Part 10 (1/2)
Jan sat back in her chair, relieved. ”No need to apologize. I thought maybe you were regretting last night.”
”Regret? I almost wish I did. But I haven't stopped thinking about it for a moment.”
”Me neither.”
They looked at each other. Jan could see the tiredness around Catherine's eyes, but she seemed much happier than a few minutes earlier. Catherine stood in front of Jan's chair and leaned down for a kiss. By the time the kiss ended, she was in Jan's lap. Jan was still in her running clothes and smelled musky, but so did Catherine.
”How long will you be in Chicago?” Jan asked. She pulled Catherine in for a kiss before she could answer. Somehow the b.u.t.tons of her blouse opened halfway down.
”What was the question?” Catherine said when she came up for air.
”I wondered how long you're here before we have to say good-bye.”
Catherine frowned. ”I don't want to think about that.”
”A few days, a week?”
”Hmm. I think I can stretch it out to a couple of weeks.”
Jan kissed her again. They kissed for a long time. They were still kissing when the door to the conference room opened and Vivian stuck her head in.
”Working overtime?” she said.
Catherine and Jan flew apart. Catherine grabbed the front of her unb.u.t.toned s.h.i.+rt as she tumbled out of the chair, just getting her feet under her in time to avoid a fall. Vivian laughed and closed the door behind her.
Jan drove home from the office, forcing her thoughts once again to how to find Maddy Harrington. Catherine had been mortified by Vivian walking in on them kissing, though Jan tried to rea.s.sure her that no one could be less judgmental than Vivian, at least in regard to s.e.x. Vivian was most a.s.suredly pro-s.e.x. But Catherine had become all business by the time she'd straightened her blouse, so Jan took her leave. The important question had been answered for her. Catherine still wanted her. Everything else could be sorted out.
Jan's phone rang and she picked up when she saw it was Peet.
”What's up?”
”Shopping with the girls. Thought I'd call while Kevin helps them pick out dresses.”
Jan laughed. ”Good idea. I've seen you in a dress you picked out yourself.”
”Yeah, well, I'm good with a power saw. We all have our strengths.”
”Are you still worried about your job? Because I really think we're going to be fine,” Jan said.
”No, I'm more worried about Maddy Harrington. Too much time is going by. Do you have anything new?”
Jan immediately felt guilty. If her mind weren't wrapped around Catherine she would have been putting every bit of time and thought into finding Maddy.
”Not really. Do you?” She sounded a little peevish.
Peet sighed. ”Calm down there, sister. I only asked because you said you were going to go through those websites last night. I'm not accusing you of being a slacker. What's going on?”
Jan debated whether to tell Peet about Catherine, but dismissed the thought. She knew Peet would try to talk her out of seeing any more of her new boss and she didn't want to make any promises she couldn't keep. ”Sorry. I didn't sleep well last night. We just don't have a lot to go on other than Maddy's fascination with the right-wing groups scattered all over the Internet.”
”Any particular ones?” Peet asked.
”I think we need to start in Michigan. It's close by and she spent quite a bit of time looking over a few of the militia sites up there.”
”What's your plan?”
Jan didn't have a plan. Just drive to Michigan and start poking around, she supposed, which really didn't const.i.tute a plan. A wing and a prayer was more like it. And she felt reluctant to leave right away. It was Sat.u.r.day afternoon. Maybe she could see Catherine later, maybe even spend Sunday showing her around Chicago, a simple thing that made it sound like she and Catherine could be a normal couple, with dinners and outings and all the small things people do to get to know each other. She'd read about this in books and seen it in movies; she didn't have any relations.h.i.+p experience that included courting and becoming a couple. The fact that she was already thinking of them as a couple was astonis.h.i.+ng to her. And the fact that Catherine lived in London didn't bother her. She could do London.
”Jan?” Peet said.
