Killing Rain

Dox was blown. There was nothing I could do.
    “Who is he?” she asked.
    I sighed. “My partner.”
    She nodded as though she had already known, as indeed she had. “He was with you in Manila?”
    I shrugged. There was nothing to say.

    “You might as well call him, then. We should talk.”
    I realized I had never been with Dox in front of civilized company. The prospect made me uncomfortable.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said.
    But she misunderstood my reticence. “It would be more efficient for us to put our heads together.”
    For the second time in as many days, I thought, Nothing good can come of this.
    And for the second time I found myself saying, “All right.”
    I took out my cell phone and called him. He answered immediately. “Everything okay?” he asked.
    “Peachy,” I said, the code word to tell him that everything was indeed okay, that I wasn’t under duress. “But my friend noticed you at the airport, and again here. She’d like to meet you.”
    “Oh man, how did she notice me? You must have told her.”
    “I didn’t. She just noticed you.”
    “How? Damn, this is embarrassing.”
    I looked at Delilah. She was smiling slightly, enjoying what she must have been making of the other side of the conversation.
    “I told you, she’s good,” I said.
    “Yeah, apparently so. You going to give me a hard time about this?”
    “God, yes.”
    There was a pause. “All right. I reckon I’ve got that coming. But not in front of her, okay? This is embarrassing enough.”
    “All right.”
    “Promise me.”
    Christ. “I promise.”
    “Okay, where do you want to do this?” The tone was of a little boy resigned to a spanking.
    “I think my room would be best. No sense the three of us being seen together.”
    He sighed. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

    I clicked off. Delilah asked, “Was he upset?”
    I shrugged. “Embarrassed.”
    She smiled. “I would be, too.”
    “I promised him I wouldn’t be hard on him in front of you.”
    Her smile broadened. “That’s what you were promising?”
    I nodded and added innocently, “But that was only me. You didn’t promise anything.”
    She chuckled and said, “There’s a streak of cruelty in you, I see.”
    I looked at her.“How did you make him? Really.”
    “I told you, the incongruities. But also . . . he’s a big man, but when you look at him, it’s almost like he’s not there.”
    I nodded. I saw no sense in telling her about his sniping background. I said, “He’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Most of the time he’s as loud and obnoxious as an ambulance siren. But when he goes dark, he can damn near disappear.”
    “That’s what tipped me. I didn’t notice him, but then I noticed that I didn’t notice, you know what I mean? I took a second look, and realized how big he is. That’s what told me he was a pro. It’s not easy for a big man to make himself fade away like that. Even for a small one, it’s rare.”
    There was a knock at the door. I walked over, stood to the side, and leaned over to glance through the peephole. It was Dox.
    I opened the door. He nearly blotted out the sun behind him. I turned and waved him inside.
    Delilah stood. Dox looked at her a little sheepishly. Then he turned to me. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of my bruised cheek. His glance dropped to the wear and tear on my arms. His face lit up in his trademark grin.
    “Well, I don’t know what ya’ll were doing last night, but I hope it was consensual,” he said.
    Shit, I thought. Well, Dox had to be Dox. There was nothing anyone could do about it.

    Delilah looked at him. Her expression was somewhere between mild amusement and gentle reproach. “Really, is that any way to introduce yourself ?” she asked softly, holding Dox’s eyes.
    Dox returned her look, and something strange came over him. The grin faded away and color crept into his cheeks. He dropped his hands in front of his pants as though he was holding a hat there, and said, “Um, no. No, ma’am, it’s not.”
    I thought, What the hell?
    She gave him an encouraging that’s better smile and held out her hand. Her head was high, her posture erect and formal. “I’m Delilah,” she said.
    He reached for her hand and shook it once, his head bowing slightly as he did so. “People call me Dox.”
    She raised her eyebrows. “ ‘Dox’?”
    He nodded, and I noticed him unconsciously straighten, mirroring her posture. “It’s short for