The Tower

Chapter 38

Jade continued to chew ice. It helped to keep him focused. He cooled himself by running the cup across his forehead occasionally, enjoying the drops of water that rolled down his face.

"You want something to drink?" he asked Travers. He got up, peeling his bare back from the couch.

"Sure. Iced tea?"

"Water."

"Water's fine."

She heard the shoveling of ice cubes and sighed. She didn't know how much more ice crunching she could endure.

"We're at a standstill," she said when he returned.

"What are you talking about? We just figured out his pattern, what he's doing."

"Yeah, but how does that help us in catching him? In stopping him?"

Jade looked at her disdainfully. The doorbell rang, and he left to answer it without responding to her question.

Tony smiled broadly as he pushed past Jade and walked into the entranceway. "There's these two sperm swimming. And they're exhausted. They've been at it forever, seems like hours. Finally, one turns to the other and says, 'Hey! How much longer we got?' Other sperm looks back at him and says. 'Who you kidding? We just got past the esophagus!'" His laughter started as soon as he finished the joke.

Jade laughed, three notes descending the scale.

"Aren't you going to ask me in?" Tony said.

"You are in."

"Farther in?"

"Would you like to come farther in?" Jade asked flatly, turning his back on Tony and heading to the living room.

"Why certainly. I'd be delighted." Jade watched Tony's face when he saw Travers sitting on the floor. He could tell Tony was impressed by her.

"You didn't tell me your partner was here," he said.

"One of your friends, I'm surprised he doesn't think I'm the maid," Travers shot back without looking up.

Tony turned to face Jade, his eyebrows raised. "And all the charm of a rottweiler."

"Rabid," Jade said. "A rabid rottweiler."

Travers kept flipping pages.

Tony took a step back and pointedly looked Jade up and down. A pair of ripped shorts, no shirt, no shoes and socks. "You didn't have to get all dressed up just because I was coming over."

Jade grabbed the leg of his shorts. "What, this old thing?" he said.

Travers smiled, but still refused to look up.

"I gotta hop in the shower," Jade said. "Play nice with the rottweiler." He disappeared down the hall.

Tony sat down heavily on the couch. "So. I see you've met the ever unpredictable Jade Marlow."

Travers looked up at Tony and studied him carefully. There was a softness to his face, and she wasn't surprised to see the wedding band on his finger. She decided she liked him. "You could say I've had the pleasure."

"Frustrating, huh?"

"And more. Sometimes he's impossible. I take that back. He's always impossible."

Tony laughed and extended his hand. "Tony Razzoni."

"I know. You're one of the only people he talks about civilly. Anyone else I figure he would've shot at the door."

"I've dodged a few of his bullets," Tony said. He chuckled. "He's very intense."

Travers slammed down the file she'd been studying. "Intense? About what? About himself? He doesn't give a shit about anything else. The victims, the families-nothing."

She immediately regretted her outburst, embarrassed to be showing emotion about someone she presumably didn't like.

Tony ran his hand over the stubble on his chin, and looked at her knowingly. She hated that he knew Jade was under her skin.

"I met a guy a few years back, ran track with Jade at UCLA," he said. "Said Jade trained like nobody else-put in five-hour practices six days a week. In his junior year, he was a strong candidate for team captain. That's rare, you know, for a junior. The night of the election, he didn't show up. Most guys woulda killed to be captain, but he didn't even show up. Guy I talked to said he just didn't want it. But I think he was afraid of the responsibility, didn't want to run the risk of letting anyone down." Tony paused for so long that Travers thought he was done with the story.

"He won every single regular season meet in his junior and senior years. And he knew he would, the guy said. Even back when he missed that election on purpose."

Tony looked away from her, leaning back and spreading his arms across the top of the couch. "Guess he just didn't care, huh?"

They sat in silence, Travers flipping through a criminal psychology textbook and Tony picking at his nails.