Windfall (Weather Warden #4)

"Naked as the day she was born," he said with careful gravity. "I think the resulting shriek woke half your neighbors."

I was going to hell for the fact that this actually cheered me up. I tried to be a dutiful sister. Tried very, very hard. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you, but you guys were asleep-"

"Oh, believe me, it's not me you have to convince. I thought it was a lot funnier than she did," he said. "By the way, your friend-Lewis?-said to tell you that you looked great this morning."

Eamon's tone had just a bit of a question in it. I felt a blush coming on again.

"On television," I clarified. "He said he was going to watch me on television. Not like rolling over in bed and saying I looked great or anything."

"Ah." Eyebrows up and down. "Of course."

Hurricane Sarah was making omelets, apparently, with lots of agitated chopping of mushrooms and onions and peppers. Ham had already suffered the same fate.

When I came into the room, she pointed the chef's knife at me and said, "You."

"I surrender. I throw myself on your mercy. Please don't mince me," I said, and sat down at the table. There was a pitcher of orange juice out, so I helped myself to a glass. Tart and pulpy, just the way I liked it. I sipped liquid sunshine and waited for the storm to break as Sarah went back to her chopping.

And waited. And waited. She just kept chopping. Finally, I ventured, "So you're mad, then."

"Oh, you think?"

"Look, Lewis needed a place to stay for the night. It was late. I didn't want to wake you-"

"Yes, all very logical, but you're not the one who wandered out here naked and got ogled by that-lecher!"

"Lewis?" I blinked in surprise. Not that Lewis wouldn't ogle-he was a guy, after all, and highly aware of women-but he was usually a lot more subtle about it.

"No, not him. The other one. The kid."

Oh. Kevin. Of course. "Um, right. Sorry about that. Don't take it personally. He's a teenager. He's constitutionally lecherous." I edited out the response that began, If you weren't so focused on shagging Cute British Guy, you might have thrown on a robe, and damn, I'll bet it was funny... "Are you really mad?"

The chopping paused for three long seconds, then resumed at a slower pace. "No," she admitted. "I'm embarrassed. First of all, Eamon and I-well, we got carried away. I mean, it was rude of us to stay here, in your home, and-do-what we did. I don't know what came over me. I'm usually a lot more reserved than that."

"Hey, I wasn't even here. Unless you got carried away and had incredible sex in my bed or something..." Oh, man, I didn't like that silence. "Sarah? Tell me it wasn't in my bed?"

"Just the once," she murmured.

I'd thought it looked more than usually rumpled when I came back, but I'd been exhausted and traumatized and distracted.

"I think that makes it a dead heat on insensitivity," I said. "Speaking of which, thanks for asking me how work went. I got fired this morning. No more Weather Girl."

"What?" she blurted. "But-how are we going to pay the bills?"

Typical Sarah. Not, Oh my God, that's awful, are you okay? I eyed the feast she was cooking up. "Well, I did get a decent severance check, mostly because they were afraid I'd sue, given the bikini-snapping by a senior staff member. But I think we'll have to economize on the haute cuisine. And the couture is right out. Also, anything else with French derivations."

A quiet cough from the door. Eamon was standing there, looking sober and remarkably self-possessed for a guy who'd appropriated my bed for illicit purposes. "I know you don't want charity, but I'd be more than willing to offer a loan. Purely to tide you over until you find something else. No strings attached."

Sarah's face lit up. Eamon, however, was watching me. Very wise of him.

"No," I said. "Thanks. It's a nice offer, but honestly, I can't accept it. We'll just figure it out for ourselves." I didn't want Sarah to jump from being taken care of by Chretien to being taken care of by Eamon. Especially since she barely knew him, for God's sake. Not that I disliked him-in fact, I thought he was pretty cool-but the pattern bugged me. "Okay, Sarah?"

More agitated chopping. No answer. I sighed and sipped orange juice.

"Were you fired because you were right and that idiot with the hair problem was wrong?" Eamon asked.

"No," I said. "I was fired because I was right while I was on camera. Plus, I wouldn't let him snap my swimsuit with impunity."

Sarah laughed. Eamon didn't. He just watched me with those cool, quiet eyes, as if he understood everything.

"Good for you," he said. "You deserve better than that. I heard you give the forecast. It was very clear you deserved his job, at the very least. I doubt they could ever afford your talents, if they understood what you were worth."

He wasn't delivering that in a tone of flattery, or admiration-just a dry, brisk, undramatic statement of fact.

I exchanged a look with my sister. She smiled.

"See?" she asked.

I did. I approved. Not that I'd ever admit it, of course. I was, after all, the bratty one.

