Secret Prey

the slightest whiff of weed; he glanced at her, and she picked that up too. Smart kid, he thought, as he walked down the sidewalk.
    Thinking: More dead people. Audrey’s parents, dead and buried.
    From his car phone, he called Sherrill: ‘‘I’m gonna run up to the Red River Valley tomorrow, up by Grand Forks. Can you go?’’
    ‘‘Yup: this is my weekend. Can we stay overnight in one of those sleazy little hotels with the thin walls and fuck all night so the people can hear us on the other sides of the walls?’’
    ‘‘I don’t know about all night . . . maybe, you know, once .’’
    ‘‘I’ll start practicing my moaning. Call me tonight.’’
    The phone rang a minute later, and he thought it was Sherrill calling back. It was Lucas’s secretary. Rose Marie wanted to see him.
    ROSE MARIE ROUX WAS WORKING ON THE BUDGET when Lucas stepped in. ‘‘Sit down,’’ she said, without looking up. She worked for another moment, humming to herself without apparently realizing it: she was happy doing budgets.
    ‘‘So,’’ she said eventually, dropping her yellow pencil and linking her fingers. ‘‘Are you sleeping with Marcy Sherrill?’’
    Lucas got frosty: ‘‘We’re seeing each other. I don’t think it’s much of anyone’s business what happens—’’
    ‘‘Lucas, for Christ’s sake—are you living in a goddamn cave?’’ she asked in exasperation. ‘‘A deputy chief of police can get away with sleeping with one of his detectives only if—’’
    ‘‘She’s not one of my detectives,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘I don’t have any regular supervisory control . . .’’
    ‘‘Oh, bullshit—she works for you when you need her. And besides, the media won’t give a shit about technicalities. You’re a deputy chief, she’s a sergeant. I don’t care— I really don’t. What I was about to say is, a deputy chief can get away with sleeping with one of his detectives only if he’s very, very careful. Not secretive, but careful. Now:
    You left a message that you were going off to this place . . .’’ She looked at a notepad. ‘‘Oxford. Tomorrow. Up in the Red River Valley? Were you planning to take Sherrill?’’
    ‘‘I thought—’’
    ‘‘If you take her, she’s gonna have to take vacation time. Or she puts in her regular hours, and you go up on her days off and she doesn’t get paid at all.’’
    ‘‘Look . . .’’
    ‘‘No, you look: I’m not trying to save her ass. I’m not trying to save my ass. I’m trying to save your ass. I can guarantee you that if you go up there with her, and she’s paid for it, and the press finds out, you’ll wind up being fired. I’d back you up, but it wouldn’t do any good—you’d get it in the neck anyway.’’
    ‘‘Maybe we just oughta forget the whole thing,’’ he said. ‘‘Me ’n’ Marcy.’’
    She softened a quarter-inch: ‘‘I didn’t say you gotta do that. But you’ve got to be discreet, and you’ve got to be politically careful. She can’t be on the payroll when you’re off together.’’
    ‘‘All right,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s it?’’
    ‘‘Elle Kruger seems to be doing okay.’’
    ‘‘I was just talking to her, and her doctor. She’s gonna have a lot of pain for a long time,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘But her brain wasn’t affected. At least, not as far as they can tell. Motor is all right, memory, language.’’
    ‘‘Nothing on it?’’
    ‘‘Nothing yet. But that’s why I’m going up to the Red River. There’s a question about whether Audrey McDonald might be involved.’’
    Roux’s genetically enabled left eyebrow went up: ‘‘ Seriously?’’
    ‘‘Seriously. We might have the edge of something pretty interesting,’’ Lucas said.
    ‘‘Okay. But remember what I said about Sherrill.’’
    ‘‘She’s off the next couple of days. We should be all right.’’
‘‘No expense accounts, no meals, no nothin’ . . .’’
    ‘‘Nothing,’’ he said. ‘‘Not a nickel. For either of us.’’
    ‘‘All right,’’ she said. ‘‘Good luck.’’
    ‘‘With Marcy? Or the case?’’
    ‘‘Whatever,’’ she said.
    LUCAS, BACK IN HIS OFFICE, CALLED THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S office and asked for Richard Kirk, the head of the criminal division. He waited for a moment, and Kirk came on: ‘‘What’s up?’’
    ‘‘How long can you hold off on a decision about Audrey McDonald?’’
    ‘‘Why?’’ Just like a lawyer.
    ‘‘ ’Cause.’’
    ‘‘Just like