Zero Day (John Puller, #1)(54)

“Not good, sis. Young girls are prone to eating disorders.”

“I’ve talked to her until I’m blue in the face. I’ve had her seen by specialists. They wanted to put her on all these pills, but I put my foot down. We hope it’s just a phase that she’ll grow out of.”

Cole did not look convinced of this. “So it’s just the three of us for dinner, then?”

“Probably,” Jean said.

“Well, are we or aren’t we?”

“I can’t definitively answer that right now.”

“Great,” Cole said disgustedly. “Did I tell you I have enough unanswered questions in my day job? I’m going to see my niece.”

“I didn’t see a pool in the yard when we were driving up,” said Puller.

“It’s an indoor pool,” said Jean. “We’re not sun worshippers here.”

“And coal dust might turn the pool water black,” said Cole.

Her sister turned to her. “That is complete and total bullshit and you know it.”

“Do I?”

The maid arrived with their drinks and Cole took her ginger ale and handed the beer to Puller. She said, “Okay, I’m going. You two can chat about me behind my back.”

She left and Jean turned to Puller and clinked her glass against his bottle. “She’s a little intense for my taste.”

“She’s a cop. She has to be intense. And she’s a woman, so she has to be even more intense to be accepted.”

“If you say so.”

“You two are pretty different. Not in looks, but in every other way.”

“I wouldn’t disagree with that. So why were you two really late? You’re not sleeping with her already, are you?”

“Already?” he said in surprise. “She certainly doesn’t strike me as the type to sleep around.”

“I didn’t mean that. And she’s not. She’s attractive and unattached and you’re attractive and I don’t see a wedding band on that big hand of yours.”

“That doesn’t explain the ‘already’ comment.”

“Well, I think my little sister is getting a little desperate.”

Puller leaned back and took a drink of his beer. “No, we weren’t sleeping together. We were getting blown up together.”

She sat up straighter. “Excuse me?”

“Someone booby-trapped a truck at a house we were at. Came a few seconds away from not joining you for dinner tonight or any other night.”

Jean put down her glass and stared at him. “You’re joking.”

“I don’t joke about almost getting killed.”

“Why didn’t Sam mention it?”

“I don’t know. She’s your sister. You obviously know her a lot better than I do.”

She picked her glass back up but didn’t take a drink. She stared down at the olives. “I wish she had never become a cop.”

“Why?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Lots of things are dangerous.”

“You know what I mean,” she replied in a sharp tone.

“She’s a public servant, risking her life to keep the peace. To keep the good citizens of Drake safe. I admire her.”

“And you’re a soldier, right? A public servant?”

“That comes with the job description, yes.”

“Iraq and Afghanistan?”

“Both.”

“A young man I had a crush on in high school, Ricky Daniels, joined the Army right after he graduated. He died in the first Gulf War. He was only nineteen.”

“If he had come back would you have married Roger Trent?”

She swallowed the rest of her martini. “I see no reason why that’s any of your damn business.”

“You’re absolutely right. Just making small talk until your sister comes back.”

“Well, don’t trouble yourself. About the small talk. I’m perfectly fine with my own company.”

“So why did you want me to come tonight?”

“I don’t know, actually. It just struck me as a good idea at the time. I’m an impulsive person.”

“Really? You don’t strike me as such.”

“Well, I am.”

“So tell me about the earlier death threats your husband got.”

“Why? More small talk? I told you it wasn’t necessary.”

“No, I’m wearing my investigator hat now.”

“It was stupid. Nothing to it.”

“Death threats are rarely stupid with nothing to them.”

“Well, these were.”

“Do you think the same person is making them again then? And should your husband not be worried? Because it’s clear he is.”

Jean didn’t look as confident now. Her hand shook some as she set her glass down. “I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer that.”

“You didn’t seem all that concerned about it this afternoon.”

“My husband is not Mr. Popular. Lots of people hate him.”

“Any you know personally?”

“Yes.”

“And yet you married him.”