In Too Deep(55)

On the way home, Melina was quiet, watching as the rain splattered and dripped down the passenger window. "It was a good service," she said quietly, her hands folded in her lap.

“It was,” I agreed. “Hey, are you needed at the pharmacy today?"

Melina shook her head, leaning her forehead against the side window and closing her eyes. She was exhausted, and couldn't fight it any longer. "Jay closed the whole thing today. He said for me to take tomorrow off too, someone would cover for me.”

"That's good," I said. "Because you’re wiped out. You should crash when we get home."

She nodded silently, giving me an appreciative glance before closing her eyes again. In the ten minutes between leaving the stadium and getting home, I heard her start snoring lightly, and I had to jostle her shoulder when we parked. I was tempted to carry her into the house in my arms, but the way she was sleeping, there was no way I could have gotten her out of the car without her waking up anyway. Still, she was asleep again minutes after lying down on the couch, and I thought for a moment about helping her out of her blouse and skirt before they got wrinkled, but decided against it.

After I changed into some casual clothes, I sat down at Albertine, getting down to work. I knew that Pinzetti was EPA, and I knew some of the information on him. It was time to turn Albertine loose again.

First, I pulled up the information on his cell phone. It didn't take long, and I downloaded his call and message history for the thirty days prior to the incident, knowing that while quite a few of the names would be useless, there had to be some nuggets of information in there I could use.

I knew that the normal method of data correlation would be useless. Pinzetti wouldn’t have been the sort of operative who checked in with his bosses on a routine basis. Still, I had the computing power to check all of it, and the desire to do so. After noting each phone number he called and the names associated with each, I created a list based off of frequency. The first was to his boss in the EPA, which I could understand. Despite being a dark matter operative, Pinzetti had to keep up external appearances, and that meant that some of the time he actually was doing work for the EPA. The second most called line was to a house in his name back in Olympia, Washington. I assumed it was his home and was at least a little surprised that he’d be married. I hadn't interacted with the man much, but he didn't seem like the type to be married to me.

After creating my database of both phone numbers and e-mails, I put them into Albertine, tracking each of them down. It was a pretty massive pile of information I was seeking, and I couldn't just walk away. Instead, I stayed at the computer, waiting while Albertine gave me initial analysis of each number and message. Those that were obviously not interesting, such as the Mexican take-out place that he'd called twice to put in orders, I discarded. The same for the flurry of calls to his bank and credit card companies after I'd frozen him out.

Those that I didn't kick out, I sent out for deeper analysis, tracking and networking them. I was looking for one that stood out, touching into the deep networks that I was familiar with. That would take time, however, so I let Albertine do its work. The rain had stopped while I was working, and Melina was still lying on the couch, the evening sun glinting off her hair. She looked so beautiful that I couldn't help it, I sat down on the floor in front of the couch and just looked at her, spellbound.

When Melina stirred, I reached out, stroking a lock of hair out of her eyes. She hadn't gotten a cut since coming to New Mexico, and she was starting to get bangs that could hang in front of her eyes. I’m not one to question a woman's choice in hairstyle, but she needed a trim.

My fingers continued, just barely brushing over her cheekbones and jawline, unable to stop themselves. As she lay there, I realized that there was something in Melina that I'd been searching for my entire life, the perfect completion to my soul. In Melina, I had found someone who had everything I needed, and who needed everything I offered. I didn't need to hide any secrets from her like I had with everyone else, and I promised myself right then that I never would. I could give myself to her, and never need to hold back.

Melina stirred again on the couch, and I pulled my hand back, worried I'd disturbed her. "Don't stop," she whispered, her beautiful eyes fluttering open, her eyes dark and precious. "That's the best way to wake up I've ever had." She smiled her angelic smile, and reached out, cupping my cheek. "You once said I rescued you. How?"

"Before meeting you, I was losing faith in humanity," I said simply. "With what's in that spare bedroom, and everything else . . . I was losing hope. There was nobody out there for me I thought, and everyone was out for themselves. Then I met you, and you reminded me that the world is more than doomsday computers and shadow agents. You brought sunshine to my dark life, and for that you saved me."

"You saved me too," she said softly. "I was trapped in a dead-end life, with nothing to look forward to except working another dead-end job, and maybe settling for someone I didn't love just so that I wouldn't die alone."

"By surrounding you in a world of insanity," I lamented, and she shrugged, a pretty decent effort considering she was laying on her side with one shoulder trapped against the couch.

"I'd rather be in a world of insanity for an unknown amount of time with you than to be without you, no matter how long I live. In fact, laying here, I know one thing that I want more than anything."