirens, no matter how horny he was.
So she took the leap. Stepping back toward him, she extended her handand he took it. She pulled him toward her and leaned in close, grazing his neckwith her nose, before pulling back slightly and looking into his eyes.
“Was it just a guideline with Gabby?” she whispered.
She knew immediately. His eyes went wide in shock, unable to hide thetruth of his indiscretion.
“How did you—we just—” He was fumbling for the words.
Now came the dangerous part. It was clear that he’d slept with her. Butwhat else had he done.
“Did you know she was pregnant?” she demanded, studying his face,waiting for his involuntary reaction. “Did she say she was going to have thebaby? Threaten to tell her husband? Tell your wife?”
When his eyes narrowed into slits, she knew she had the answer to thatquestion too. And she saw from the way his mouth curled into a twisted grimacethat he hadn’t been enthused about the news, apparently unhappy enough to graba steak knife. Just then the sirens returned. This time, she could tell that heheard them too.
His eyes widened again as he turned to look at the door. With himdistracted, Jessie used the opportunity to take a large step back, creating afew feet of distance between them. She started to turn, ready to run outside tothe safety of the advancing squad cars. But then an unexpected thought shotthrough the anxiety: what about Melissa?
If Jessie ran out now, she was leaving the woman alone and vulnerablein a house with a man who had killed someone less than twelve hours earlier. Ifhe was willing to snuff out a life just to protect his secret, what was hewilling to do to his wife to protect himself from arrest? That was assumingthat Melissa really was asleep; that he hadn’t already done something awful toher. Jessie turned back around to face him.
“It’s over, Rich,” she said, though it most certainly wasn’t. But bysaying so, she hoped that she could defuse the situation; that he might justconfess and offer his wrists to be cuffed.
Ferro’s attention returned to her. His teeth were grinding. Sheimagined this was how he looked in Gabby’s bedroom that night. He clenched hisfists tight. She could sense that he wanted to pounce.
Jessie did a quick calculation. Though he didn’t have a knife thistime, he was still an imposing presence. He had about four inches and fiftypounds on her and looked like he was in good shape. With the element ofsurprise she might have been able to take him. But under the currentcircumstances, she didn’t like her odds. So she tried to change them.
“I know you’re angry, Rich,” she said talking slowly, stalling forthose sirens to get louder and closer. “But don’t make a bad decision here.Gabby’s death was a crime of passion. You were drunk and panicked. You might beable to plead down. But you’re not drunk now. And I’m LAPD. Harming me is deathpenalty stuff.”
“No it’s not,” he hissed, taking a small step toward her. “Rememberwhat you said to get us to talk to you? You’re not LAPD. You’re a civilianconsultant. It’s not the same thing.”
The sirens didn’t seem to be getting any closer. She wondered if theywere just doing doughnuts in the cul-de-sac out front. She took another stepbackward, getting into a defensive stance, even as she tried to stall one moretime.
“A confession would really help you,” she said. “I’ve dealt with a lotof people in your
