Justice

CHAPTER ONE


PERFECTION


Three Years Later…



Why did she have to be so perfect?

Glossy red hair, curves in all the right places, dimples when she smiles—which is all the time—and soulful green eyes. Even a perfect sparking personality. The woman spends all day saving sick children, then goes home to her equally perfect daughter to be Supermom. How the hell can I compete with that?

They are a sight to see, with him more breathtaking than her. Blonde hair, lean body, bright blue eyes, strong jaw, and cleft chin just ripe for caressing. The soon-to-be first Lord and Lady of Galilee Falls. In a month, I’ll lose him to the most perfect woman who ever walked the earth. Perfect.

Dobbs, Justin’s butler, pours me another flute of champagne, which I down with one gulp. It’ll take about five more of these before this evening becomes manageable. I don’t even know why I’m here. Like I want to meet Rebecca’s mother. She’s a brown haired version of her daughter, probably in her late fifties and nary a gray hair. Sure she has a few wrinkles near her eyes and laugh lines, but the age fairy has pretty much passed her by. If Mom’s any indication, perfect Rebecca will probably be fucking perfect even in the grave. So unfair.

They sit on the eighteenth century blue French silk couch that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, royalty in their own right. They ignore the champagne in their hands, instead grinning as Rebecca’s three-year-old daughter Daisy draws a duck or malformed tree or something. From the looks on the adults’ faces, you’d think the kid was painting the Sistine Chapel.

We’ve gathered tonight to welcome Marnie, Rebecca’s mother who will be staying until the wedding in a month. For the third time tonight I ask myself why I’m here. I can’t come up with an answer. I’ve been up since two in the morning after working a triple homicide in Diablo’s Ward. Half the time was in the field interviewing the usual pillars of the community like the junkie clients of the deceased, and the other half was in a cramped room grilling the dead dealer’s supplier. My partner Cam and I finally broke him, but it took twice as long as I thought it would.

I considered flaking out but promised I’d be part of the welcoming committee. I try to be a woman of my word. Apparently Rebecca’s been telling her mother all about me, and Marnie was just dying to meet me. The bride-to-be is under the impression that since I’m Justin’s best friend, then I must be hers too. She even joked that they had a fight over if I would be the best man or the maid of honor. I didn’t believe it for a second. They’re too perfect to fight.

“Is that a duck?” Justin asks in that baritone voice that commands attention.

“Yep,” Daisy answers. “It’s Super-Duck!”

“Really? What are its superpowers?” Rebecca asks.

“It quacks!” Daisy answers.

“That is a very good power,” Marnie says with a smile. She looks at me, and I plaster a fake smile that fools them every time. Lots of practice, thank you very much. Marnie saunters toward me. “So, you’re a detective?”

“Youngest ever to work the Priority Homicide Squad,” Justin says with pride.

“That must be difficult. All those dead bodies. I can’t even imagine it,” Marnie says.

“I have a strong stomach.”

“And you two met as children?”

“Twenty years,” Justin says.

“Jesus, that long?” I say with a fake sneer.

“How did you two meet?” Marnie asks.

I swig the once again full champagne. “I was trying to kill myself on his bridge, and he stopped me.”

Marine’s face falls. “Oh. I’m sorry I—”

“Oh, don’t worry. I got over it.”

“Jo…” Justin says reproachfully.

“Well, we all go through our rough times,” Marnie says, patting my hand. “What matters is you made it through it. And much stronger I bet. You were so young, though.”

“Twelve, but I’ve always been precocious.”

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

“Mom,” Rebecca warns.

“It’s okay. My father had just been murdered. It seemed like a good idea at the time.” I smile at Justin, who smiles back. “And I got a best friend out of it, so there you go.”

“They’ve been inseparable ever since,” Rebecca adds.

The fake smile resurfaces. They’ve known each other all of a year, and she’s talking like we’ve been the Three Musketeers forever. Was she there when he swam out too far and almost drowned? Was she there when he was accused of cheating in Algebra and was suspended? Was she there when Pendergast Industries was sued for tax fraud and almost went under? No, she wasn’t. I was. I called the ambulance, I ditched school those three days and played video games with him, and I listened to hours of boring financial crap while he tried to figure out what happened. Me. I’d point this out, but I’d sound bratty. God, I need more booze.