With that she went in to shower.
More routine, and exactly what she needed to fortify for the day ahead. Hot jets, steam rising. Then warm air swirling, all giving her time to think, to begin to strategize.
When she came out, he’d laid clothes on the bed, had two domes on the table.
He hadn’t gone for black, she noted, but the dark gray of an angry thundercloud in the trousers, the jacket. He’d paired that with a thundercloud vest with thin lines of dark, deep bronze. A simple T-shirt and the buckle of the gray belt picked up the bronze. As did the three chunky buckles on the over-the-ankle gray boots.
“Formidable?”
“With you in it, oh yes, indeed. Take off the jacket when you’re in Central. Show them your weapon and those well-toned arms. Show them who you are.”
“Okay then.”
“The diamond studs—the small ones.” He nodded toward the dresser.
“Oh, but—”
“The obscenely rich will recognize the quality. You’ll forget you’re wearing them. They won’t.”
She’d think about it, she decided, and walked over to join him.
With the cat now stretched on the floor, Roarke took the domes off.
“Waffles! Never wrong.”
Waffles and berries and bacon. Add more coffee and the day began perfectly.
She drowned the waffles in syrup.
“Do you have a plan of attack?”
“I’m juggling plans, since I don’t know how they’ll push on defense. I do figure they can keep him quiet for a while. That doesn’t mean I can’t bring him into the box with his attorneys present. They’ll file briefs, but that’s Reo’s deal. I can goad and insult him all I want. He might stay silent through a round of that. Then it’s back to the cell. He’ll have to sit through arraignment, and take what Reo throws out.”
“It’ll wear on him.”
“That’s just right. Maybe it’ll take another round, maybe two, I’d say three at the outside. Add a second night in a cell? He’ll break.”
She ate waffles, switched to bacon.
“He’ll break,” she repeated. “I just have to get to the buttons and keep pressing them. If I’m pressing the wrong ones, Mira will tell me. I don’t care how much they pay the lawyers, how good they are, nobody will be able to shut him down once I punch the first crack in the wall.”
“As I said before, my money’s on you.”
She looked over at the clothes on the bed. “Pretty much literally.” Eating, she considered. “What would you do if I started shopping for my own clothes?”
“After I’d been treated for shock? I’d implore Louise to give you a full medical workup, including a brain scan.”
“Ha ha. I used to shop for my own clothes.”
He leaned over, kissed her cheek. “I’d say it was more bought them than shopped for. And I do treasure the button that fell off the hideous suit you wore the day we met.”
“Sap. A smartass and a sap. Well, I’m going to go put on your money, get a little jump on the day. I’ll wake Reo up, if she’s not already up, on my way downtown. I think we need to meet before it all starts.”
She got up to dress.
“I’m figuring the legal wrangles may take a couple of days. If he has to spend the weekend in jail, he’ll crack like an egg on Monday. If he lasts that long.”
As she put on the trousers, pulled on the T-shirt, Roarke carried the plates and domes into his closet.
