Together Again(90)
Margo walked out of her office and saw Tony at the door of Jeff’s office. Jeff was smiling as they shook hands, then he clapped Tony on the back in one of those pseudo-guy hugs. Tony saw she was watching and came across to her office.
“What’re you doing here, detectivo?”
“Playing messenger. What’re you up to, avocatessa?”
“Trying unsuccessfully to get back into my routine. Dinner in town or at my place?”
“Your place. I’ll meet you outside the Justice Center at six.” He leaned over and for the first time, kissed her in her office.
• • •
The next day Tony left for Philly. At the airport, they stood outside security with their arms around each other until he couldn’t put off going through to his gate any longer. She watched him walk down the concourse until he was out of sight, and then went home to have the cry she’d been suppressing all morning.
The case she was to take to court that Friday ended up with a continuance, irritating her because she had counted on it to distract her. Over the next few weeks she talked to Tony every evening she could, given different time zones and the demands of their jobs, and emailed or texted during the day. But she missed waking up in the morning with him next to her and she looked up, expecting him to appear every time she heard a man’s footsteps coming toward her office.
Eventually her caseload picked up and she was able to bury herself in work. Unfortunately, that also meant that a trip to Philly wasn’t going to happen any time soon. A month after he left, Margo was cross-checking her schedule with flights to any East Coast city within train distance of Philadelphia when Jeff came into her office to tell her they would be taking the Russians to a grand jury the following week and both she and Tony would be called as witnesses. He’d be in town for as long as the grand jury needed him.
Jeff was about to leave when he said, “Oh, I have something that was delivered here for him. Would you give it to him? I imagine you’ll see him before I do.” He handed her a business-sized envelope, gave her an enigmatic smile and left.
Margo fingered the envelope. It was thin, probably only one page. She inspected the front. It bore the seal of the city of Portland and was addressed to Detective Anthony S. Alessandro. There was no address. No stamp or postmark. She flipped it over. It was sealed.
She put it down on her desk and picked up the deposition she’d been reading before Jeff had come in. But the envelope drew her attention to it in spite of her best efforts to resist, beckoning to her like new shoes in the window of Nordstrom’s, or the smell of coffee in the morning, or brownies baking or …
The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts of things that tempted her. She stuffed the envelope in her messenger bag and answered the call. She got so involved in the conversation she forgot about what was buried in her briefcase.
• • •
On the evening Tony was due to arrive in Portland, Margo was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner when her cell phone rang.
She glanced at the number then eagerly answered. “Hey, you. Are you about to leave Chicago?”
“Not exactly.”
“Oh, please don’t tell me you missed your connection. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day.”
“Maybe we can do something about that. Go to the door, sugar.”