“No.” Jerry gave his former partner a dirty look. He took his first bite of the siu bao, savoring the flavor. “But the thought did cross my mind. If I was single, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”
Torrance snorted. “I’m sure Annie would be happy to know that,” he said, referring to Jerry’s wife. He looked over the selection of food on the table and speared a shrimp roll. “But what if Tao was, say, sixteen years older than you? The same age difference between her and Wolfe? What if she was seventy? Would you still find her attractive?”
Jerry laughed. “That’s not the same thing and you know it. She and Wolfe definitely had an affair. That’s a fact. Sheila admitted it to Morris.”
“It’s only half a fact. She never told him the name of the student.”
“You didn’t see the e-mails. It has to be Wolfe.”
“You mean the e-mails you illegally hacked into?”
“No, the e-mails that I paid someone else to illegally hack into,” Jerry said with his mouth full. “Asshole.”
“I thought you said there was nothing specific in them.”
“Not in so many words, no.”
“You can’t prove anything. People flirt all the time.”
“I can read between the lines, Mike. She told her fiance she had an affair with a student.” Jerry waved to a passing waitress and pointed to their empty teapot. “I’d bet my left nut it was Wolfe.”
“Tao’s a sex addict, isn’t she? God knows how many students she was screwing. Flirty e-mails or not, you need proof. I know you don’t like this guy, but stay objective.” Torrance forked another pot sticker. “I still think the lady took off. There’s just no evidence otherwise. And Gardener’s kind of… big. She could still attract a twentysomething, but she was gonna marry him? I’d have second thoughts, too.”
“That’s mean,” Jerry said, mildly offended. “Morris is a nice guy.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to insult your friend.”
Jerry ignored the jab. “My client is a nice person. Good job, makes a lot of money, lives on the East Side. Used to play for the Packers. He’s a catch.”
“Maybe you should date him.”
“Fuck you.”
They ate in comfortable silence for a minute, then Jerry said, “I’m at a dead end.”
“I figured.” Torrance sighed. “I hate to say it, but I told you so. Tao freaked out, and she walked. I never really thought this would go anywhere-you know I don’t hand you live cases. So you tell Gardener you tried, collect your big fat fee, and go on your merry way. What’s the problem?”
“Speaking of fat fees.” Jerry pulled a small white envelope out of his jacket and slid it across the table. “Here’s your cut. Thanks for the referral. But I’m telling you, something doesn’t feel right about this.”
“Thank you kindly.” Torrance eased the envelope into his shirt pocket. “But don’t think you’re not paying for lunch. I’m not spending my money to eat in this shithole.”
“If I’m buying lunch, you need to do me a favor.”
“Depends.” Torrance’s mouth was full of dumpling.
“Can you run a detailed background check on Wolfe?”
Torrance almost choked. “Are you nuts? That would be a violation of Wolfe’s privacy. He’s not officially a suspect in her disappearance because she’s not officially missing. And you want me to tap into the department’s resources to find out who he is? Why don’t you do it?”
“I can access only so much. That’s why I called it a favor, moron.”
Torrance stifled a belch. “I’ll see what I can do. No promises.”
They ate in silence for a moment.
“So how’s the investigation into the St. Clair murder going?” Jerry asked. “Any juicy details you can share with me?”
“You fishing for inside info?”
“Always.”
Torrance wiped his mouth with a paper napkin before speaking. “You know she was killed before she was dumped in the water, right?” His voice was low.
“I heard she was stabbed a bunch of times.”
“Forty, to be exact.” Torrance glanced around. “But according to the autopsy results, she was actually dead before that. The fucker sliced her throat, cut her carotid. She likely bled out in three, four minutes. You won’t see this in the paper. Not until we catch the guy.”
“So the stabbing was postmortem. That’s a lot of rage.”
“Oh, yeah.” Torrance nodded, sipping his tea. “Somebody hated her. Or loved her.”
“Or both,” Jerry said.
CHAPTER 31
“I ’m starving,” Sheila said when Ethan entered the room.
And she was. She’d spent the entire day watching chick movies on the WE channel- Pretty Woman was on now-and she hadn’t seen Ethan since early that morning. Her stomach growled as if to punctuate her words.
Ethan reached into his satchel and pulled out a plastic bag knotted at one end. He tossed it to her on the bed, where she caught it with both hands. She peeked inside. Half a roast beef sub on whole wheat, hold the mayo. Good.
“Six inches enough?” he said.
She gave an impish grin. “Usually. But it depends on what the guy does with it.”
Her joke brought a small smile to his face. Reaching into his bag again, he tossed her a bottle of Diet Coke. It landed in front of her on the crumpled blanket. She almost couldn’t remember what it felt like to eat a proper meal at a table.
“Did you eat?” She muted the television and sat cross-legged on the mattress. She twisted the plastic cap on the soda and it hissed. Still sealed. He was no longer drugging her.
“Not hungry.”
“Want half my sub?”
“I would think three inches would be supremely unsatisfying,” he said, and she laughed because she was supposed to.
He was still a monster, and she was still kidnapped, but she was making progress, and she wasn’t about to do or say anything to change that. Things had improved significantly over the last few days and she didn’t want it to regress. She had free rein of the basement, no more chains, no more handcuffs. She was allowed to use the toilet by herself and take a shower. Ethan had even brought her a few books to read-romance novels, not her thing, but better than nothing-and they were on the nightstand.
It was bearable. But she still had a lot of work to do.
He slumped on the leather sofa, seeming completely out of energy. His eyes were lost inside the dark circles surrounding them, and he hadn’t shaved in days. She watched as he stifled a yawn.
She took a bite of the sandwich. He’d remembered to ask for extra cucumbers and green peppers this time. “Yummy,” she said. “Thank you. Let me know if you want some.”
She had learned it was better to pretend things were normal, that she wasn’t being held against her will, if she wanted things to stay smooth between them. Ethan was still wary, but he was more engaged and more willing to talk. The gun still had a home in the waistband of his jeans, but he no longer kept his hand constantly poised over the butt to remind her of it. Getting it away from him entirely was her next goal.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said.
“A surprise?” She feigned curiosity, though her stomach tightened at the word. She put her sandwich down and wiped her mouth with shaky hands. The last surprise had been a necklace belonging to a dead girl and a wall full of dismembered corpses. Ethan reached into his satchel again and his demeanor perked slightly. He pulled out several items, reciting the names of each as he laid them neatly on the cushion of the leather couch. “Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, moisturizer, facial soap, body lotion, shower puff, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant. Even
