The Finishing School

48

MELANIE SAT bolt upright on the edge of the bed. “The message light’s on.”

“So?” Dan said.

“Was it on before?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Did the phone ring while we were…?”

“Not that I remember. But a bomb coulda gone off and I wouldna noticed.” He grabbed her by the wrist. “I was just resting. You’re not done.”

“Sweetie, we’ll never be done, but we still have a case to solve.” She took her hand away and picked up the receiver, studying the complicated telephone with its profusion of buttons.

“Sweetie. I like that. You’re not too free with the endearments, you know.” He traced a finger down her back, down the curve of her behind.

“Hey, stop distracting me,” she said, shooing his hand away. “I can never figure out how these things work. Do you push the red light? Oh, wait a minute, here it is.” She pressed a small button.

“You have one unheard message,” an automated operator said.

The next voice she heard was Trevor Leonard’s.

“It’s Trevor! I knew it.” Melanie put the call on speaker, stomach churning with anxiety. Goddamnit, she couldn’t believe she’d missed this call!

“…couldn’t get away before to reach out to you,” Trevor was saying.

Dan raised himself up on his elbow, and Melanie looked at him grimly. She knew the team was covering Trevor carefully. Surveillance at the pickup location, at JFK, on the flight, at Marín Airport here in San Juan. But she couldn’t shake this sick feeling in the pit of her stomach every time she thought about Trevor. It was too easy to imagine how things could go wrong.

“I’m with Expo, but he left the room. I can only talk for a second. They’re, like, worried about surveillance, so they changed the flight. We’re gonna be coming in later, okay? I don’t have a time or a flight number or anything, but don’t worry if you don’t see me till tonight. So here’s the important part. Expo said something about meeting the connect in the bathtub at El Yunque at eleven o’clock to get the product. That’s all I know. Shit, gotta go.” And he hung up.

“Meeting the connect in El what?” Dan asked.

“El Yunque. It’s a rain forest, maybe forty-five minutes from here. But the bathtub? I don’t know what that means.”

“We’ll find out. Holy shit. If we can surveil the hand-to-hand and then move in and pop ’em, how great would that be? I got to give you credit, sweetheart. This kid Trevor is coming through for us big time. You were really right about him.”

“Yeah, but don’t you think he sounded…I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Stressed?” she said.

“Absolutely. Anybody sneaking a phone call in the middle of an undercover who’s not stressed is a fucking idiot.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Dan pulled on his clothes and grabbed his gun from the dresser top. Mira, that body. She couldn’t even let herself look. She was crazy for this man, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing if work came between them for the moment and slowed down their mad rush. Because he scared her to death. Not to mention distracted her.

“I’m gonna want backup from the locals,” Dan was saying.

“Of course. I want this surveilled every step of the way, too. We’ve got our witness on the line here. Let’s get Albano on the phone and have him make the call. Time to pull rank. We need all the help we can get.”

“Not ‘we.’ You’re staying here,” Dan said firmly.

“And get an herbal wrap at the spa while my witness is in danger? I don’t think so. Plus, Carmen Reyes is still missing, and I promised her father I’d find her. We’ll never do that if we don’t nail Expo.”

Melanie got up and searched through her suitcase, which sat open on a stand waiting to be unpacked. What did you wear to surveil a drug deal? She chose black pants and a black wrap shirt for their dark color. Fading into the underbrush would be key.

“Sweetheart, I’m serious,” Dan said. “You’re here for the legal end. We need you safe to draft charges and get the scumbags extradited after we arrest ’em. I’m not letting you walk into a hand-to-hand in a fucking rain forest late at night. I mean, these guys down here, they don’t fuck around. They got AK-47s and dogs, as a matter of routine.”

She knew that Dan was right. But the thought of sitting in the hotel with no control over what happened to Trevor Leonard was simply intolerable. Bernadette had told her no cops-and-robbers stuff. But Bernadette had also said not to let Trevor out of her sight, and Melanie had a selective memory.

“So I won’t get right in the middle of the surveillance,” she conceded. “But you’re not leaving me here.”

Somebody knocked loudly on the door. Melanie tied her shirt closed, then went to look through the peephole.

“It’s Bridget,” she reported over her shoulder in a low tone.

“Shit.”

“What should I tell her?” Melanie whispered.

“I don’t know, but don’t let her in.”

He was right. With the tangled sheets and Melanie’s clothes still strewn across the floor, sex was in the air. Bridget would figure it out instantly.

Bridget knocked again. Leaving the chain on, Melanie opened the door a crack.

“Hey, Bridget,” she said.

“Hey. I was about to give up. Were you in the shower?” Bridget asked.

“Yes, actually. I’m still getting dressed. What is it?”

“I just got an update from Ray-Ray, wanted to fill you in. They lost track of Trevor temporarily-”

“Oh, my God! You’re kidding me!”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“Jesus, Bridget, how could that happen?”

“It wasn’t their fault, really. They were told to hang back so they wouldn’t hink anybody up. They weren’t planning on the fact that this Pavel LNU character is a talented countersurveillance driver. But not to worry. Pavel’s vehicle was last observed bound for Brooklyn on the Williamsburg Bridge, so we’re sure they’re gonna get on the BQE and head to JFK. We got the airport swarming with guys. We’ll pick up the scent there, I’m positive.”

“I just got a voice mail from Trevor. I’m not sure when he left it, though. Could’ve been from earlier,” Melanie said.

“Really? What’s he say?”

“He gave me the time and location of a possible hand-to-hand later tonight.”

“Great. That’s excellent. So, worst-case scenario, we get him back in our sights then.”

“I’ll tell you all about it. Just let me finish getting dressed, and then I’ll meet you down at the bar. Because we have to get on top of this. I’m very upset that Trevor’s out of pocket. Very upset.”

“Yeah, I understand. Hey, you haven’t seen Dan, have you? I can’t find him, and he’s not answering his pager.”

“No, but if I see him, I’ll tell him to meet us there, too.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be down in two minutes,” Melanie said, and closed the door.

She turned back to Dan. “Did you hear that? Can you believe it? We have to do something!”

He walked over to her and looked down at her indulgently. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” she said, looking up at him with blazing eyes. “It’ll be okay if we make it okay.”

He stepped back. “You’re right. So let’s move. You call New York and have the lieutenant get us some reinforcements to cover the hand-to-hand tonight. I’ll take Bridget and go scout out the location. Now, this is just a suggestion, missy, so don’t get all bent out of shape that I’m telling you what to do. But it would make sense for you to stay put and coordinate things. At least for now.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I agree.”

“You do?”

They locked eyes. She couldn’t help thinking about what they’d been doing a few minutes earlier. She could tell he was thinking about the same thing.

“Yeah,” she said, with a smile and a toss of her head. “But don’t get used to it.”