Tender Is The Night(20)

"Yes. I'm trying to speak your language. And my dad talks a lot in  baseball metaphors. He also played in high school and college. I can't  tell you how many times he said, 'Kate, you can't steal second with one  foot on the base.'"

"That's what he said to you?"

"To me and to every other one of my siblings. He wanted me to understand that there's little reward without some risk."

"So you get some of your fearless instincts from your dad."

"Definitely. He was a firefighter. He liked impossible challenges; he  still does. Right now he's trying to convince my mom to go on some  crazy-ass, two-thousand mile bike ride across two states."

"They bike?"

"No, they don't bike, except to ride around town or the bay. But he saw  this trip and he's convinced they should start training for it. He's a  little bored in retirement. My mom told him no way, but I have a feeling  he's going to wear her down." She paused. "Getting back to you-"

"Let's not get back to me. Let's get back to the apartment and use our  resources to track down two former students from St. Bernadette's."

"Okay, fine, but I'm going to buy you a cookie on the way out to celebrate."

"Knock yourself out."





Ten


Kate didn't just buy Devin a huge oatmeal raisin cookie at the Bird's  View Café; she also grabbed some ready-made sandwiches and salads to  have for lunch later. She had a feeling they were going to be buried in  research for the next few hours.

She knew Devin thought she jumped a little too fast into optimism, and  maybe she did, but she felt good about the new leads. Since she'd  arrived, she'd been able to help Devin cover new ground, and she really  hoped that new ground was leading them in the right direction.

Devin pulled into his garage, and then they walked back out to the  street to go into the building. Before they could hit the stairs, a  woman called Devin's name.

"Shit," he muttered.

"You know her?" she asked as a dark-haired woman wearing a short dress and high heels approached them.

"Devin. I've been calling you for days," she said. Her gaze turned on  Kate, her eyes filling with anger. "Who's this? Is she the reason you  haven't been calling me back?"

"No," he said evenly. "This is Agent Kate Callaway from the FBI."

"Oh," the woman said, taken aback. "I thought … I'm sorry." She looked at  Kate. "I'm Valerie Parker. Has there been a break in Sam's case?"

Kate immediately surmised that with the same last name, Val was Sam's  sister or some kind of relative. Before she could answer the question,  Devin jumped in.

"There was a new fire on Monday," he said. "I asked the Bureau for help, and they sent Kate."

"A new fire?" she echoed in surprise. "Where?"

"St. Bernadette's Catholic High School."

"Another school," Val murmured. "Are you sure this one is tied into the others, because last time-"

"I think it's tied in," he said, cutting her off. "So we're a little busy right now, Val. Can we talk another time?"

"This isn't about us, Devin. It's about my mother. She is losing it.  Over the past few months, she's gotten more and more depressed. She  doesn't even get up or get dressed some days. And you know what she asks  me every single time I see her? 'Have you heard from Devin? Is there  any news?'"

Devin took a quick breath, and Kate could see that Val's words had  stabbed him like a knife. She suddenly saw something she hadn't seen  before. Devin wasn't just fighting this battle for himself; he was  fighting it for Sam's family.

"I'm working as hard as I can," Devin said evenly.

"She's counting on you to get justice."

"I know that."

"And I know you're busy, but could you go by and visit her? I think it  would really help. If she sees you, talks to you, she'll feel better  again. She'll know that you'll keep going until you catch Sam's killer. I  wouldn't ask you to take the time if I wasn't really worried about  her."

"I'll try to get over there in the next few days."

"How about this afternoon?"

"Val-"

"My father is out of town on business. He's been traveling a lot lately.  My mother escapes into her pills and her sleep, and my dad stays on the  road. It's hard to watch my family disintegrate, Devin. I know I  haven't been the best daughter, certainly not as good as Sam was, but  I'm trying to help them, and I'm at my wits' end. It's just been going  on so long. It seems like we'll never get to the truth, and I think  that's why my mother is getting worse. She's giving up. She needs to see  that you haven't given up."         

