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IAG wouldn 't be certain where the Rampart commander's loyalties would lie.
Karen tugged at his arm and grinned at him. 'We can 'tjust stand here. Come on!'
The Division had set up a soft-drink table in front of a cement wall painted with the Academy symbol and the LAPD s motto, To Protect and to Serve. When Pike was a recruit, his class had been doing physical training on the track field one hot winter afternoon as their PT instructor shouted that unless they got the lead out of their asses they wouldn't befit to protect dog shit or serve hot beer. A black kid named Elihu Gimble cracked that he 'd be happy to serve, but only after coffee and donuts, and the entire class had had to run an extra five miles. Five months later, when Gimble was a probationary officer on patrol in East L.A., he 'd been shot in the back by an unknown assailant while responding to a see-the-woman call. The shooter was never identified.
Pike led Karen to the table, and together they stood in line for their drinks. Karen kept her arm looped in his, and before long she was chatting with everyone around them. Pike admired her. Whereas he rarely spoke, she spoke constantly. Whereas he felt obvious, and apart from others, she fit easily with an openness that was quickly returned. By the time they had their sodas, she had found another couple with whom to sit, a pale woman with twin boys whose husband was a uniformed officer named Casey. Casey worked the evening shift, and Pike had never met him.
They were spreading their blankets when Paulette Wozniak appeared behind them. 'Hello, Joe. Is this the young lady we 've heard so much about? '
Karen flashed the wide, friendly smile and put out her hand. 'Karen Garcia. And I can't imagine Joe saying very much about anything, but if he's been talking about me, I'm glad. That's a good sign'
The two women shook, Paulette returning her own smile, which was slow and real and pure in a way that made Pike think of a clean, deep pool. 'Paulette Wozniak. I'm married to Joe's partner, Abel. Everyone calls him Woz.' She pointed
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across the field to the trees beyond where Homicide was burning the mystery meat. Abel Wozniak and a little girl were just coming through the trees. Pike guessed that Woz had been showing his daughter the obstacle course. 'That's him with the bow legs and the girl.'
Paulette was eight years older than Joe, with short light brown hair and soft brown eyes and even teeth. Her fair skin was beginning to line around the eyes and the corners of her mouth. She didn 't seem bothered by the lines, and Pike liked that. She rarely wore makeup, and Pike liked that, too. The lines made her face interesting and knowing.
Paulette touched Joe's arm. 'Could I borrow you for a minute, Joe? 'Sheput the smile on Karen. 'I won't keep him long.'
Karen said, 'I'llfinish spreading the blanket.'
Joe followed Paulette onto the track, and noticed that she stood so that she could see her husband. Her smile was gone, and her brow knitted into a tight line. Woz had stopped to speak with a black couple. She said, 'Joe, is something going on with Woz? '
Pike didn't answer.
'Why is he working so many extra shifts? '
Pike shook his head, and felt himself falling inward.
She frowned at him, and he thought that he might do anything to stop that frown, but he didn't know what to do. He didn't think it his place to tell her things that Woz should tell her. She said, 'Please don't play the voiceless man with me, Joe. I'm scared, and I'm worried about him.'
'I don't know what to tell you.'Not a lie. He didn't.
Her eyes went back to her husband, and she crossed her arms. 'I think he has a girlfriend.' She looked back at Joe again, and there was a lot of strength in her now. The strength made him want to hold her, but as soon as he realized that, he took a half-step away. She didn't notice. 'I want to know if he has someone.'
'I don't know anything about a girlfriend, Paulette.'
'Even when he doesn 't work an extra shift, he leaves the
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house. When he's home, he's always pissed off. That isn 't like him.'
Pike glanced over at Woz, and saw that he was looking at them. The black couple moved on, butWozniak stood there. He wasn 't smiling. Pike glanced over at the drink tables again, and saw two men he didn 't recognize speaking with the Division commander. Behind them, another man was aiming a long-lens camera at them. The camera might 've been pointing at the DC and the two strangers, but Pike knew it was pointing at him. Getting a shot of him speaking with Wozniak's wife. Even here at the Division picnic, they were watching.
Joe said, 'Wouldyou like me to speak with him? I'll talk to him if you want.'
Paulette didn't say anything for a time, and then she shook her head. When she touched Joe's arm again, he felt something electrical tingle through his arms and legs, and he forced himself deeper into the pool. Even more calm. More still. She said, 'Thankyou, Joe, but no. This is mine to deal with. Please don't tell him that I mentioned this toyou.'
'Iwon 't.'
'He's coming now. I'll tell him that I was inviting you and your girlfriend to the house. Is that all right? '
'Yes.'
'In fact, it's true. Because you are invited.'
Paulette Wozniak squeezed his arm, her hand lingering dry and warm, and then she walked across the field to meet her husband.
Joe Pike stood on the track, watching her walk away, and wished that the secrets they had weren 't about this.
Karen smoothed the edges of the blanket, and listened to Marybeth Casey carry on about her twins (one of whom was a bed wetter), her husband, Walter (who didn't enjoy being an officer, but night school was just too much for them right now), and how these Division picnics were always such fun because you got to meet new people.
As Marybeth went on to describe the fibroid tumors in her left breast, Karen found that she was no longer listening. She
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was watching Joe and Paulette Wozniak, together on the running track. Karen told herself that she was being entirely too Latin at the flush of fear that surged through her when Paulette put her hand on Joe's arm. They were friends. She was married to Joe's partner, and she was so much older than Joe.
Karen stared at Joe so intently that her vision seemed to telescope, zooming close to his face, so that every pore seemed to stand out, every nuance exaggerated. Joe was the most difficult man to read she 'd ever known. He was so enclosed that she thought he must've put himself in some small secret box that he kept deep within himself. That was part of why she was attracted to him, she knew. She 'd read enough psychology texts to know that much. That she was drawn by the mystery, that some great and needing part of her wanted to open that box, to find his secret self.
She loved him. She 'd even told her friends that she loved him, though she hadn 'tyet told Joe. He was
