Azrael by William L. DeAndrea

Author:William L. DeAndrea [DeAndrea, William L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-9130-6
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-10-30T21:41:00+00:00

Chapter Three

TINA CALLED HIM UP and asked him over for dinner. Joe said he’d be there. He was tempted to tease her about it, since he’d asked her out a couple of times already, only to be told it “isn’t time yet,” but something in her voice made him decide against it. If this was another step out of her depression over the baby’s death, Joe Albright wasn’t about to smartmouth her back into her shell.

He smiled at himself. Thinking like a social worker now. FBI—Friendly Busybodies Interfering.

He stopped smiling when he realized he should probably clear this with Trotter. He did it because those were orders, and Joe had a healthy respect for orders. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Trotter anymore.

Trotter had murdered that dude. He was very polite about it, sending Albright away so he could honestly say he hadn’t seen anything nasty, but that was just a technicality. Wasn’t fooling anybody. The guy might have been a Russian spy, and he might have been trying to kill Trotter, but Trotter had him down and helpless.

Sooner or later, Rines would have to know about this. If Rines told him to forget about it, Joe would have to see. He had no fondness for Russian spies, but these were not the rules they’d told him about when he’d joined the Bureau.

In the meantime, he’d do his job, watch his ass, and hope for the best.

Trotter wasn’t home. Joe left a voice-code message on his machine. He wasn’t at the office, either. Joe left a message there, too. Next he tried Washington, to let Rines know where he was going to be, and couldn’t get him, either. It was beginning to be a drag.

Joe hooked up this electronic gizmo they’d given him and recorded a message on it. Trotter and Rines had little beeper things that would make it play back over the phone for them. They were supposed to be the only two people in the world who had devices that could make the right beeps, but Joe left the message in code just in case.

On the way to Tina’s apartment, he passed a flower shop with a parking space in front. On impulse, he stopped, dashed in, and bought a mixed bouquet of daisies and something pink he didn’t know the name of. “Here you go, Mr. Albright,” the florist said.

Joe looked at him.

“Saw your picture in the paper. Welcome to Kirkester.”

Joe thanked him and left. Tina let him in almost before he rang the door bell. When he handed her the flowers, she began to cry.

“These are tears of joy, right?” he said hopefully.

Tina nodded. She looked up at him, and he could see a smile behind the tears.

“Nobody ever gave you flowers before,” Joe guessed.

“I used to think the only flowers I’d ever get’d be at my funeral,” Tina said, and started to cry again. “Thank you, Joe. I—I—thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“I’d better go put these in water,” she said. She stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek, then ran for the kitchen as if for her life.

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