pulled his car into a spot in the front and turned to me.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around,” he said.
“Any breaks in Ray’s case? In my case?” I liked to think of my shooting as a “case;” the word itself provided a little distance from what had really happened, which was too gruesome to think about.
“No,” he said. “The slug we found in your shooting didn’t match any known weapon from in the system, so we’re at a loss. The license plate number came up from a car stolen in the Soundview section of the Bronx. We questioned the owners and they check out. Just unlucky. And the Ray thing…” he said, pausing. “Well, there’s nothing. I’ve checked with your local police and they’ve got less than nothing. There’s nothing on Terri, either. But Hardin told me that they’ve got the Feds involved looking for Jackson. He probably won’t get very far.”
I turned to him. “They’d better find him.”
He put his hand to my face. “Come here,” he whispered. I scooted closer and he wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my hair. I put my head on his shoulder and breathed in deeply.
“Just so you know, I don’t kiss on the first date,” I whispered to him.
He put his lips to mine and kissed me. “But I do,” he said, taking his mouth off mine for a few seconds and studying my face before kissing me again.
I groaned slightly when he slid his tongue into my mouth and ran his hands down my back. He moved to my neck. “I thought you promised me some oysters?” I said, giggling.
He pulled away. “Are you one of those women who prefer food and sleep to sex?”
“Is there any other kind?”
He thought for a moment. “Well, there’s Max.”
“Touché,” I said, laughing. “But you’re going to have to buy me dinner if you want to get to second base.” Even Jack McManus had had to obey that rule when I had dated him but I left that part out.
He sighed and hoisted himself out of the car, going around to open my door. When he arrived, I was already out of the car and standing on the sidewalk. We walked to a small bar and restaurant and went inside; the atmosphere was dark and intimate. We took a table in a corner near the fireplace.
Crawford ordered a bottle of German Riesling from the young waitress who approached our table; before she walked away he also asked for two dozen oysters.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “White wine? Won’t you be fired from the police department for ordering such a sissy drink? Aren’t you guys supposed to drink straight bourbon or something like that?”
“I’m six foot five and carry a gun. Who’s going to call me a sissy?” he asked. “Besides you, of course.”
The oysters arrived within minutes, artfully arranged on a large plate. The waitress explained each different type on the plate, and left them with lemon wedges, hot sauce, and horseradish. Crawford immediately set about doctoring up a few on his side of the plate and noisily slurped the first one down. He had another six eaten in a few minutes’ time.
“God, I love oysters,” he said. He leaned in close to me. “They’re one of my favorite things.”
I ate one and put the empty shell on the plate. “Are we still talking about seafood?”
He didn’t have time to reply; the waitress arrived with the wine. He tasted it and gave it his approval. He waited until she left to resume our conversation. “I have something to tell you,” he said.
I hate it when conversations start with that sentence. They usually end with “I don’t love you anymore” or something equally disturbing. I braced myself.
“No, no, it’s good,” he said. He reached across the table and took my hand. “My divorce is final.”
“What?”
He told me how Christine had come to his apartment after the wedding and then how she told him about her re-marriage. She had since signed their divorce papers and everything was legal and official. “So, that night I came to your house, I was…” He searched for the right phrase.
“Out of sorts?” I filled in.
“That’ll work.”
“I’m happy for you,” I said. “How do you feel about it?”
He closed his eyes for a minute and thought. After some moments of silence, he opened his eyes again. “I’m relieved. Happy.” He took another sip of wine. “This has been going on for too long and it was time for