The Last Move
Alyssa glanced up at him. “Don’t leave.”
“Not going anywhere, kiddo.”
She hurried down the hallway, the phone pressed to her ear.
“So what’s up, Sherry?”
She sipped her vodka. “I’ve been transferred.”
He dropped the remains of his slice and wiped his hands with a paper towel. So his and Alyssa’s gut reaction had been right. “To where?”
“Washington, DC.”
He’d uprooted his life when he moved from Chicago to San Antonio. Now he and Alyssa were trying to make this place home, and Sherry wanted to leave again. He’d pulled strings to get the San Antonio job but doubted he had any more aces up his sleeve. “When?”
“Four weeks.”
He balled up the napkin and tossed it on the counter. “Have you told Alyssa?”
“Not yet.”
“You’re going to pull her out before the semester is over?”
Sherry drew in a breath. “I was hoping she could stay with you. I can get an apartment there and get my bearings. The first few weeks on the job are going to be crazy.”
“Of course. And then at the end of the school year, are you going to move her east?”
“I thought the end of the semester. Holidays are never great for the three of us anymore.”
“And I’m supposed to just find another job?” Frustration and anger bled through the words. Sherry had had to petition an Illinois judge to take their daughter out of state, who’d reluctantly agreed.
She traced the rim of her glass with a polished nail. “I never asked you to move here. I don’t expect you to move there.”
“I’m supposed to watch my only living child walk out of my life.”
Ice clinked in the glass as she swirled it. “I’ve never denied you visitation.”
“No. You just keep trying to put distance between me and my kid. If I want to see my daughter on a regular basis, I’ll have to move again.”
A muscle pulsed in her jaw. “She’s growing up. Soon she won’t need either of us.”
“She’s not there yet, Sherry. And until she does really leave the nest, I’m going to be a part of her life.” He didn’t want to get into a pissing match with her, but he was finding it hard to be civil. “She can move in with me at any time.”
“It’s only temporary, Theo.”
“So you’ve said. By my count, I’ve got a month before Alyssa and I have to turn our lives inside out again for your fucking career.”
“This is a really good job, Theo. I’ll be making the kind of money that will allow Alyssa to attend the best schools. She’s smart and can go to any college in the country now.”
He’d known from the start he’d married over his head when he said I dos with Sherry. She was smart and savvy, and he was always a little surprised she’d never reached for the big time. After their son had died, reaching higher kept her mind off the pain.
“When do you fly to Washington?”
“Saturday.”
“You’re shittin’ me. You just said four weeks.”
“I’m looking for a place to live and need to meet the people in the DC office.” She raised her chin. “I have no choice.”
“We all have choices, Sherry.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to fight.”
He did. But with Alyssa in the other room, he’d have to find his pound of flesh somewhere else. “I’ll be ready for her.” His voice sounded tight. “Do you want me here when you tell Alyssa?”
She looked up, eyes filled with pain. “It’s not necessary.”
“Excuse me. I want to see Alyssa.”
“That’s it?” she asked.
“What do you want me to say, Sherry?”
She stared at him a long moment. “That you understand.”
He swallowed, his throat suddenly tight with emotion. “I understand you’re still running from the pain. Hell, that’s part of the reason I left Chicago. But so far neither one of us has done a good job of it.”
Mazur moved down the hallway and found Alyssa lying on her white four-poster bed with the phone pressed to her ear. The room was painted a pale pink, and the posters on the walls were a bunch of teenage boys he doubted he’d like if he ever met them.
“Dad?” she asked, cupping her hand over the phone.
“I’ve got to go, Alyssa, but we’re on for the weekend.” If by some act of God the murder investigation didn’t spill over into his free time.
“I’ll see you then?”
He kissed her on the cheek. “Love you, kid.”
She hugged him. “Is Dr. Hayden going to be with you?”
“We’re working a case, kiddo. If we aren’t working, then there’s no reason for us to be together.”
“I like her.” And giggling, she added, “And I think you do, too.”
He did like Kate, but their relationship was professional and temporary at best. Still, he asked, “Why do you say that?”
She rolled her eyes and then glanced toward the door to make sure her mother wasn’t there. “It’s the way you talk around her.”
“How’s that?”
“Friendly. Relaxed.”
He shook his head. “Maybe you should be an FBI profiler.”
Her eyes sparked with interest. “Maybe I should.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Love you, Dad.”
“You, too, kiddo.”
He gave her one final squeeze. By the time he reached her door and glanced back, she was already lost in conversation with her friend. He moved back down the hallway, wondering where it had all gone wrong.
Sherry cut around the counter. “Theo, I’m not running.”
At the rate he was going, a move east would have him back in uniform working a beat or as some kind of rent-a-cop. Fuck. But if that was what it took to be in his kid’s life, he’d figure it out. The fact that Kate was based at Quantico somehow softened the blow of moving again. “Could have fooled me, Sherry.”
When he closed the front door behind him, it slammed shut with a little too much force. He strode to his car and slid behind the wheel, releasing the breath he’d been holding. He glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted Sherry standing at the door watching him.
Mazur drove off, grateful to return to the office. The drive went faster than he expected, and when he arrived at his desk, he was happy to see the phone records for Martin Sanchez had arrived.
He brewed a fresh cup of coffee, then slid off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. He sipped the coffee, not wincing at the taste. Kate had cleaned the pot and machine again. Thank God for small favors.
Seconds later Palmer entered the bull pen and dropped her oversize purse in her chair. “I heard those records were coming tonight. Couldn’t resist taking a peek.”
He dropped half the stack in front of her. “You know the drill. We’ll start with the numbers he calls the most and then work our way back from there.”
“What’s got your panties in a twist?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Ah, I bet you saw the ex.”
A smirk on her face undercut some of his annoyance. “What if I did?”
“They do know which buttons send us into a crazy spin. It’s a wonder I didn’t murder mine and bury his ass in a shallow grave.”