Flawless (New York Confidential #1)(79)

“Your chariot awaits, Miss Finnegan. I’m at your disposal,” he said. “No problem with getting to work late?”

“I helped with a situation yesterday, so I’m sure they’ll comp me the time.”

Once they were in the car, Kieran excused herself to Mike and put a call through to the office to ask Jake to explain to their employers why she was going to be late.

Dr. Miro took the phone from Jake almost immediately. “Kieran? I gather you’ll be in late today.”

“Yes. I hope it’s all right.”

“You take all the time you need. I just heard from Tanya Lee Hampton’s attorney, and Tanya is out on bail, reunited with her children for the time being. You did that, didn’t you? How on earth did you manage it?”

Kieran looked over and saw Mike’s curious eyes on her. Dr. Miro’s voice seemed to be exceptionally loud; he could probably hear her. “I, um, know some good people,” she told Dr. Miro. “Of course, if she doesn’t show for her court date, I’ll be down one friend.”

“She’ll show. I have no doubt of it. I understand you have to redo your report?”

Kieran winced at that. She’d hated lying to Ms. Terry, but she’d had no choice. Now she had to deal with the consequences of that lie.

“I just need to add a few more details,” Kieran murmured.

“Fine. You take all the time you need this morning. If you can give me that finished report by this afternoon, that will be fine,” Dr. Miro said.

“Of course,” Kieran agreed.

Mike was still watching her as she hung up. She glanced over at him. “A client my bosses took on pro bono. Dr. Miro is passionate about helping abused women.”

“So why is she the one in jail?” Mike asked.

“She, um, she cut off her husband’s penis.”

“And she was the abused one?” Mike said, startled.

“No, she was arrested for that. She called 911 right away. Saved his life and his penis.”

“How...nice,” Mike said.

“Believe me, if you knew what he’d done to her, you’d applaud what she did.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m sure you deal with some pretty awful stuff,” he told her.

“So do you.”

“Yep. But sometimes we get to make it right.” He grinned at her and nodded toward a neon ticker tape on the building they were passing. “‘Any decent person would lend a hand,’” he said.

She groaned. “Why couldn’t I have thought of something else to say?”

“You saved a woman’s life.”

“Only fair, since it turns out I was the intended victim,” she said. “Trust me, I’m no hero. I just reacted without thinking.”

Mike smiled. “Hey, courage is a strange thing. It’s stupidity, not courage, to put yourself in danger without considering the consequences. Courage, as we’ve all heard, is doing the right thing even when we’re afraid.”

She grinned at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You and Craig are pretty stupid,” she teased.

He grinned back. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. Then he studied her again. “I’m glad my boy has found you. I hope that, as stupid as he may be, he’s smart enough to keep you.”

Kieran stared back at him, a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, but also glad that she’d earned Mike’s approval.

“Thanks,” she said simply.

They had reached the hospital by then, and he pulled up in front and started to get out of the car.

“Oh, Mike, we can’t park here,” she began, then cut herself off. “I keep forgetting. You guys can park anywhere.”

“Just about,” he told her cheerfully.

She noticed that he stayed close to her as they walked inside, and she smiled. Stupidity, maybe. But of the nicest possible kind.

These guys were willing to take a bullet for her.

She prayed that it never came to that.

*

Craig went home for a change of clothes and then headed into the office. He reported in to Eagan quickly, then hurried down to Wally’s office.

“I have something for you,” Wally said, picking up several sheets of paper. “Something, but not enough, I’m afraid. I have the numbers Maria Antonescu called and the numbers of the people who called her. She called her aunt at least once a day. She called Sylvia Mannerly twice a day. These numbers here...” He paused to point out several lines highlighted in pink. “...are her coworkers. I checked them all out. They’re legitimate, phones like hers, cheap with pay-as-you-go plans. There is one number from a different no-contract company, but the phone was purchased with cash.” He grimaced as he looked at Craig. “The phone is no longer active. It was only used to dial Maria. There’s no way to trace who owned it.”

“Do you know where it was purchased?”

Wally nodded. “A pharmacy in Tribeca.”

“Let me have the address. I’ll see if I can find out anything.”

Wally brightened. “I can hack into their system and find out which salesperson sold it.”

“Wally,” Craig said, shaking his head, “no hacking—not from a government office, anyway. I’ll head down there and hope the manager is a good guy. Thing is, those people probably sell these phones fairly frequently. I doubt anyone will remember who he sold this particular phone to.”