Nine Cocktails

by J. V. Speyer

  Paige jumped a little, which was no mean feat considering how slouched down she was. “Wait, what?”

  “Mark, you’re not helping.” Abby craned her neck to look back at Paige. “Mark was in the military. We both were. It’s a legitimate tactic when you’re trying to smoke someone out of a space. You toss in a smoke bomb and wait for them to come out in a panic.”

  Paige covered her mouth. “I was worried about that,” she said in a strangled voice. “I was so scared he’d just start killing people.”

  “We were too. There’s a standing order to keep an eye out for someone acting suspiciously, to include loitering, near The Gin Barrel. But the officers we had on duty didn’t see anyone. He seems to have left not long after setting off the smoke bomb.” Abby cast another baleful glare at Mark. There had been no need to scare poor Paige like that, even if they’d both employed the tactic in a prior life. “But I guess throwing a good scare into you was a good second best. Best case scenario, we find whatever he used to bash the window in and get his prints. We should be able to use that to get a warrant and then you won’t have to worry anymore.”

  Paige nodded. She kept her gaze firmly on the bad carpeting. After a second, she spoke up again. “So this pretend girlfriend thing. What are we going to do?”

  Abby made herself smile, even though her stomach was lurching at the moment. “Well for starters we’re going to go out on dates. Public dates.”

  “What if he tries to attack you on one of those public dates?” Paige widened her eyes until they looked like they took up half of her entire head. “Are you kidding me? What if someone gets hurt?”

  Abby winced. “It’s a risk, and I’m not enthusiastic about that risk. I think it’s one we have to take, though. If we let him stick to creeping around in the shadows he’s not going to come out and fight the way we need him to, and we need him to stand up and fight. How about tomorrow we go someplace nice—like, say, the Arboretum, and you can do a photo shoot?”

  She held her breath. She’d always wanted to take a date to the Arboretum. None of her previous girlfriends had wanted to go. It was always too clichéd, or too full of pollen, or too much of an easy hike.

  Paige sat up a little straighter. Her eyes showed a little more life, but her tone was pessimism personified. “I don’t know. I mean I do photography of people, not landscapes and crap. But…” She bit her lip for a second. “I could take pictures of you, Abby. I mean in the park and stuff.”

  “That’s a great idea!” Mark spoke up before Abby could shoot the plan down, for which Abby would have trouble forgiving him later. “That way you guys can be nice and affectionate, and Paige will get some nice new material to boot.”

  “Sounds awesome!” Paige was sitting up now. Abby would have to be content with that. “Abby, you do have something black to wear, right?”

  “Oh, yes.” Abby swallowed hard. She wasn’t a model. She’d known since she was all of eight that modeling wasn’t in her long-term career path.

  She escorted Paige to her door and made sure the house was safe before leaving. She’d pick Paige up at eleven the next morning for their date.

  Mark teased her all the way back to the station. “I want you to know I’m buying a copy of every picture she takes. I’m going to hang them up all over Major Crimes.”

  Abby scoffed and stared out the windshield. “You’re an idiot. She’s not keeping the pictures, Mark. It’s just to set Jack off, that’s all. Come on, get with the program.”

  “I don’t know. We’ll see just how things go. You should be prepared for whatever comes your way, you know?” Mark waggled his eyebrows in such a caricature of suggestiveness Abby couldn’t begin to take him seriously. “You never know your luck!

  “Yeah, Jack could make his move right away and we could be done with this.” Abby pretended to glare at Mark, but her head was spinning. She could imagine all too well just how nice it would be.

  The next day she ignored her usual suit for work. Instead, she wore her favorite jeans and a nice, soft button-up. It was black, of course. Paige had specified a color, and while Abby didn’t understand why, she would go along with whatever Paige needed.

  A couple of the guys in the office had comments about how butch she looked, and not flattering comments either. Abby had gotten used to those a long time ago. “The haircut wasn’t a big freaking clue?” She rolled her eyes at them as she brought her coffee to her desk. “Get a grip, guys. It’s the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth, and we’re not all dressing for you anymore.”

