“Really? Then why didn’t he barge up the stairs, kick in my door, and tear me apart limb by limb?”
“Because he isn’t governed by animal impulses.”
“Neither am I. If I were, we would have done a hell of a lot more than kiss.”
She slapped him. Hard. It smarted like hell, but he only laughed. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“Stay away from me.” She nudged him with her elbow as she went past and took off running.
He turned to watch her, saying under his breath, “Liar.”
She stopped and came back around. “What did you say?”
He didn’t answer.
Raising her voice she repeated the question, enunciating each word.
By contrast he leaned forward and spoke in a whisper just loud enough for her to hear. “I said ‘pants on fire.’”
Chapter 17
Following his three-way call with Drex and Gif, Mike had been unable to sleep. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling until daylight, then got up, showered, and dressed without any readjustment of his morning routine.
However, for what he was about to do, he did not have a method for mentally preparing himself.
His breakfast consisted of two toasted bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, a bowl of strawberries floating in heavy cream, and three cups of coffee with three teaspoons of sugar each.
Thus stoked, he was as ready as he was ever going to be.
But as he held his cell phone in his palm, he was once again gripped by indecision. For the next few minutes, he did some tough soul searching, telling himself that he could still change his mind.
Ultimately, however, he de
termined that he was doing the right thing. Without further deliberation, which could produce more doubt, he placed the dreaded call.
A gravelly voice answered. “Rudkowski.”
“It’s Mike Mallory.”
As though waiting for a taunt, Rudkowski didn’t say anything. Had he been shocked speechless? Or was he rigging up a way to record the call? Mike figured both.
Finally Rudkowski said, “And?”
“I think you’re an asshole of the most rectal sort.”
“You interrupted my breakfast to tell me that?”
“No, I just thought you should know up front what I think of you, in case you didn’t know already.”
“I had more than an inkling. Now if that’s all, my oatmeal is getting cold.”
“That ballyhoo you raised about a search warrant? All you achieved was to make me look like a victim of your peevishness and make you look like a douche.”
“A matter of opinion.”
“It’s unanimous. Even the agents you have watching my house would agree. You won’t risk a search because you know you won’t find anything.”
“Maybe I’ll get a warrant and maybe I won’t. But whatever I decide about that, I’m keeping you under a microscope until I know what’s going on. Your crony Gif took time off to have hemorrhoids removed. Really? Hemorrhoids? Nobody in his office remembers complaints of such.”