”Right. Well, the plan is that we drive up to Michigan and talk to some of the people running these training camps and militia groups and hope that they've seen or heard about Maddy. I don't know where else to start. When do you want to go?”
”c.r.a.p. I was hoping we wouldn't have to leave town. Have you talked to the Harringtons?”
”No, that's your job. They like you better,” Jan said.
”You could try a little harder, you know.”
”Not with the Harringtons I can't. It's best I not talk to them at all.”
Jan pulled into her parking garage. She heard Peet telling Kevin she'd be done in a minute.
”Okay, I'll call the Harringtons. If they approve the trip, I suppose we should go tonight. Do you at least have a starting point for us, an actual place for us to drive to?”
”Yep. Somewhere south of Detroit. But I think we should leave in the morning. Early.”
”You'll get no argument from me. I'll let you know what the Harringtons say.”
They rang off and Jan went into her apartment. Normally, she'd already be in Detroit no matter what the client said, but the pull of Catherine was strong. She felt guilty, but the desire to see Catherine that night easily trumped her guilt.
When Jan wasn't working on a Sat.u.r.day, which was rare, she spent the time cleaning her apartment. There was very little to do. She didn't have many things, so not much got strewn about. She usually ate out, so the kitchen never needed real cleaning. She had a person come in once a week to do the bathrooms and floors. But still she always found something to fuss with, some shoes that needed polis.h.i.+ng, a drawer that could be reorganized, a window that could be washed. The few women she'd brought home to her place usually teased her about its minimalism and sterile cleanliness, but Jan had never gotten over the satisfaction of having a place she could actually scrub clean. The cabin in the woods she'd been raised in could never have been called clean. Being simply habitable was a stretch.
But today, instead of cleaning, Jan sat down with her laptop and started Googling. Catherine Engstrom was an unusual enough name that she should be able to see right off whether there was anything on the Internet about her. And in 0.485 seconds she could see there was a lot. Not much of it was concerned with her work at Chartered Global Security. A website called London Arts Beat showed a photo of Catherine and a beautiful woman posing at the entrance to a building. The caption read: Celebrated painter Ellen Sanderson hosted a reception at the opening of her new show at the Grimes-Brimley Gallery in Chelsea last evening. Accompanying her was her partner, Catherine Engstrom.
Jan saw that the date of the opening was exactly a month ago. She closed the laptop, went to her freezer, and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Almost as soon as she poured some down her throat she had to lean over the sink and throw it back up.
Packages and paper were strewn throughout David's house, making it look like the aftermath of a savage Christmas party for camping and gun enthusiasts. Boxes of ammunition were stacked next to rifles and shotguns. Down coats were piled high like snowdrifts on the furniture while winter weight army boots lined one wall as if waiting for a platoon to muster. When Maddy, Kristi, and Tommy came through the door in the middle of the night, they tripped over power tools and landed on cookware. David flipped on the living room light as he came in behind them.
”Careful there! We can't afford to break anything.”
”Well, can you afford to break people?” Kristi asked. ”'Cause I'm about broke, I gotta tell you.”
David laughed. ”You're unbreakable, Kristi. Strong as an ox. You're just tired is all.”
”She's not the only one,” Tommy said. He made his way into the kitchen and sat at the rickety table. Maddy sat beside him. She was worn out and her head hurt from taking the rifle b.u.t.t to her helmet. She was still p.i.s.sed off about it. No one at the training camp seemed to take the incident seriously.
”I can't believe we have to go back to that place tomorrow,” Tommy said. He looked as miserable as he had all day. ”There's not one thing I learned there that seems useful to me.”
Maddy had to agree. Unless they were planning on hunting in the dark in Idaho, the entire six-hour exercise that evening had been a painful waste of time. Learning how to lob hand grenades didn't seem useful for hunting elk and deer. Knowing counter ambush techniques, fighting positions, and wetlands ambush practice seemed absurd. But everyone involved in the training took it d.a.m.n seriously.