  Mark snickered. “Oh, but Abigail, however will you find yourself a husband if you can’t make yourself attractive to a stellar catch like Detective McGill, who’s gone through three wives in the past ten years?” He batted his eyelashes at her.

  Now the teasing comments turned toward McGill, who was a good detective and a terrible man. “Fuck you.” McGill flipped them both off, but there wasn’t much heat behind his words. He knew when he’d been beat. That little bit of teasing loosened the knots in Abby’s shoulders, so when it was time for her to head up to Allston to pick Paige up, she didn’t have to deal with as her nerves as much as she might have otherwise.

  Paige looked amazing. She wore black jeans, boots, and a sleeveless shirt the same color as the tips of her hair. Abby could see her tattoos so much more easily now, and she liked what she saw. “Are you ready to get this show on the road?”

  Paige led the way out onto the street. She had a big red digital camera hanging from a strap around her neck. “I think this is going to be a lot of fun.” She turned to Abby and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks for playing hooky so we could go have a date.”

  Abby almost forgot the plan. She recovered just in time, before she could grab Paige and get a real kiss instead. “Hey, thank you! I’m just glad we could do this.” She opened Paige’s door for her, because chivalry was not dead, and they set off for the Arboretum.

  The Arnold Arboretum was on the edge of Jamaica Plain, easily accessible to folks in Dorchester or points south. Folks in Brookline could get there without much of a hassle too. The place provided a beautiful green spot of refreshment in the urban sprawl, along with some education and space for people to walk their dogs. The only thing the Arboretum needed was parking.

  Abby walked to the Arboretum when she came here on her own. Today, she couldn’t do that, and she couldn’t just go home and walk back with Paige. That would get weird. Instead, she had to park about a block away from the entrance, on the street, and hope she didn’t get run over while getting out of the car.

  She hadn’t thought transportation would be the most hazardous part of this job, but as cars sped toward her in the narrow lane, she realized just how vulnerable she was. Maybe Jack wasn’t out and about, or maybe he was biding his time. Either way, he didn’t take the opportunity to harm Abby yet.

  Once they were inside the park, Abby managed to relax a little. She couldn’t let her guard down, but she could loosen up just a little bit and appreciate just how beautiful the place was. She managed to enjoy her date too, even if she was looking through every bush to make sure Jack wasn’t there.

  She even climbed a few trees, thinking she saw movement. She knew she could feel perfectly safe leaving Paige on the ground. They had five cops following them through the Arboretum, making sure no one could get the drop on them.

  Paige seemed a little stiff, walking like she’d slept wrong or something, but her tone was light and comfortable as they walked down the sweeping, gentle trails. “You seem to know this place pretty well,” she said as she took Abby’s hand. “You’ve climbed that tree before.”

  Abby had to laugh at that. “I might have come here a time or two.” Her cheeks got hot. Holding hands might not be a big deal for normal people, but right now it felt like everything. It also made it harder for her to reach her gun, but she wasn’t going to complain. “I like to come here. It relaxes me.”

  “I bet you need to come here a lot, in this job.�
� Paige glanced around.

  “I won’t pretend it can’t get a little intense.” Abby tried not to shrug. “It is what it is. Someone has to do it though, and I try to tell myself I’m helping people. I don’t know if I am sometimes, but as long as I feel like I am I guess that’s the important thing, right?”

  “You are!” Paige stopped in the middle of the trail and turned to face Abby directly. “You’re putting some bad people behind bars, for one thing. I mean, we’re talking killers here, not someone stealing a loaf of bread. All I do is serve drinks and take pictures.”

  “You make art, Paige.” Abby pushed some of Paige’s hair behind her ear. It was an intimate gesture, the kind of thing she’d do if they were dating for real. She felt a little weird doing it, but she couldn’t help but feel like she’d gotten away with something too. “You make amazing, beautiful art and you should be proud of it. I don’t care if people aren’t seeing it right now. It’s still beautiful.”

  “You haven’t seen it.” Paige laughed and ducked her head, but her cheeks darkened.

