“We slept together,” she said. “In Boston. After the fundraiser with the fire. I went back to his hotel room, and we spent the night together. I left before he woke up.”
The quiet on the other end of the line was different this time. Not the rapid-calculation silence of threat assessment. This was Cassandra recalibrating everything.
“That’s all you’re getting,” Fallon added. “No details.”
“I don’t need details.” Another beat. “But was it good?”
“Cass.” Fallon had to laugh. “That is the opposite ofno details. But yes.” Way too good.
“And tonight was the first time you’ve seen him since.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t mention any of this in Boston.”
“No.”
Cassandra let that sit. When she spoke again, the questions were still sharp, still operational, but filtered through a completely different understanding of the situation. “So this isn’t a security professional who caught a thief and chose not to act. This is a man you slept with who caught you stealing and chose not to act.”
“Yes.”
“That’s worse in some ways.”
“I know.”
“And less dangerous in others.”
“I know that, too.”
“Okay.” A pause, gentler. “Are you okay?”
The question was so unexpected, and so kind, that Fallon’s throat tightened. “I’m fine.”
“Liar.”
“I will be fine. Just work, Cass. I need you to work.”
“I’m working. I’m working, look, listen, I’m typing. What’s the firm’s name, again?”
Fallon stretched trying to eliminate aches that never fully went away. “Zodiac Tactical.”
The keys started up again, slower this time. “Sit down somewhere. Or don’t. Whatever you need.”
“I’m leaning on the counter.”
“You’re not on the floor?”
“Not on the floor.”
“Wow,” Cassandra said. “Character growth.”
A breath of laughter escaped Fallon despite herself. “Shut up.”
“Never. Hush, I’m digging.”
Fallon hushed. She listened to Cassandra’s two keyboards going at once and watched the under-cabinet light catch the leather of the watchband, and waited.
A long minute passed. Then another. Cassandra muttered something to herself that sounded likeoh,that’s clever, and thenthat’s annoying, and then went quiet again.
