"Devil's corner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Scottoline Lisa)

ELEVEN

Vicki checked her watch: 3:15. Not bad. The sky was still a frozen blue, so she turned up the heat in the car and steered her old white Cabrio out of the business district in clogged traffic. She'd gone home to get her car and cell phone, and, with a sick feeling inside, wiped it clean and plugged it into the recharger in the dashboard. Almost immediately the phone began chiming, signaling she had messages.

Vicki reduced her speed, picked up the phone, and tried to ignore the darker line of dried blood around the keypads while she thumbed through the menu to see who had called. Dan. The three messages were as predicted, and she pressed the button to call back, bound to the recharger like an umbilical cord.

Dan answered after one ring. "Woman! Holy God, what are you up to? You off your Ritalin?"

Vicki laughed.

"I heard you tried to kill a defendant! I say, who's got a problem with that? We all clean the streets our own way. Judge not, lest ye be judged!"

"I didn't try to kill her." After last night, Vicki would never again use that word so lightly. "I just wanted a little information, is all."

"So you tried to kill her for it?"

"Not true!"

"Bale's walking around the office with steam coming out of his ears. It's not a good look for him."

"I can imagine."

"You're definitely right about that Botox. He's completely pissed off and he still isn't frowning."

Vicki felt a guilty twinge and switched lanes.

Dan said, "Isn't that a perfect vision of hell? Having all that anger and not being able to express it?"

"Sounds like work."

"Or marriage."

Vicki let it go and passed Thirtieth Street. "At least he didn't fire me."

"Congratulations. Your career is really going places."

"Thanks for your support."

"So what happened? Tell Daddy," Dan said, and Vicki filled him in completely. "Quite a story. So where are you now?"

"In the car, going to learn a little more about Reheema. She should get out of jail free in a few hours, and I wanna see what I can see before then."

"You think it's a good idea? Coke? Guns? You? One of these things is not like the other."

Vicki smiled. "The most dangerous thing I'm doing is talking on the cell and driving."

"Why do you want to know more about Reheema?"

"I'm curious, is all."

"Curiosity killed the Cabrio."

"Puns are beneath you, Dan."

"You overestimate me."

"That's a given."

"No, I mean it." Dan's voice turned serious, and Vicki could imagine exactly how he'd look when his handsome features darkened. Basically, he'd look even handsomer. "You're doing this for Morty."

"No, really?" Vicki accelerated when she saw open road. "The cops are on it." "Oh yeah? I just met with the CI's mom, who didn't even get a call from them. God knows when they'll get in gear, and I'm not stopping them, anyway. I'm learning about my own case. If anything, I should have known it before." Vicki swallowed hard, checking traffic in the rearview. A gypsy cab was riding on her bumper. "If I'd taken the time to get that transcript, I would have known the stuff I found out today."

"You were on trial. Don't blame yourself." "I'm at fault." "No, you're not." "Enough." Vicki braked at the light at Thirty-eighth Street.

She was going back out to West Philly again. Penn students crossed the street in scruffy jackets, mingling with university employees wearing plastic ID badges on lanyards. A white police cruiser pulled next to her, and the cop gave Vicki a nasty sideways look, disapproving either of her cell phone or her penchant for police work. "I should go."

"Call me as soon as you get home." "I will." "The minute you get home." "Yes, dear," Vicki said, as if she were kidding. She pressed end, flipped the phone closed, and tossed it onto the seat beside her. When the light turned green, she accelerated. She was almost there, even if her thoughts were elsewhere.

With Dan.