”Who killed this one here?“ Byrd asks, gesturing at the body on the ground.
”I did,“ says the chief.
”Contact wound, looks like.“
”It was a hostage situation.“
Byrd nods, then turns to me, his eyes boring into mine. ”You got one, too?“
”That’s right.“
”Lucky, huh?“
”I don’t feel too lucky, Sheriff. And I’m about to go home. Do you need me for anything?“
”Got a couple questions for you.“
”I can pretty much fill you in,“ Logan says, tacitly claiming the crime scene for his department.
Byrd ignores him. ”It’s pretty late, Mr. Cage. What were you doing here with Mia Burke at this hour? She’s still in high school, isn’t she?“
”That’s right.“
”Does her mother know she’s here with you?“
”My mother knows I’m with Mr. Cage,“ Mia says, stepping up to us.
Byrd smirks. ”So what were you two doing here? Is this like Dr. Elliott and the Townsend girl?“
Hot blood rushes to my face. ”You’ve got no right to say that to us.“
The sheriff snorts and looks over at his men, who are gathering to watch our exchange. ”It’s my job to get to the bottom of this mess, ain’t it?“
”Actually, I believe that’s Chief Logan’s job. And since he just saved our lives while you were sleeping at home, I’m not too well disposed toward you and your bullshit just now.“
Sheriff Byrd pales. ”You don’t talk to me that way, smartass.“
”I didn’t hear anything,“ Chief Logan says quietly. ”Why don’t we let these two be on their way and concentrate on the work at hand?“
Sheriff Byrd hikes up his trousers and leans in close to me. ”This is where Avery’s staying, ain’t it?“
”That’s right.“
”Is the girl helping you with the case?“
”She’s working for us, yes. As a runner, basically. A gopher.“
”Is that right, Miss Burke?“
Mia nods uncertainly.
”Are they paying you anything?“
Mia looks worriedly at me. ”No. I’m doing it because I believe Dr. Elliott is innocent.“
The sheriff snickers. ”You’re one of the few.“
”All right, that’s it,“ I say. ”You want to ask more questions, you arrest us.“
Byrd looks as though he’s considering it.
Chief Logan takes a single step, but it’s a big one. He places himself directly between me and the sheriff. ”Get going, Penn,“ he says. ”Call me tomorrow morning.“
”Thanks again, Chief.“ I take Mia by the arm and lead her toward the corridor that runs out to Main Street. Then I stop and turn back to Logan. ”I don’t have a car.“
Logan motions to one of his patrolmen. ”Lee will drop you off.“
”Thanks.“
A young black patrolman detaches himself from a group of cops and walks toward us. Sheriff Byrd stares at me with open fury, but I ignore him. Too much has happened tonight to give a damn about a redneck sheriff and his agenda.
”Follow me, Mr. Cage,“ says the patrolman.
”Thank you.“
The ride to Mia’s house is mostly silent. The young patrolman driving us asks a couple of questions, but his only intent is to learn more about the kind of gun battle he is unlikely to see in this town again.
”How’d you get the guy on the stairs before he shot you?“ he asks. ”He was carrying a Glock, and there was a round in the chamber.“
”I’m not sure. I killed a man like that once before. When I lived in Houston.“
”A burglar?“
Mia is staring at me from her corner of the backseat.
”No,“ I reply, watching her. ”He was the brother of a white supremacist I’d sent to death row. He broke into my house to kidnap my daughter. She was an infant then, and he was actually holding her when I shot him. I was so scared to shoot, I almost let him get out of the house.“
”But you didn’t.“
”No. I was lucky then, too.“
”Sho‘ was,“ says Lee, looking at me in his rearview mirror. ”Man alive.“
The squad car slows, then stops before Mia’s house, a thirty-year-old home in a middle-income subdivision off Liberty Road.
”This it?“ asks Lee.
”Yeah. Thanks.“
He releases the locking mechanism on the rear doors, and we get out.
”I’ll walk you up,“ I tell Mia.
She nods gratefully. After thanking Lee at his window, she starts up the sidewalk.
”I’ll come by tomorrow morning,“ I promise, walking beside her. ”I’ll talk to Meredith and explain what happened.“
”Or try to,“ Mia says, laughing nervously.
”Yeah. I think your Nancy Drew days are over.“
She makes a sound I can’t interpret. ”You lost Kate’s flash drives, didn’t you?“
I nod. ”And her journal.“
”I’m sorry. How badly will that hurt Drew?“
”I was never going to use the journal. But we needed those drives.“
”What about Marko’s flash drive?“
I tap my pants pocket. ”I still have that. Let’s just hope it has something useful on it.“
”And that Lucien can crack it.“
”If he can’t, someone can.“
Mia unlocks her front door and steps through it. She looks into the depths of the house, then back at me. ”Mom’s asleep, thank God. I hope no one hears about everything tonight and decides to wake her up.“
”I think you’ll be okay on that.“
Mia reaches out and pulls my hand until I’m standing inside with her. All I can see clearly are her wide eyes shining in the dark.
”What is it?“ I ask.
”I almost died, didn’t I?“
”You could have,“ I admit. ”And it would have been my fault. If Chief Logan hadn’t been there-“
”Look at me, Penn.“
”I am.“
”I’ve never felt more alive than I do at this moment.“
My palms are still tingling from the aftereffects of the fight at the hotel. But there’s something else happening within me, too. ”I think that’s pretty common in these kinds of situations.“
”I want to kiss you,“ Mia says.
”We talked about this before.“
”I know. I know we can’t have a relationship. I even respect that. I just want this moment, okay?“
Before I can think of a response, she stands on tiptoe, takes my face in her hands, and kisses me full on the mouth. I don’t kiss her back, but neither do I pull away. The truth is, I feel exactly as she does about our brush with death-phenomenally alive to every molecule of existence. And I can’t imagine anything more alive than the swelling mouth pressing against mine. Mia’s lips part slightly, and I feel her tongue brush against my lips. For one moment, I open my mouth and taste her, and in that moment I feel a rush of overwhelming desire, the first few feet of a
