“I’m not thinking,” I tell her. “I’m numb, but not numbenough.”
“I know exactly what you mean. I do. I felt that way for months and it is different than when our parents died. There’s loss and then there’sviolation.”
I close my eyes ’cause even though I’m not even close to processing, she’s right. And fuck I miss my mom so much. “Yeah.”
“What can I do? How can Ihelp?”
“You can’t. I can’t tell you the rest. I promise I will when I can, but there’s more tothis.”
“How much more?” she asks in that mother hen tone she and I trade off when we know the other is slipping. The exact tone our momsused.
“More. It's… workrelated.”
“Work related how? The guy who broke into your place is work related? It wasn't Scott wasit?!?!”
I laugh at the leap she makes because Scott is the only person she knows from my office. “No. Scott didn't try to killme.”
“Okay good. He's kinda cute,” she says and then I hear her fiancé, Shep, grumbling in the background. “No, you don't need to fly to New York to fight anyone. Fuckingridiculous.”
“Just trust me.Okay?”
“I trust you. That doesn't mean I trust this situation, but I'm gonna give you what you need. For now. I'm keeping an eye on this, Lizzie Love. Be careful with yourself. I meanit.”
I look out the window at the reflective building across the street. “I will. I—” I turn around at the knock on my office door. “Comein.”
Deanna, one of the partner’s assistants pokes her head in the door. “Hi, Mr. Murrell wants to seeyou.”
“Thanks, Deanna. I have to go,” I tell Claudia. “I’ll call youlater.”
“Okay. I’ll call you if you don’t callme.”
“Deal.” I end the call then check myself out on the six foot horizontal mirror that hangs on the wall. I look only slightly better than I feel. I touch up my makeup, ditch the bandage wrapped around my wrist and then I head down to the partner’soffice.
Of all the partners, I hate Murrell the most. He called me a diversity hire to my face, but he stays out of my way for the most part and I love my paychecks so I try to ignore him as much as possible. I manage to recover my confidence in stride before I make it to his office, ignoring how much my toehurts.
“Lewis. Come on in,” he says the second he sees meapproaching.
I sit opposite his desk. I’m sure he’s going to ask me about the Fullerton case. I’m on top of it. He has nothing to worryabout.
“Heard you had a bit of a rough night last night,” hesays.
“Yes,” I say slowly. “There was an incident at my apartment with anintruder.”
“When you missed our meeting this morning, I asked around and McInroy seemed to be the only one who knew where youwere.”
Shit. I did forget all about that meeting. “I had to go speak with the district attorney. The… uh, intruder didn’t survive ourincident.”
Murrell’s eyes spring wide, then they soften as he sizes me up. It’s creepy as shit. He usually never looks at me directly. His eyes travel back up to mine and then his lips turn down in an impressed smirk. “So it was that kind of incident. Well if anyone could handle themselves in that kind of situation, I’m sure it’s you. You’ve got the fortitude forit.”
“I’ll ask Deanna for the notes from this morning. Did you have any questions forme?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “Just checking in. Not like you to miss a meeting. It’s definitely not like you to come into the office in the afternoon, looking like hell wornover.”
For a moment I forget to bite my tongue. “Yeah, but someone did try to kill me last night. With all the blood, a trip to the ER, some bruises and sprains and having to talk to the cops, it did slip my mind to spend that extra hour in front of the mirror glamming up. I’ll make sure I plan ahead better the next time this happens.” You fuckingdick.
He stares at me for a second, then stands and straightens his jacket. “Yes. Well. As long as you bring your A game to the Fullerton situation. You need this win in your corner.” I mean I guess. Fullerton’s bullshit labor dispute isn’t something I’ll be bragging about at happyhour.
I stand and hide a wince when I put too much weight on my toe. Murrell catches my show of weakness. Blood in the water. I excuse myself and leave before he realizes thatIrealize what I’vedone.