  “I’ve seen some of it. Remember, that arson up in Lowell is linked to your case. I’m not qualified to say much about it, I’m not an art critic or anything, but I know it’s beautiful work. And I know it’s something to be proud of.” She dropped a kiss onto Paige’s forehead. “If it weren’t, Jack wouldn’t spend so much of his time trying to trash it.”

  Paige stood up a little bit straighter. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

  “Most people don’t.” Abby chuckled just a little. She almost didn’t want to see Paige brightening. It was too much, too real, and Abby couldn’t take that. “It’s kind of an occupational hazard, I guess.” She ran her hand through her short hair. “You look at what they’re destroying and it’s not hard, after a while, to figure out why.”

  “I guess.” Paige squeezed Abby’s hand. “I guess they wouldn’t make you a detective if you didn’t have the talent for it, to look and find it.”

  Abby hadn’t considered that line of reasoning either. She felt a little looser as they finished their loop around the Arboretum and headed back to Allston. When Paige kissed her goodbye - a chaste kiss that nevertheless set off fireworks for Abby, she almost forgot she was supposed to be working.

  Mark had known her too long. He was sitting on her car when she got back to it. “So guess who I just chased away from your car?”

  * * * *

  Paige wished she could be surprised Jack tried to mess with Abby’s car after their date. Abby’s partner had been there to stop him from succeeding. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to catch up with Jack, and the judge had dismissed his presence as “mere coincidence.” Even the judge’s clerk rolled his eyes at that one.

  The DA promised he was going to file a complaint of judicial misconduct, but he couldn’t do anything until the case went to trial. “I can’t risk not getting the conviction because we’ve pissed this guy off.” He spread his hands wide. “It’s frustrating. It’s infuriating, frankly. I haven’t been in your position, but my wife has. She’s got the scars to prove it. I don’t want to do something now, because we’re all mad, and have this guy permanently out on the streets, you know?”

  Paige did know. She also knew she wasn’t going to be able to rest until Jack was locked up behind bars. This judge, who had written several opinions stating women “led men on in hopes of financial benefit,” clearly needed more bodies to see the threat as serious. And since Jack didn’t want to kill Paige, that meant Paige would have to watch as he killed the people around her.

  She understood that it wasn’t her fault. Jack made his own choices. She also understood she needed to make hers.

  She sat down with Abby after their meeting with the judge and the DA to talk about next steps. In a way, meeting at the courthouse felt safer. Jack wouldn’t dare an attack at the courthouse. It would destroy his nice-white-boy defense. At the same time, Jack didn’t believe he was doing anything wrong. Of course he’d attack at the courthouse, and this asshole judge would probably hold her down.

  The conference room, though, felt a little safer. She relaxed a little and took a deep breath, just as Abby smacked her hand against the wall. “An actual cop, with awards, tells him he saw this guy with his own eyes trying to mess with my car and it’s not enough for him? What the fuck?” She glanced at Paige and pulled herself together. Paige could almost visibly see her collecting pieces of her psyche. “Sorry. I don’t get that emotional as a general rule.”

  It’s for me. Sure, their relationship was fake, but Paige had heard Abby’s quick intake of breath when she’d kissed her goodbye. She’d seen the way Abby lightened up and went out of her way to reassure Paige. If any of that was in some kind of operations manual for the Boston Police Department, Paige would eat her shoes.

  Knowing Abby wasn’t only protecting her out of duty gave Paige the extra courage she needed. “I think we should get together again. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night.” She tugged at her collar. Maybe she had some extra courage, but this still wasn’t easy to say. “And I think we should be, you know, private.”

  Abby stared at her so blankly it was like all of the circuits in her brain had misfired. “Come again?”

  Paige played with her necklace. Saying it out loud, in front of not only Abby but the DA and Mark, took more than courage. It took balls of steel, and Paige had been living in fear for years. Still, this was Abby. She could speak to Abby. Maybe if she pretended the men weren’t there, she would be okay.

