Suddenly One Summer (FBI/US Attorney #6)(83)

“Uh, yes, actually.” She shut her mailbox and they walked together to the elevator. Ford caught her eyeing his damp T-shirt.

“Sorry. I just came from the gym,” he said as they stepped into the small elevator.

She pushed the button for their floor. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you sweaty before.”

He looked at her.

She blushed, as if just realizing what she’d said. “That was awkward. Sorry.” She shook her head self-deprecatingly.

And despite everything, they shared a smile.

The ice broken—at least, in part—she turned toward him, speaking genuinely. “I’m really sorry about Monday, Ford. The way things ended, I mean.”

She’d texted him a similar apology six days ago, and at the time he’d been kind of a dick in return. But now, standing across from her in the elevator and seeing the sincerity in her eyes, he found himself softening.

Yes, it was over between them. And that realization stung a little. Maybe more than a little, although he wouldn’t allow himself to go there. But other than the abruptness of their breakup—if one could call it that—he really had no reason to be mad at Victoria. Not once, the entire time they’d been hooking up, had she given him any reason to believe that their relationship was anything except a fun, casual fling. So if he’d been starting to think . . . Well, he didn’t know what he’d been starting to think, and it didn’t matter now. The point was, she was his next-door neighbor, at least for the rest of the summer, and it was inevitable they would run into each other. He wasn’t going to be a jerk and make the situation even more awkward.

“It’s fine. Really,” he said. The elevator stopped at their floor, and they both stepped out. “I mean, we both knew this was going to run its course eventually, right?”

There was a flicker of something in her eyes, but then she smiled. “Right. Absolutely.” She gestured. “After all, you have your laundry list of thirtysomething commitment angst.”

“And you have . . . what was it again?” He rubbed his jaw, as if trying to remember. “‘Self-selected out of the happily-ever-after rat race,’ was it? No obligations, expectations, or endgame of a marriage, two-point-five kids, and a minivan in the suburbs.”

She laughed. “I really laid it on thick that night, didn’t I?”

“Oh, there was quite a speech.”

They reached her door. When she turned to face him, he took his keys out of the pocket of his workout shorts and gave her a soft smile, one that she returned. And as they stood there, looking at each other, on that doorstep where they’d first met and also had their first kiss, they both understood exactly what this moment was.

Closure.

“Good night, Victoria.”

Her voice was soft. “Good night, Ford.”

He left her standing there and turned toward his own place. When he heard her front door shut, he briefly closed his eyes.

And kept right on walking.

Thirty

THE FOLLOWING FRIDAY, one of Victoria’s associates, Nadia, rushed into Victoria’s office with an excited smile.

“Got a question for you,” she said. “I’m in the middle of the Ciotta deposition, and he just said that he recorded some phone calls between his wife and her co-worker, trying to find out if there was anything ‘flirty’ going on between them. When I asked, he admitted that neither his wife nor the co-worker knew that he was recording them.” She cocked her head. “Isn’t that wiretapping without consent? Did the guy actually just admit on the record that he committed a crime? Can we use that as leverage against him?”

Victoria considered this. “Maybe. If that does constitute an illegal wiretapping.”

“And does it?”

Victoria smiled. “No clue. But I agree it’s worth looking into. How long before you have to get back to the dep?”

Nadia checked her watch. “Two minutes.”

Hearing that, Victoria got down to business. “All right. Here’s what you’re going to do: grab Joaquin and explain the situation. Tell him I said to start his research with People versus Melongo. I know that the Illinois Supreme Court recently struck down the state eavesdropping law as overbroad, but I’m not sure how the case law has shaken out since then. That’s the first thing we need to figure out. And tell him to also check into whether there’s any kind of exception if the eavesdropper owns the phone line on which one of the parties was talking—like some kind of implied consent.”

“Got it.”

“When you get back to the dep, don’t mention the wiretap issue yet,” Victoria said. “Take another break in forty-five minutes, and then you, Joaquin, and I will discuss whether we have a move here. Sound good?”

Nadia nodded. “Yes. Thanks.”

Moments later, Will walked into her office. “I’m going to Perry’s for lunch. Do you want me to pick up your usual?”

Always a lifesaver, this man. “That would be great—thank you. And keep my schedule clear at one o’clock. I’ll need fifteen minutes to meet with Nadia and Joaquin.”

The rest of the afternoon was nonstop, between advising Nadia and finalizing a marital settlement agreement in one of Victoria’s own cases. It was after seven o’clock when she finally got home, stripped out of her suit, and changed into jeans and a flowy, sleeveless shirt. Luckily, she had a quiet evening planned. She’d probably just rent a movie since her trusty e-reader had been failing her as of late—nothing she read seemed to grab her attention these days.