The Devil's Elixir

10

COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA

Tess couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

At first, she’d been elated to get Reilly’s call. It was never easy when he was out on a live assignment, not knowing where he was or how much danger he was really in. And at those times, his name showing up on her caller ID never failed to make her heart soar. She’d felt the same anxiety tonight, not knowing why he was out in San Diego, not knowing what level of threat required his immediate presence, and she was about to call him when his call lit up her screen. She’d felt the same visceral uplift at hearing his voice, the same surge of relief and joy—only this time, the surge proved short-lived.

She knew he was doing his best to massage her feelings and, to his credit, the words he used were carefully chosen and sensitively delivered, but it was still one hell of a bombshell, and despite all his efforts, she couldn’t help feeling torn and pulled in all directions and dragged through a wringer of sadness, heartache, sympathy, melancholy, pain, and, yes, much as she hated the feeling—a touch of jealousy.

By the end of it, she felt dazed, emotionally pummeled, and physically exhausted, and her heart broke into even smaller pieces at the thought that however low she was feeling, the man she loved was surely feeling far worse.

And at the top of that whole tower of heartache, of course, was a young mother who’d just lost the rest of her life and a four-year-old boy who’d just watched his mother die.

There was really only one thing she could think of saying.

“I’ll fly out in the morning,” she told Reilly, her tone even and subdued and not really leaving any room for debate.

He didn’t argue either.

“You all right?” Villaverde asked me as I stepped back into his office.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling an unfamiliar, cold hollowness inside. I glanced out the glass partition at Alex and said, “Let’s get the kid out of here. But after we get him tucked into bed, I need to do something.”

“Shoot.”

“Michelle’s place,” I told Villaverde. “I want to see it.”