The Gentlemen's Hour

153

Boone takes her to Crystal Pier.

Her place is a yellow-taped crime scene, and she probably shouldn’t go back there soon, anyway. For a change, she doesn’t argue, just gets into a cab with him, and then lets him escort her into his home.

“Would you like a drink, Pete?”

She sits on the couch. “What do you have?”

“I have some wine in here somewhere,” he says, rooting through the cabinet under the kitchen sink. “I have beer and maybe some tequila.”

“A beer would be lovely, thanks.”

Boone pops open a beer, sits beside her on the couch, and hands her the bottle. She lifts it to her lips and takes a long drink, looking at him with wide eyes. He’s a little concerned that she’s in shock. “You want to talk about it, Pete?”

“There’s not a lot to say, really. I did what I had to do, that’s all.”

“You saved Johnny’s life.”

“Not before he saved mine,” she says. “I owe him a great deal.”

We both do, Boone thinks, and it makes him sad. They’d seen Johnny as they were leaving the precinct and he was coming in. He asked if Petra was all right, then thanked her, then looked at Boone and said, “None of this changes things between you and me.”

Boone didn’t answer him, just wrapped his arm around Pete’s shoulders and walked her out. But he’ll always be grateful to Johnny for going over to Pete’s. If he hadn’t . . . Boone doesn’t want to think about that “if.”

“Pete,” he says gently, “I’m going to assume this is the first time you’ve ever—”

“Killed someone?” she asks. “You can say it.”

“It isn’t an easy thing to deal with,” Boone says. “Even when you didn’t have a choice. You might want to think about . . . seeing someone . . . you know, to talk it out.”

“Why do I think you’ve been on the receiving end of that speech?” she asks.

“If I’d known,” Boone says, “that the cartels were in this, I’d never have involved you. And I’m really sorry.”

“I’m not,” she says. “I’m not sorry at all.”

Her remarkable violet eyes are wide and wet.

He leans over, takes the bottle from her hand, and sets it down. Then he pulls her close and wraps his arms around her.

She puts her face into his chest and sobs.