about to scream. Just screech wordlessly until Tatum shut up. Her jaw clenched tightly to stop that scream from emerging.
“All the people who later thought you just scared an innocent man away?” Tatum softened his voice. “So you grew up feeling lonely, while Rod Glover found himself a nice new community to love him.”
Zoe realized she was leaning against the corner of the room. Her body tried to shy away from Tatum’s words.
“Albert Lamb, Glover’s coworkers and boss, the police, your parents, you.” Tatum counted on his fingers. “It’s no one’s fault. You can’t prepare for someone like Glover. People who don’t have our training can’t even imagine ever meeting someone like him. And thank god for that, or no one would ever go outside their home.”
“You’re talking about him like an earthquake or a flood. Glover’s just a man.”
“A twisted, perverse man in a perfect disguise of a nice, honest, chummy kind of guy. There’s no way to know what’s inside him. Not unless you’re us.”
Zoe felt exhausted, could hardly stay upright. Tatum looked tired as well.
“Look,” he said softly. “It’s been a long day. I need a rest. I don’t think I can handle another long night.”
“I want to work.” She didn’t feel like she could. But she didn’t feel like she could rest either.
He stood up and sighed. “Of course you do. But I can’t. Not tonight.”
At the door he paused and turned to face her. For a moment, Zoe wanted him to step toward her, gather her into his arms. Maybe that way, she could rest for just a bit.
But he didn’t. “Good night, Zoe.”
“Night.”
The door shut behind him. Zoe wavered on the edge of crying.
She returned to sort the photos instead.
CHAPTER 25
Tatum’s weariness felt beyond sleep. In fact, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fall asleep at all. He sat on his bed, took off his shoes and his pants, then paused to reflect.
Back in LA, he’d had a partner, Bobby O’Leary, who claimed that he did his best thinking in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. Because pants, Bobby said, got in the way of any major thought process. So Tatum and he would be talking about a case, reviewing it, thinking it through, when Bobby would suddenly say, “This is a tricky one. Gonna take a dump, think it through.” He’d go for twenty minutes and return with clever insights and ideas. Tatum often suspected that if the bureau let Bobby simply work in his underpants, he’d be promoted to chief in no time.
Tatum wanted this to work for him. He wanted an epiphany that would either crack the case or figure out a way to get Zoe to chill. But the only thing that happened, as he sat on the bed in his underpants and socks, was that he felt chilly.
His phone rang from the pocket in his discarded pants. He struggled with the pocket, wondering why it was always more difficult to get things out of pockets of unworn clothes. Yet another unsolved mystery. It was Marvin on the phone.
“Hey, Marvin, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine, Tatum. How’s Chicago?”
“Pretty much the same. Cold.”
“Yeah? Buy yourself some warm socks. That’s the best way to get warm, Tatum. Socks.”
Sage advice from a wise old man. “I’ll remember that.”
“You do that, Tatum. How’s your partner?”
Tatum frowned. Was the old man telepathic? Did he feel a disturbance in the force? “She’s preoccupied. This case is wearing her a bit thin. But she’ll be fine.”
“Her sister is saying differently.”
“You talk to Andrea?”
“Why are you so surprised, Tatum? People find me nice to talk to. You know why? I listen. You could try that once in a while.”
Tatum sighed. “We were questioning someone today, and she just got so angry . . .” He paused, trying to figure out how to explain it. “When we get a case, we need to be able to keep it at arm’s length. We need to stay objective. It shouldn’t be personal.”
“But this case is personal for her, Tatum. So what are you going to do about it?”
“What do you want me to do? Drag her back to Quantico, kicking and screaming?”
The old man grunted. “That’s not such a bad idea.”
“Look, Zoe is under a lot of stress, but she’s handling it. You can tell that to your new best friend, Andrea, next time you talk.”
“Sure, she’s handling it just fine, Tatum. Your partner was buried alive a month ago, and she’s now chasing a killer who lived next door