Kiss the Girls

get cynical on me.”
    I raised my hand high in the air for the table waitress. “Check!
Separate
checks, please.”
    “No, no. Wait. This
is
a good deal, Alex. I hate to say, ‘Trust me,’ but trust me. Just to prove my truthfulness, I simply can’t tell you everything right now. I’ll admit that the case is definitely bigger than anything you’ve seen so far. You’re right about Burns. The deputy director wasn’t down here by accident.”
    “I figured Burns wasn’t here to see the azaleas.” I felt like yelling at Kyle inside the quiet hotel bar. “Okay, tell me one thing I don’t know already.”
    “I can’t tell you any more than I already have.”
    “
Damn
you, Kyle. You haven’t told me a goddamn thing.” I raised my voice. “What’s the deal you have for me?”
    He put up a hand. He wanted me calm for this. “Listen. As you know, or suspect, this is already a four-star, multijurisdictional nightmare, and it hasn’t really heated up yet. Believe me on that. Nobody’s getting anything done, Alex. Here’s what I’d like you to consider.”
    My eyes rolled back. “I’m glad I’m sitting down for this,” I said.
    “This is an excellent offer for a man in your position to consider. Since you’re already outside the multijurisdictional mess, and therefore immune to it, why don’t you keep it that way. Stay on the outside, and work
directly
with me.”
    “Work with the Federal Bureau?” I choked on my beer. “Collaborate with the Feebies?”
    “I can give you access to all the information we get, as soon as we get it. I’ll give you everything you need in terms of resources and information and all of our current data.”
    “And
you
don’t have to share anything I come up with? Not even with the local or state police?” I said.
    Kyle had become his intense self again. “Look, Alex, this investigation is large and expensive, but it’s getting nowhere. Officers are falling over one another while women all over the South, including your niece, are disappearing right under our noses.”
    “I understand the problem, Kyle. Let me think about your solution. Give me a little space on this one.”
    Kyle and I talked some more about his offer, and I was able to pin him down on a few specifics. Basically I was sold, though. Working with Kyle would give me access to a first-rate support team, and I’d have clout whenever I needed it. I wouldn’t be alone anymore. We ordered burgers and more beers, and continued to talk and put the final touches on my deal with the Devil. For the first time since I’d come South, I was feeling a little hopeful.
    “I do have something else to share with you,” I finally told him. “He dropped me a note last night. It was a nice note, thoughtful, welcoming me to the area.”
    “We know.” Kyle grinned like the grown-up Andy Hardy that he is. “It was a postcard, actually. It showed an odalisque, a love slave from a harem.”

Chapter 32

    B Y THE time I got back to my room it was a little late, but I called Nana and the kids, anyway. I always call home when I’m away, twice every day, morning and night. I hadn’t missed yet, and didn’t plan to start that night.
    “Are you listening to Nana and being a good girl for a change?” I asked Jannie when she came on the phone.
    “I’m always a good girl!” Jannie squealed with little-girl glee. She loves talking to me. I feel the same way about her. Amazing, we were still madly in love after five years together.
    I closed my eyes and visualized my girl. I could just see her puffing out her little chest, making her face look defiant, but smiling pointy crooked teeth at the same time. Once, Naomi had been a sweet little girl like that. I remembered everything about those times. I chased away the thought, the vivid portrait of Scootchie.
    “Well, how about your big brother? Damon says he’s being especially good, too. He says Nana’s called you ‘the holy terror’ today. Is that so?”
    “Unh-uh, Daddy. That’s what Nana called
him.
Damon’s the holy terror in
this house.
I’m Nana’s angel all the time. I’m Nana Mama’s good girl angel. You can axt her.”
    “Uh-huh. That’s good to hear,” I told my little spin-doctor. “Did you pull Damon’s hair just a tiny bit at Roy Rogers junkfood restaurant today?”
    “
Not
junk food, pally-wally!
He
pulled
my
hair first. Damon almost pulled my hair out, like I was Baby Clare without her hair now.”
    Baby Clare had been jannie’s main