Darkfall

how you put up with her, Jack,” Witt said.
    “She’s a cold one,” all said.
    “A regular ice maiden,” Phil said.
    As the cards snapped and clicked and softly hissed in Al’s busy hands, the three men dealt out insults:
    “She’s colder than a witch’s tit.”
    “About as friendly as a Doberman with one fierce damned toothache and a bad case of constipation.”
    “Acts like she don’t ever have to breathe or take a piss like the rest of humanity.”
    “A real ball-buster,” Al Dufresne said.
    Finally Jack said, “Ah, she’s not so bad once you know her.”
    “A ball-buster,” Al repeated.
    “Listen,” Jack said, “if she was a guy, you’d say she was just a hard-nosed cop, and you’d even sort of admire her for it. But ‘cause she’s a hard-nosed female cop, you say she’s just a cold bitch.”
    “I know a ball-buster when I see one,” all said.
    “A ball- crusher ,” Witt said.
    “She’s got her good qualities,” Jack said.
    “Yeah?” Phil Abrahams said. “Name one.”
    “She’s observant.”
    “So’s a vulture.”
    “She’s smart. She’s efficient,” Jack said.
    “So was Mussolini. He made the trains run on time.”
    Jack said, “And she’d never fail to back up her partner if things got hairy out there on the street.”
    “Hell’s bells, no cop would fail to back up a partner,” Al said.
    “Some would,” Jack said.
    “Damned few. And if they did, they wouldn’t be cops for long.”
    “She’s a hard worker,” Jack said. “Carries her weight.”
    “Okay, okay,” Witt said, “so maybe she can do the job well enough. But why can’t she be a human being, too?”
    “I don’t think I ever heard her laugh,” Phil said.
    Al said, “Where’s her heart? Doesn’t she have a heart?”
    “Sure she does,” Witt said. “A little stone heart.”
    “Well,” Jack said, “I suppose I’d rather have Rebecca for a partner than any of you brass-plated monkeys.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yeah. She’s more sensitive than you give her credit for.”
    “Oh, ho! Sensitive!”
    “Now it comes out!”
    “He’s not just being chivalrous.”
    “He’s sweet on her.”
    “She’ll have your balls for a necklace, old buddy.”
    “From the look of him, I’d say she’s already had ‘em.”
    “Any day now, she’ll be wearing a brooch made out of his-”
    Jack said, “Listen, you guys, there’s nothing between me and Rebecca except-”
    “Does she go in for whips and chains, Jack?”
    “Hey, I’ll bet she does! Boots and dog collars.”
    “Take off your shirt and show us your bruises, Jack.”
    “Neanderthals,” Jack said.
    “Does she wear a leather bra?”
    “Leather? Man, that broad must wear steel .”
    “Cretins,” Jack said.
    “I thought you’ve been looking poorly the last couple months,” Al said. “Now I know what it is. You’re pussy-whipped, Jack.”
    “Definitely pussy-whipped,” Phil said.
    Jack knew there was no point in resisting them. His protestations would only amuse and encourage them. He smiled and let the wave of good-natured abuse wash over him, until they were at last tired of the game.
    Eventually, he said, “Alright, you guys have had your fun. But I don’t want any stupid rumors starting from this. I want you to understand there’s nothing between Rebecca and me. I think she is a sensitive person under all those callouses. Beneath that cold-as-an-alligator pose she works so hard at, there’s some warmth, tenderness. That’s what I think, but I don’t know from personal experience. Understand?”
    “Maybe there’s nothing between you two,” Phil said, “but judging by the way your tongue hangs out when you talk about her, it’s obvious you wish there was .”
    “Yeah,” Al said, “when you talk about her, you drool.”
    The taunting started all over again, but this time they were much closer to the truth than they had been before. Jack didn’t know from personal experience that Rebecca was sensitive and special, but he sensed it, and he wanted to be closer to her. He would have given just about anything to be with her-not merely near her; he’d been near her five or six days a week, for almost ten months-but really with her, sharing her innermost thoughts, which she always guarded jealously.
    The biological pull was strong, the stirring in the gonads; no denying it. After all, she was quite beautiful. But it wasn’t her beauty that most intrigued him.
    Her coolness, the distance she put between herself