While Justice Sleeps(42)

“What?”

Other than confusion, she saw no other reaction. She leaned in closer. “Lasker Bauer?”

“Avery, what are you talking about?” Concern replaced confusion.

“You play chess?”

He shook his head. “Not since I was a kid. The judge taught me, but I only played to make him happy. I never wanted to look at a chessboard again after he sent me away.”

“But you were just talking about pieces and squares.”

“Something the judge said to me that last night. He told me to watch which square I was in and to keep my eyes on all the pieces.”

    “And the names Lasker and Bauer?”

“No one I know.” Jared paused. “Avery, you’ve had a rough day, and I’m not helping. It’s almost one in the morning—you should get home.” He tossed some bills onto the table. “Come on—I can give you a ride.”

Her instinct to protest was overwhelmed by a wave of bone-weary exhaustion, and she accepted. They navigated out of the restaurant, and he guided her to a black ’67 Corvette parked down the block. Avery slid across the butter-soft seat and felt her body relax. Jared climbed into the driver’s side, and she gave him the address.

“Nice ride.”

“Belonged to my aunt and uncle. We used to work on it every weekend. They gave it to me for my twenty-fifth birthday. Beat the hell out of my used Honda Accord.”

“I once got to drive a ’68 Charger,” she said sleepily. “Best joyride ever.”

“?‘Joyride’?”

“Forget I said that.”

The streets were empty this time of night, and the desolate blocks clicked by in silence. Suddenly Avery thought about the security detail she’d evaded back at her apartment. If she arrived in a car at the front door, they’d certainly report her to the Chief.

Her building occupied a corner of Fifteenth and Q. As they neared the apartment block, she asked, “Would you mind circling and then driving down the alley? I don’t want to go in the front.” Jamie Lewis’s pale corpse flashed before her, and Avery felt a chill.

Jared gave her a knowing look, but instead of asking questions, he turned the corner, cut off his headlights, and drove down the narrow alley. In the shadows, he put his car in park and got out to open her door. Despite her protest, Jared escorted her to the fire escape. “I assume this stealthy approach has something to do with the police detail out front.”

“How did you—?”

“Military intelligence, Avery.”

“Yes. Thank you.” She fumbled in her bag for her key. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you more.”

“Not yet. But you may remember something.” He held up his hand before she could reply. “I don’t know him the way you do. But he was afraid—and so are you. I want to help.”

    Avery hesitated, then reached back into her bag. “Here’s my card.”

“Thanks.” He squeezed her hand once and turned toward his car.

“Wait.” On impulse, Avery rummaged in her bag for a pen. She plucked the card from his grasp and scrawled a number across the back. “That’s my cell.”

“Good. I thought I was going to have to hack the phone company to find you again.”

She grinned. “You can do that?”

“Sure.”

Avery hesitated, then scribbled a second number on the card. “I received a call today from an unknown number. It came in around four thirty p.m. to my cell—not the Court’s line. Do you have a way to track it? Figure out who called?”

Jared nodded in the lamplight. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Grateful, she smiled at him. “Thanks, Jared. And let me know you made it home safely, okay?”

Jared returned the grin, a slow, slightly crooked curve that skittered her pulse. “Will do. Take care, Avery…thanks for meeting with me tonight.” He gave her a polite kiss on the cheek and pointed up at the fire escape with another smile. “I’ll wait until you’re inside.”

“Thank you.” Before she could do something foolish, Avery climbed the three flights of the fire escape and entered the apartment building through the unlocked window in the hall.

As she rounded the corner, she stopped. “Rita. What are you doing here?”

“Hey, baby.” Her mother scrambled up from the floor, dark red hair hanging in greasy hanks over her pale, mottled face, the green eyes she shared with her daughter glassy and red-rimmed. “Waiting for you. I’ve been knocking for an hour. Where were you?”

“None of your business.” Avery pocketed her key and blocked the door. Rita had never been inside this apartment, had never had occasion to case it for movable objects easily sold. Avery planned to keep it that way. Legs braced, she asked flatly, “How did you find me?”

The coquettish smile slipped a fraction. “I didn’t know you were hiding.”

“How?”

    “I don’t have to tell you.”

Avery could read the signs of a recent high and knew she’d get no good answers anyway.

“What do you want? If it’s money, I’m all tapped out right now.”

“I don’t always come around for money, honey.” She giggled at her rhyme.