     



 

Devin slowly nodded, his jaw tight. "I'll go over there this afternoon."

Relief flooded Val's eyes. "Thank you." Val looked back at Kate. "Sorry to interrupt."

Kate shrugged and offered a compassionate smile. "It's fine."

"Devin, I'll see you soon." With that parting reminder, Val walked briskly across the street and disappeared around the corner.

Devin headed up the stairs and Kate quickly followed him into the apartment and down the hall.

She set the food down on the table by their computers and said, "So, do you want to tell me about Sam's family?"

"Not really," he said, taking a seat.

She gazed at his hard, guarded expression and knew she was going to piss  him off, but she couldn't let him keep her at a distance, not when the  subject matter had to do with the case.

"You said Sam was your partner, nothing more, but that's not really true, is it?"

"It's true," he said, meeting her gaze. "Sam and I were not having sex.  We were not romantically involved. I don't know how else to say it."

"Then it was Val. You were involved with her sister. When she first came  up to us, she said, 'this isn't about me or about us.' That implies  there was an us-as in you and her."

Devin dug into the bag she'd brought from the café. "Is this sandwich up for grabs?"

"Yes. I'm having the salad, and you still have to answer the question."

As Devin unwrapped his turkey and cranberry on ciabatta bread, he said,  "Val and I hooked up a couple of times. It wasn't a relationship."

"Did she know that?"

Devin shot her a dark look. "She knew exactly what was going on."

"Sometimes men think women are on the same page, but they're not."

"We both knew what was going on, and we both knew it was a bad idea. Val and I were not a good match."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "We didn't have anything in common, except maybe a tendency to blow up our lives every so often."

"How long did it last?"

"A few weeks."

She frowned. "If it was that short, how did you get to be almost like a son to Val's mother?"

He chewed and swallowed, then said, "Sam and I met at Quantico. We were  in the same class, and we were instant friends. Over the years, she'd  take me home with her on holidays, and her family treated me like one of  their own. It was a lot more fun to be with them than to be with my  mother and her second family and all her second husband's relatives. I  never felt like I fit in there."

"So you knew Val a long time, too."

"I'd see her occasionally on those holidays, but she wasn't always  around. She was younger than Sam. First she was away at college, then  she was living in Dallas for work. She had a boyfriend for a couple of  years, who always came with her to Christmas. I never thought of her as  anything more than Sam's little sister. But when Sam and I came to the  city to work on the arson fires, I ran into her one night in a bar. We  had too much to drink and one thing led to another."

"What did Sam think about it?"

He shook his head. "She was pissed. She told me I was crazy and that she  couldn't imagine two people who were worse for each other. She didn't  like that I'd gotten involved with her sister, and thought it was going  to complicate all our lives. She was right. It was a disaster."

"Did you break up before or after Sam died?"

"A few days before. Like I said, it wasn't a relationship. We hooked up like three or four times."

Kate gave him a long, speculative look.

"What?" he asked.

"There's something you're not telling me."

"I can't think of anything. I answered your questions."

"But I haven't asked you the right question yet, have I?"

He took another bite of his sandwich and gave her what appeared to be an  uncaring shrug, but she could see the tension in his body.

"Val has something to do with Sam's death," she guessed.

He set down his sandwich and got up to get a drink out of the refrigerator.

When he sat back down again, she said, "You weren't with Sam the day she  died. You said you had to meet someone, and that's why you didn't pick  up her call and that's why you were late getting her message. You were  meeting Val, weren't you?"

He stared back at her with pain in his eyes. "Yes. She'd been calling me  all day, saying she just wanted to talk to me, and I should hear her  out. So I went to meet her. She was upset about a lot of things besides  just me. When I finally got out of the bar, I listened to Sam's message.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to the house, it was engulfed in  flames. The fire department was already on their way inside."