3
"What's wrong, Jack?" Gia said. "You're not yourself today."
His mood concerned her. He'd come in looking tired and worn-out but hadn't wanted to say much. She hadn't told him yesterday about the near miss by that truck; Vicky had been around and Gia hadn't wanted to frighten her. Considering his mood, maybe this wasn't the right time either.
He sat slumped in an overstuffed armchair before the TV. It was tuned to a cable news channel. He looked up and gave her a wan smile.
"You mean, not my usual life-of-the-party self?"
"You'll never be the life of the party, but you seem like you're a hundred miles away. And I know what that means."
"It's not what you think."
She'd seen him like this before and she did know.
"One of your fix-its isn't going well, right?"
He straightened in the chair and motioned her closer. When she got within reach he took her hand and guided her onto his lap. He slipped his arms around her and nuzzled her throat.
"I have no fix-its in progress."
His breath tickled so she pulled back a few inches and looked at him. "I thought you said you were running two."
"'Were' is right. They're done. It's just that things didn't turn out so good for one of my customers."
That had such an ominous tone. They had agreed last year that Jack would give her no more than a vague outline of what he was up to. He didn't feel he should name names or give specifics about what people had entrusted to him. And that was fine with Gia. She'd worry if she were privy to the details.
All she knew about these jobs was that one had to d0 with a blackmailer and the other with finding a missing son for his mother.
"Is he all right?"
"Let's not talk about it. It's over."
If it's really over, she thought, then why are you like this? But she knew better than to ask.
"At least we still have a healthy, thriving baby."
This morning's follow-up ultrasound had shown, in Dr. Eagleton's words, "a perfectly normal twenty-week fetus."
Fetus? She remembered thinking. That's no fetus, that's my baby.
Jack's arms tightened around her. "Wasn't that great to see him moving and sucking his thumb? God, it's amazing."
"Him? They still don't know the sex."
"Yeah, but I do. I—"
She felt Jack tense. Without releasing her he reached for the TV remote. As the sound came up she heard something about a woman entombed in concrete.
"… confirmed the remains as those of missing New York reporter Jamie Grant. Sources say early indications are that she was buried alive in the concrete.""
"Oh, God!" Gia said. "How awful."
Jack made no comment. His gaze remained fixed on the screen. He seemed hypnotized.
"Symbols molded into the concrete column have been identified as similar to those found throughout the world in temples of the Dormentalist Church, and the mold for the pillar was discovered hidden in a New Jersey concrete company owned by a member of the church's High Council.
"Ms. Grant was a respected journalist and a fearless critic of the Dormentalist Church. Her murder has sent Shockwaves throughout the world of journalism. We mourn her passing."
"Wait a minute," Gia said, straightening and looking at Jack. "Wait just a minute. Didn't you say that the son you were looking for was a Dormentalist?"
Jack continued to stare at the screen. "Did I say that?"
"Yes, you did. I remem—"
He tightened his bear hug. "Just a sec. Look who's doing a perp walk."
She turned back in time to see a vaguely familiar-looking man being led from a doorway to a police car.
"In a related story that may or may not be coincidence, Luther Brady, head of the Dormentalist Church, is a suspect in the murder of an ex-cop in the Bronx. He has been denied bail."
Gia swiveled to face Jack. "Did you have anything to do with this?"
It was the first time all morning she'd seen him smile.