"So," I said. "What's on your schedules for this morning, beyond the best breakfast of our lives?"

"I have some work to do," Eamon said. "However, after that, I thought I might take you lovely ladies out for a bite of dinner. Would that be acceptable? Someplace nice. Help you forget your troubles for a bit. It's really the least I can do, after... imposing on your hospitality."

Sarah got that smile. That secret, glowing smile of Really Good Sex. She gave him a smoking look from under lowered lashes, and I controlled a weary flash of petty jealousy, because I wanted David, I needed him, and I was grieving for him, all at the same time. Sarah might be living her idyll. Mine had crashed headlong into the real world, flamed out, and was plummeting toward earth at Mach One.

I got lost in those waves of sadness again. Luckily, they'd lost a little of their force, and I only got a little hot prickle in the corners of my eyes instead of the full, embarrassing breakdown.

"Jo?" Sarah prodded. "Are you staying here today?"

It was a very good question. I wanted to sit and grieve, but sitting and waiting for all of my dizzying array of enemies to come and take their shots sounded really, really dumb. Much as I wanted to hang out and pretend to have a normal life, that possibility had gone out the window last night on the beach. "I've got some things to take care of, too. Will you be all right on your own for a while?"

"Sure." She gave Eamon another one of those little looks that promised to drag him off to the bedroom. "I've been thinking of cleaning up around here. As a thank-you to you, Jo. If that's all right."

As long as it kept her busy and preferably not spending any of my dwindling bank account... "Okay. But I want you to keep the phone close, okay? That friend of mine, Lewis, he had some trouble. There may be people looking for him. They wouldn't hurt you, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. Don't answer the door if somebody shows up asking for him, and if you get in trouble, call me." Eamon made that quiet coughing noise again. "Or, okay, call Eamon. Right?"

"Sure." Sarah abandoned the chopping and turned to the beating of eggs, which she did with amazing skill. "I can take care of myself."

I knew she believed that. I'd just never seen any real evidence of it.

But she did make one hell of an omelet.

The first stop on my list of things to do was to have that heart-to-heart conversation with Detective Rodriguez, whose van was still conveniently located downstairs. Avoiding him wasn't going to get it done. I'd rather finish the conversation, amen, and at least have one fewer potential gun aimed at my head.

It wasn't quite as hot as it had been, although it was way too muggy-the clouds overhead, which had started out thin and cirrus, sliding like white veils over the sky, were thickening to cotton clumps. Cumulonimbus. I couldn't feel the tingle of the energy building, but I could read the sky about as well as anyone, and there was definitely rain on the way. The wind had shifted.

I knocked on the van's window, waited, and finally got a sliding door opened in the back for answer.

I don't know what I expected from the Good Ship Surveillance, but it was clean.

Really, really clean. There was a neat little bed, made up so crisply it probably would have passed a drill sergeant's inspection. No food wrappers or loose papers or detritus of a normal life. Near the back was a closed metal locker that probably held necessities like toothpaste and changes of clothes and spare ammunition.

He had video running. Video of all of the entrances to my building, plus a pretty good view through the patio window into the apartment. Some kind of wireless cameras. Good God.

"Good morning," Rodriguez said, and nodded me to a chair. It was bolted down to the floor, but it swiveled. Kinda comfy, too. I settled in as he slid the door closed behind me. "Coffee?"

"I'm already soaking in it," I said, and held out a cup I'd brought with me.

"Here. Fresh orange juice. My sister got enthusiastic and pulped half the state's cash crop for breakfast."

"I know," he said, and gestured toward the monitor that showed the view through the patio door. Sarah was at the sink, washing dishes. Eamon was rinsing and drying. They were so much in each others' spaces it was like watching something a whole lot more intimate, with a whole lot fewer clothes.

"Remind me to pull the shades later," I said. He leaned over and took the OJ, but he didn't drink, just set it aside. "What? You think it's poisoned?"

"I'm careful," he said. "No offense."

"Fine. Your loss. Are you taping all of this? The video?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything embarrassing I can use on my sister?"

I got a very faint smile that didn't reach those impartial eyes. "Privileged."

Banter was over. Silence fell, hot and oppressive, and he studied me with wary eyes. Waiting.

I caved. "Look, Detective, what can I do? What is it going to take to make you, you know..."

"Go away?" he supplied, and eased down into a chair across from me. Not as comfy as mine, I noted. "Answers. I need you to tell me everything, start to finish. Nothing left out."