  “The whole point is pissing Jack off so much he has to screw up, right? So, I’ve got this space in my apartment that I use as a studio. I’ll take some pictures of you.” She looked down, blushing. “You know, tasteful pictures.”

  The DA, whose name Paige never had learned, stepped in. “Let me get this straight. You want to get nude photos of a cop to piss off your ex.”

  Abby stood up a little bit straighter. “She wants to do something that will instigate a stalker, Eric, to overplay his hand and give us what we need to get him off the streets. She’s a professional. It will be fine.” She snapped her gaze over to Paige. “I’ll do it.”

  “You will?” Paige and Mark spoke at the same time. Mark was the one who continued, however. “Um, isn’t that a little…above and beyond?”

  “I will do whatever it takes, Mark. I will chase his ass out onto Commonwealth Ave in the goddamn nude if I have to, and I’ll still kick his ass.” Abby tossed her head.

  Paige almost wanted to see Abby do just that. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to get home and make sure her lighting worked.

  She made sure she had the apartment as clean as an overpriced rental in a student slum could get. All of her lighting worked, and her props were where she could find them. It had been a while since she’d invited anyone over. She went to other people’s houses, both because of Jack and because her place was tiny. Today was a special occasion.

  She made them both negronis to celebrate. She’d just finished them when Abby rang the buzzer.

  Abby looked amazing in a regular button-up and jeans. “Hey.” She smiled, hands stuffed into her pockets. “I want you to know I brought protection.”

  Paige froze. Abby wasn’t generally this forward, not that Paige wasn’t on board.

  Abby laughed. “I’ve got Mark in the apartment on the right, a different cop on the left, and two guys on the roof.”

  Paige sagged with relief. “Cute.” She stepped aside and let Abby in. “I thought it was a little bit of an out of character comment.”

  “Well, you know, this kind of picture is a little out of character for me, so you know. Details.” She shrugged. “It’s not like you’re going to use them in anything though.”

  “Why not?” Page frowned and passed Abby a drink. Then she reached for her laptop. “Here are the pictures from yesterday—”

  “You got pictures yesterday?” Abby bent down to look over Paige’s shoulder. “When?”

  “When you were doi
ng other things. Look, you’re gorgeous. If you’d rather I didn’t use them it’s fine, I won’t, but you’re a gorgeous woman and you look great on camera.” Paige showed her the pictures she’d taken. They’d all come out fine, but the ones of her in the tree had come out exceptionally well.

  Abby didn’t say anything. She took a deep, shuddering breath and sipped from her drink. “You do wonders with that camera,” she said after a moment, and rolled her shoulders. “All right. How does this work?”

  Paige lifted her glass to her lips to hide any hints of desire. This was supposed to be professional for both of them, damn it. “Why don’t we start with some shots just as you are, with your shirt on and everything?” She gestured toward the little studio corner she had set up against the wall. “We’ll let you get comfortable and see what happens from there.”

  Abby did as she was told, sitting in the chair and posing for a few different shots as Paige directed her. Paige got that not everyone saw with an artist’s eye, but she didn’t understand how not everyone could see just how beautiful Abby was.

  The waning light from outside filtered through grimy windows to light up her pale skin, giving her blue eyes an extra glow. The camera brightened them even more, and then made them look almost luminous when Paige switched to black and white. Was there anyone who wouldn’t want to stop and stare at her?

  For a moment, she forgot about the cops on all sides, listening for the first sign of trouble. She forgot about the persistent threat in the form of Jack Kavanaugh. She even forgot about how tiny her apartment was. All she remembered was the model in front of her—the beautiful woman who was choosing to let Paige photograph her, to be Paige’s muse for tonight.

  Abby, fully clothed in street clothes, was stunning. Abby, bare to the waist, took Paige’s breath away. She didn’t have the kind of bulky muscles Mark had, the kind that strained his clothes and made him look puffy. Her muscles were more compact, but perfectly sculpted. Her tattoos all highlighted the sharp lines of her body, emphasizing her strength. Under other circumstances, Paige would reach out and touch them, or maybe even taste them.