Page 10 of The Same Flesh
As they moved into the kitchen, with Jem grousing about how he was simultaneously a) completely fine and, b) just needed some ice and ibuprofen, a knock came at the front door.
Jem froze, his gaze snapping toward the sound.
Tean didn’t need telepathy to know what Jem was thinking.The word POLICE was practically written in the air over Jem’s head.
Scipio shot toward the door, barking wildly, tail wagging.
With a calming gesture for Jem, Tean made his way across the room.He flipped on the porch light and nudged Scipio out of the way—the Lab was barking even more wildly now, probably torn between his guard dog duties and the possibility that whoever was outside was his new best friend and would love to take him out back to throw the ball again.Then Tean opened the door.
The woman standing on the porch was large, with dark hair that fell to her shoulders and what Tean suspected an expert like Daniel would say was expensive makeup.She wore heart-shaped eyeglasses, a color block sweater, and jeggings.Her coat was the exact color of a muskrat.
“Dr.Leon?”The woman was trying for friendly, but something in her voice sounded like a wire drawn tight.“I’m sorry for bothering you.May I come in?I need to talk to you about River Jordan.”
3
Not police.
The relief that ran through Jem was like Icy Hot, that first flush of cool, and then waves of heat building until he was flushed, almost sweating.
Police meant jail.
Jail meant Decker.
Four walls.Fluorescent lights.The smell of instant potatoes and commercial cleaner.
It was like stepping back from somewhere inside his head—back into here and now, back into their home, back to Tean.Everything came into focus: the living room, Scipio’s low growl, the puddle of light around the lone lamp they’d left burning.And Tean, watching him, a question in his eyes.
Jem nodded, although he wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to.Tean frowned, but he said, “Scipio, sit,” and then he pushed open the storm door.
The woman who stepped inside had a smear of lipstick at the corner of her mouth, like her hand hadn’t been steady when she’d been putting it on.She cooed at Scipio, though, and said, “Oh, hi!”like she’d run into somebody she knew, and Scipio stopped growling and started thumping his tail against the floor.“Can I pet him?”she asked.
“He’s not going to leave you alone,” Tean said.
“That’s okay; I love dogs.”
While the woman knelt and petted Scipio with more of those cooing noises, Tean circled around her to stand next to Jem.
“She wants to talk about River,” Tean said.The deep shadows in the room buried Tean’s eyes, leaving nothing but a distant glimmer Jem couldn’t read.
Not that Jem needed to read them; he had a pretty good idea how Tean felt.The doc still had nightmares about the night he’d seen River Jordan killed in front of them.She was an independent journalist who had been looking into the Rydel Owens murders, which Jem and Tean had helped solve.Maybesolvewasn’t the right word.But they’d saved Daniel after he’d gotten himself kidnapped, and they’d rescued an agent from the State Bureau of Investigation.But the bad guys—a gang of lunatics who wore rubber wolf masks as they killed—had escaped.
Somehow in the process of her investigation, River had drawn the killers’ attention to herself.They had started to stalk her.And when River had tailed Jem and Tean to a remote ski lodge—where a blizzard had snowed them in—the pack of killers had followed as well.They had killed River and almost killed Tean.And then they had escaped again.
“Okay, okay,” the woman was saying, laughing as she got to her feet.“That’s enough.”
Scipio, however, kept nuzzling into her hands for more pets.
“I warned you,” Tean said.The tone was light, but Jem could hear the strain beneath it.
“It’s fine,” she said.She laughed again.“I really don’t mind.”
“I’m sorry,” Jem said, “I didn’t get your name.Jem Berger.And this is Tean.”
“It’s good to meet you.”She had a firm handshake, and she made eye contact and smiled.“Amy Graham.”She waited a beat, and when they didn’t say anything, she said, “Crime Moms.”And after another beat, with some of her smile fading, she said, “River and I co-hosted it.”
“What’s that?”Tean said.
Jem had to hide a smile at the flicker of disappointment on Amy’s face.