"That's why I'm here. I'll give you the whole story, but honestly, it won't do you any good. And there's not a shred of proof, one way or the other, so you'd better give up on having any peace of mind. All you'll have is my word, and I have the impression that isn't going to carry a lot of weight with you."

He sat back, watching me, and finally picked up the orange juice and sniffed it, then took a sip. "Actually, I revised my opinion a little," he said. "Last night. On the beach."

"Why?"

He didn't answer. He swiveled his chair instead and looked at the screen, where my sister and her new boyfriend were scrubbing dishes and laughing.

"What's his story?" he asked. "Your new friend."

"Sarah met him at the mall. Same day I met you, as a matter of fact. Though you and I haven't hit it off quite so well."

He sent me one of those looks. "You live an interesting life."

"You have no idea. What made you change your mind on the beach?"

He drank more of the OJ. "Two things. One of them has nothing to do with the beach itself: You were pissed off, not scared, when you confronted me the first time. Guilty people get scared, or they get smooth. You're different."

Well, that was a nice compliment. "And the other thing?"

"Guilty people don't save lives in the dark. Murderers can save lives, if it suits them. They can run into burning buildings and grab babies out of cribs at risk of their own skins. They can even feel sorry about it if it doesn't work out. But if there's a choice, and if there's no percentage and no witnesses, they won't put themselves out for it. If a guy's bleeding to death in an alley and all they have to do is make a 911 call, they won't unless there's a reason-unless somebody sees them and expects them to do it, or there's some profit in it. Get my point? It's all about the way it looks, not the life they're saving; they really don't give a shit about that." He shrugged and tilted the glass to drain the orange juice to a thin film of gold. "You do. All you had to do was walk away and let that hole collapse on those poor bastards, and nobody would have known."

"Nobody but me."

"Yes. That's my point."

Something he said rang a bell. "You said, a murderer can run into a burning building and grab a baby... you were thinking of Quinn, weren't you?"

He was silent for a moment, reluctant to say it out loud. "There was something about the way he did it. Standing there in the street, calculating the angles. There was a crowd, there was a mother begging him for help, but it was like some little computer inside of him was adding up benefits. Look, I wasn't lying to you. Quinn was a good guy. I liked him. But being a good guy doesn't mean you're not a bad man."

"Detective, if you're not careful, you might start sounding deep."

He gave me a faint, strange smile. "No chance of that. I'm a good cop. If I can't see it, feel it, taste it, explain it to the jury, I don't believe it. Quinn, he was intuitive. Mind like a jumping bean. It was all like a game to him. A contest; see who's the smartest guy in the room." His hands were clasped now, his thumbs rubbing slow circles on each other. He bent his head and watched them at work. "Can I believe he was a wrong guy? Yeah. I can believe it. I didn't want to, but I've been thinking about it, and I've been watching you. You don't change when nobody's looking. You say what you mean, and you say it to anybody who'll listen."

"Are you saying I'm not subtle?"

"You're about as subtle as a brick. But you can take that as a compliment. Hero-types generally aren't that subtle."

Hero-types? "Anything else?"

"Yeah," he said. "The greasy-looking kid who was in your apartment last night ripped off some cash from the flour jar in your kitchen. And the guy you were talking to before you left for work made him put it back."

Kevin and Lewis, each acting according to their natures. It made me smile.

"Also," Rodriguez finished, "you looked totally hot on TV, and your sister looks pretty good naked. Now. Tell me about what really happened with Quinn."

I realized, about two sentences into it, that I couldn't not tell him about the Wardens, and especially the Djinn. He had to understand what we were dealing with, and the stakes we played for. He had to understand that Quinn was doing something far beyond the capacity of the justice system to punish.

It took a long time. When my voice ran hoarse, Rodriguez got me a cold bottled water, and when I started trembling from nerves, he switched me to cold beer.

The air conditioner kicked in with a dry rattle at some point, drying the sweat trickling down into the neckline of my white tank top.

It was a strangely quiet interrogation. He just listened, except for those small acts of kindness. Occasionally, he'd ask for a clarification if I wasn't getting something across, but he never disputed, never doubted, never accused me of being a lunatic straight off the funny farm.

Which I would have, if I'd been in the less-comfy chair hearing someone spout the same explanation.

When I got to the part that talked about his partner's death, I saw his eyes go cool and hooded, but his expression stayed neutral. Then it was over, and I was clutching an empty brown bottle in my hands, and all I heard was the steady whisper of the A/C fighting the Florida heat.

"You know how that sounds," he said.

"Of course I know. Why do you think I didn't tell you all this up front?"

He got up, as if he wanted to pace, but the van was too small and besides, I thought what he really wanted to do was put his fist through something yielding.