Three Fates

her here.”
    “That was then, this is now. Cleopatra Toliver, the one who matches your description and the passport number I was able to finesse, left for Greece this morning. Athens.”
    “Athens.” She turned, and her fingers dug into his arm. “You’re sure about that?”
    “I’ve got the airline, flight and ticket number back at my place. Since I figured you’d want to know, I called and confirmed the flight after I talked to you this morning. She’s been in the air about an hour.” He reached for the door of Morningside. “She’s headed several thousand miles away, Anita. You don’t have to worry about her now.”
    “What?” She pulled herself back. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Athens,” Anita repeated. “She’s gone to Athens.”

Twenty-five
     
     
     
     
    W ITH her feet propped on the counter while she paged through one of a stack of computer magazines she’d stockpiled, Rebecca manned the listening post. She paused in the middle of an article, ears pricking as she heard Anita’s voice snapping out orders.
    Smiling, Rebecca swiveled the chair, picked up the phone. “The rat’s taken the cheese,” she said. “Tell Tia she’s on. Then somebody come relieve me. I’m bored half to death.”
    “We’ll be along.” Malachi hung up the secured line. “It’s your cue, darling,” he said to Tia. “Are you set?”
    “I didn’t think she’d move so fast.” Tia pressed a hand to her nervous stomach and felt the soft nap of her new red sweater. “I’m set. I’ll meet you all back at Jack’s.”
    “I could go with you as far as the police station.”
    “No. I’m fine. Being a little nervous will just make it all the more credible.” She slipped on a jacket, then for an extra boost, draped the boldly patterned scarf she’d bought on one of her new shopping sprees over her shoulders. “I think I’m getting good at all this.”
    “Sweetheart.” He wrapped his fingers around the scarf and used it to tug her to him for a kiss. “You’re a natural.”
    She held on to that—the confidence and the kiss—all the way into the Detectives Bureau at the Sixty-first Precinct.
    She asked for Detective Robbins, stood twisting the strap of her handbag, then managed a shy smile when he came to get her.
    “Dr. Marsh?”
    “Detective Robbins, thanks so much for seeing me. I feel so foolish coming in here, bothering you.”
    “Don’t give it a thought.” His face remained polite and blank as he studied her. “I saw you outside Anita Gaye’s office. Morningside Antiquities.”
    “Yes.” She tried a slightly embarrassed, slightly fuddled look in response. “I got so flustered when I heard your name and recognized it. I couldn’t think how to introduce myself in front of Anita without it all being so awkward and complicated. And I didn’t think you’d remember the name, from when I called you about Jack Burdett.”
    “I remembered. You and Ms. Gaye friends?”
    “Oh no.” She flushed now. “Not really what you’d call friends. We did have lunch once, and I invited her to lunch again, at her convenience. But she . . . Well, this is all very complicated after all.”
    “You want some coffee?”
    “Well, I . . .”
    “I could use some.” He gestured, then led her into the tiny break area. “Cream, sugar?”
    “Do you have decaf?”
    “Sorry, strictly high-test around here.”
    “Oh, well . . . Actually, if I could just have some water.”
    “No problem.” He poured a cup from the spigot of a tiny sink, and Tia tried not to think of the horrors of city tap water. “Now, what can I do for you?”
    “It’s probably nothing.” She lifted the cup, but couldn’t quite make herself risk a sip. “I feel like an idiot.” She glanced around the boxy coffee room with its cluttered counters, crowded corkboard and water-stained ceiling.
    “Just tell me what’s on your mind.” He brought his coffee to the table, sat across from her.
    “All right. Well . . . I thought of you, Detective, because I’d written down your information when Mr. Burdett came to see me that day. That was the oddest thing.”
    He gave her an encouraging nod. “Jack has a talent for odd things.”
    She bit her lip. “You . . . you did vouch for him, right? I mean you know him and believe he’s honest and responsible.”
    “Absolutely. Jack and I go way back. He’s unorthodox at times, Dr. Marsh, but you can trust him right down the line.”
    “Good. That’s good. I feel more confident