Second Chance

Chapter 65

WE RODE IN THE BACK of the EMS truck with Jill to the hospital, ran alongside the gurney as they wheeled her up to obstetrics, and waited as her doctors tried to save the child.

As they moved her into the OR,, she gripped my hand.

“They always seem to win,” she murmured. “No matter how many of these bastards you put away, they always find a way to win.”

Cindy had rushed down, and the three of us hung there waiting to see Jill. About two hours later, her husband, Steve, hurried in. We exchanged some awkward hugs, and part of me wanted to tell him, Don't you fucking realize this baby was for you? When the doctor came out, we let them be alone.

Jill was right. She had lost the baby. They called it a placental abruption, made worse from the stress of the job. The only good news was that the fetus had been removed surgically. Jill hadn't had to deliver it.

Afterward, Claire, Cindy and I filed out of the hospital onto California Street. No one wanted to go home. There was this Japanese place nearby that Cindy knew. We went there and sat around drinking beer and sake.

It was hard to accept that Jill, who worked tirelessly at the office, who rock-climbed at Moab and biked the rough terrain in Sedona, had twice been denied a child.

“The poor girl's just too damn hard on herself.” Claire sighed, warming her hands with her sake cup. “We all told her she had to ratchet it down.”

“Jill doesn't have that gear,” said Cindy -.

I picked up a California roll and turned it over an dover in the sauce. “She did it to please Steve. You could see it on her face. She keeps that impossible schedule. She doesn't give anything up. And he's running around the country willing investment bankers.”

“She loves him,” protested Cindy. “They're a team.”

"They're not a team, Cindy. Claire and Edmund are a team. The two of them, they're in a race.

“It's true,” Claire agreed. “That girl always has to be number one. The girl can't fail.”

“So which one of us is any different?” Cindy asked. She looked around. Waited.

There was a moment of protracted silence. Our gazes met with contrite smiles.

“But it's deeper than that,” I said. “Jill's different. She's tough as nails, but in her heart she feels alone. Any of us could be where she is now. We're not invincible. Except you, Claire. You have this mechanism that just keeps it together, you and Edmund and your kids, like that fucking battery rabbit, on and on and on.” Claire smiled. “Someone has to provide the balance around here. You saw your dad last night, didn't you?”

I nodded. “It went pretty well. I guess. We talked, we got some things out.” “No fisticuffs?” Cindy asked.

“No fisticuffs.” I smiled. “When I opened the door, he had on a catcher's mask. I'm serious.”

Claire and Cindy laughed out loud.

“He brought me this bottle of wine. Fancy French first-growth. Nineteen sixty-five. He bought it the year I was born. Kept it all these years. How do you figure that? He never even knew if he'd ever see me again.” “He knew he'd see you again,” Claire said with a smile.

She sipped her sake. “You're his beautiful daughter. He loves you.” “So how'd you leave it, Lindsay?” Cindy asked.

“I guess you could say we agreed to a second date. Actually, I told him he could stay with me for a while.”

Cindy and Claire both blinked.

“We told you to loosen up and see him, Lindsay.”

Cindy snorted. “Not ask him to share the rent.”

“What can I tell you? He was camped out on someone's couch. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“It is, honey.” Claire smiled. "Here's to you.

“Uh-uh.” I shook my head. “Here's to Jill.” “Yeah, here's to Jill,” Cindy said, lifting her beer.

We all clinked. Then it was quiet for a moment or two.

“I don't mean to change the subject,” Cindy said, “but you want to share where you are on the case?”

I nodded. “We're looking into the Chimera names Warden Estes gave us. But today I came up with a new theory.”

“New theory?” Cindy wrinkled her brow.

I nodded. "Look, this guy's a trained shooter.

He's made no mistakes. He's been one step ahead of us on every move. He knows how we work."

Cindy and Claire were listening. Not a word. I told them what Weiscz had said to me. An inside job.

“What if Chimera isn't a crazy racist killer from one of these radical groups?” I leaned forward. “What if he's a cop?”