“I’ve got a date for dinner.”
The doctor put a thinner square of gauze over the laceration and taped it tightly into place. “Hold on a minute and I’ll take those stitches out of your back, or do you think you’ll be back in a day or two?”
“I know every waiter in L.A. is actually an actor, but I didn’t realize the doctors were comedians.”
“What’s frustrating is all the sick people that keep coming in here. Talk about no sense of humor. And comedy, after all, is all about feedback. Around here I get almost no reaction.” When he had taken the last suture out, Vail started putting on his shirt. “Do you want anything for pain?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
The doctor gave him a spool of tape, some extra gauze bandages, and a tube of ointment. “You can use these to dress the wound yourself. Or just save them for the next time you get shot.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
THIS LOOKS NICE,” VAIL SAID.
“I hope you like Chinese.”
The restaurant was large and busy. The waiters spoke a minimum of English and the busboys none. The noise level was considerably higher than Sargasso’s. He wondered if Kate had reconsidered her offer and was sending him a message. She ordered a diet soft drink, apparently not wanting to test her resistance to both Vail and alcohol again. It was probably for the best anyway. If he should have the opportunity to take his shirt off later and she saw the bandage on his shoulder, a new round of trust disputes would be sparked.
“You’ve seen me eat. Do you think there’s anything I don’t like?”
“Somebody in the office suggested it,” Kate said. “So there really wasn’t anything out at that ranch? Maybe the garlic clue was supposed to take you in a different direction.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. It was left for a reason. If there was no trap at the ranch, then I don’t know.”
“Another one of life’s unsolved mysteries. How are the paper wars going at the office?”
“Mind-numbing. You owe us a few reports, you know.”
“302s are for court testimony. The last I knew dead men aren’t usually prosecuted. Or is the United States attorney’s office low on stats?” he asked.
“I don’t know about conviction rates, but they’re soon to be short one assistant USA.”
“Tye?”
“They’ve suspended her until the case can be reviewed. It isn’t looking good.”
“Aren’t they the courageous bunch. She was leaving anyhow. That was the reason for the article.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Vail shot her a look. “No, I mean as a person.”
“I didn’t hear anybody complaining when we needed a friendly legal face.”
The waiter came and they both ordered.
Kate said, “Have you thought any more about the director’s offer?”
“Yes, but I don’t know how seriously. I need to go back to Chicago and work for a while and see how everything feels. I’m not sure making a decision right now would be in anyone’s best interest.”
“When are you going back?”
Vail thought about being shot at. He wasn’t going to let that go. And he wasn’t going to tell Kate. “I’ll stick around for a couple of days. Make sure I didn’t leave any loose ends hanging. Mostly I’m doing it so I can ignore your orders that I do paperwork.”
THE EVENING ENDED matter-of-factly with Kate and Vail saying good night to each other as he got off the elevator one floor below hers. He guessed there would be no third attempt to roll that rock up the hill. He lay in bed trying to read. The night before had been perfect until Tye called. Tonight couldn’t have been any more ordinary. Last night they had tried to be two relatively normal people, looking for physical companionship. Tonight the real Kate and Steve showed up and proved they were who they were. And that last night’s little drama-comedy was a one-night-only engagement.
He tried reading the same paragraph again but became distracted by the image of her laughing over the white linen tablecloth at Sargasso’s, her hand absentmindedly caressing the wineglass, her skin flawless in the candlelight. He set the book down and turned off the light. He suspected it was going to be a night without much sleep.
After a few minutes of staring into the darkness, the phone rang. “Hello,” he answered quickly.
“Vail…” It was a male voice that he couldn’t quite identify.
“Yes.”
There was an unnatural laugh. “Sorry I missed you at the ranch today.”
Vail was speechless. It was the voice he had heard the day he killed Lee Salton—Victor Radek’s. “Apparently we’re both