Kisscut

'I'm gonna call Brad in off patrol,' Jeffrey said. 'I want to talk to him as soon as I can and see what he says about Fine.'

'You think Fine's the one who did this to Jenny?'

Jeffrey tucked his hands into his pockets. He could not imagine anyone harming a child, but the fact remained that someone had. 'We need to find out if Fine was on that retreat during Christmas.'

'Maybe I could-' Lena stopped as the back door was thrown open with a loud bang.

Jeffrey turned just as Sara closed the door. He could tell from the way she walked up the hall that she was angry as hell.

About ten feet away from them, Sara demanded, 'What were you doing in there? How could you do that to her?'

Lena dropped her hands to her side. Jeffrey saw her fists clench as Sara shortened the distance between them.

Lena moved away, so that her back was against the wall. She kept her hands clenched and her voice was strong when she said, 'I was doing my job.'

'Your job?' Sara shot back, getting in Lena 's face. Sara had a good six inches on Lena, and she was using them to her advantage. 'Is it your job to torture a woman who's just lost her kid? Is it your job to show her those pictures?'

Sara's voice cracked on this last word. 'How could you do that to her, Lena? How could you make those pictures the last memory she'll ever have of her daughter?'

Jeffrey said, 'Sara-' just as Sara leaned in and whispered something in Lena 's ear. He could not hear what she had said, but Lena 's reaction was immediate. Her shoulders dropped, and she reminded Jeffrey of a kitten that had been picked up by the scruff of its neck.

Sara saw this, and he could see the immediate guilt on her face. She put her hand over her mouth, as if she could keep the words in. 'I'm sorry,' she said to Lena. 'I am so sorry.'

Lena cleared her throat, looking down at the floor. 'It's okay,' she said, though clearly it was not.

Sara must have realized that she was still crowding Lena, because she stepped back. ' Lena, I'm sorry,' she repeated. 'I had no right to say that.'

Lena held up her hand to stop Sara. She took a breath, but did not let it go. Instead, she said, 'I'll be in the car when you want to go.'

The comment was meant for Jeffrey, he realized, and he told Lena, 'Okay. Good.' He fumbled for his keys and held them out to her, but she did not take them. Instead, she extended her hand, palm up, waiting for him to drop them.

'Okay,' Lena said, holding the keys in her fist. She did not look at Jeffrey or Sara again. She stared at the floor, even as she walked down the hallway. Her posture was still slack, and she had an air of being completely defeated about her. Whatever Sara had said to the woman had cut to the bone.

Jeffrey turned to Sara, not understanding what had just happened, or why. He asked, 'What the hell did you just say to her?'

Sara shook her head, putting her hand over her eyes. 'Oh, Jeff,' she said, still shaking her head. 'The wrong thing. The completely wrong thing.'

Chapter Seven

Lena sat in Jeffrey's Lincoln town car, her body tight as a drum. Her breathing came in pants, and she felt slightly light-headed, as if she might pass out. She was sweating, and not just from being trapped in the hot car. Her whole body felt lit up, as if she had touched a live electrical wire.

'Bitch,' she breathed, thinking of Sara Linton. 'Stupid bitch,' she repeated, as if calling her this would take away what had been said.

Sara's words still echoed in Lena 's head: Now you know what it's like to hurt somebody.

Hurt, Sara had said, but Lena knew what she had meant. Now you know what it's like to rape somebody.

'Goddamn it!' Lena screamed as loud as she could, trying to replace the sound. She slammed her hand against the dashboard, cursing Sara Linton, cursing this stupid job.

Back in the interrogation room, drilling Dottie Weaver like that, for the first time in forever, Lena had started to feel human again, and Sara had taken that away with one simple sentence.

'Dammit!' Lena screamed again, her voice hoarse from the effort. She wanted to cry, but there were no tears left, just a seething anger. Every muscle in her body was tense, and she felt like she could lift the car up and flip it over if she wanted to.

'Stop it, stop it, stop it,' Lena told herself, trying to calm down. She had to be okay with this when Jeffrey got to the car, because he would tell Sara-he was fucking her, for God's sake- and Lena did not want Sara Linton to know her words had struck so deep.

Lena snorted a laugh at the thought of Sara's lame apology. As if that made a difference. Sara had said exactly what she meant. The only reason she apologized was she felt bad for saying it out loud. On top of being a bitch, she was a coward.

She took another deep breath, trying to get herself together. 'It's okay,' Lena whispered to herself. 'It doesn't matter. Nothing matters.'

After a couple of minutes, Lena felt better. Her heart was not beating so hard, and her stomach seemed to unclench. She kept reminding herself that she was strong, that she had been through worse than this and survived. What Sara Linton thought did not matter in the big scheme of things. What mattered was that Lena could do her job. She had done her job. They had gotten some solid leads to follow in that interview, something that would not have happened if Sara Linton had been in charge.

Lena looked at her watch, then did a double take. She had not realized what time it was. Hank would be wondering what was taking her so long. There was no way she could go to church with him now.

Jeffrey's car had a cell phone mounted into the console, and Lena leaned over, cranking the engine so she could use the phone. She turned on the air conditioner and cracked the window to let some of the heat out of the car. The phone took its time powering up, and she glanced at the station, this time to make sure Jeffrey was not coming out.

Hank picked up on the first ring. 'Hello?'

'It's me,' she said. There was a pause from his end, and she realized what her voice must sound like. There was a rawness to it, and the edge from her confrontation with Sara was still there. Thankfully, Hank did not ask her what was wrong.

She said, 'I'm not going to be able to make it to church.'

'Oh?' he said, but did not go further.

'I've got to do an interview with Jeffrey,' she told him, even though she did not owe Hank Norton an explanation. 'We're going to be a while, probably. You should go without me.' Lena 's voice went down on the last part of her sentence as she thought about going home and being by herself.

'Lee?' Hank asked, obviously sensing her fear. 'I can stay here for you if you want. You know, just until you get home.'

'Don't be stupid,' she said, aware that her tone wasn't very convincing. 'I'm not a three year old.'