Flashback

“I’d argue that,” Alex said ruefully, “except you are thankfully nothing like my mother.”

“And Jazz can’t, and shouldn’t, be me.” Kayla grimaced slightly. “Hopefully she’s smarter than I was at her age. She’s her own person, and she’ll have to find her own path, her own talents.”

“And Athena’s the place to do it,” Alex said, shifting her gaze to Christine, “thanks to you.”

“My, you’re just full of praise tonight,” Christine teased.

“Maybe I’m just glad to be with people who love Athena as much as I do.”

“Uh-oh,” Kayla said instantly at the undertone Alex hadn’t meant to let show in her voice. “Problem?”

“No, not really. Not a current one, anyway. But I do have some news.”

She filled both women in on why she was there, and both were, as she’d expected, as eager as she to get to the truth about Marion Gracelyn’s murder. Christine spent quite a bit of time walking Alex through every bit she could remember about that day.

“Did Marion ever tell you anything about those three incidents that happened before she was killed?” she asked Christine.

Christine frowned. “I knew she had that fire at her home here in Phoenix, the one that they thought was arson, and then, of course, that awful crash with that plane that ran off the runway when taking off.”

“And a week before that, the steering on her car went out,” Alex said. “Her mechanic said the fluid was contaminated. Something that gummed up the works. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Highly unusual but not unheard of.”

“Well, yes,” Christine said. “I heard about that, but…you’re saying they’re all connected?”

“Marion thought so.”

“The fire was arson,” Kayla put in. “I remember looking up the report shortly after I started at the PD, when I had access to old reports.”

Christine looked thoughtful. “It does seem a bit much to have three ‘accidents’ of that severity in such a short time span. I should have…I just never put them all together that way.”

“You were in shock,” Alex said. “Everybody who knew and loved her was in shock, not thinking clearly.”

“So you think those accidents were failed attempts on her life?”

“I pulled the NTSB report on the plane accident. The official verdict was accidental debris on the runway, but there were two dissenting investigators who thought it might have been intentional damage done to the plane’s tires.”

Kayla drew in an audible breath. “So if we accept that these were all caused incidents, we’re down to who caused them.”

“And if we can figure out who caused them, it should lead us to who killed her,” Alex said. Then she looked at Christine. “Did you have any suspicions, at the time it happened?”

“I never thought it was someone who’d been against Athena,” Christine answered. “Not that there weren’t plenty of them. But Athena already existed, and was successful, by the time Marion was killed. Why would anyone wait that long?”

“I tend to agree,” Alex said. She knew that Christine had excellent instincts about people, and a great deal of common sense.

“Judging from what I’ve heard around town over the years,” Kayla offered, “it could just as easily have been some conspiracy freak, with a crazy idea about what Athena is. People still have some out-there theories.”

“I guess I hadn’t realized,” Alex said, “that so many people had such wild ideas about us.”

Christine chuckled. “It’s the price we pay for the low profile. When people don’t know exactly who or what you are, they either don’t care or tend to make it up for themselves. And most people who make it up have outrageously over-the-top imaginations.”

“Tell me about it.” Kayla’s tone was wry. “When I applied at the PD, and they found out I went here, the first thing one of the old farts on my oral board asked was if that was the school that taught women to take over the world and drive men out.”

“Good grief,” Alex said. “What did you answer?”

“I said no, but that it did teach us to recognize men whose masculinity was so fragile they were afraid of strong women, and how to treat them gently.”

As Christine laughed, Alex hooted aloud; she’d never heard that story from Kayla before. “And yet you still got the job?”

Kayla grinned. “Turned out they dragged out the old dinosaur for every female’s entrance exam. Figured if she could deal with him without getting rattled or angry, she had a chance of making it.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Alex said.

“It is,” Kayla agreed. “And come to think of it, the idea came from Eric Hunt. The detective who handled the investigation, although he was still the dinosaur’s partner when I came on. He was Phoenix PD then, but he’s ours now.”

“What’s he like?”

“He’s a cop,” Kayla said, as if that said it all. As perhaps it did, Alex thought. But then Kayla added, “A good one.”

Alex waited, sensing there was more but not wanting to push. At last, with a sigh, Kayla went on.

“He’s just in a rough place right now. Tired. A string of tough cases and long hours. He’s liable to be a little touchy at first, that’s all.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll be gentle.”

Kayla laughed. “Don’t be. Eric doesn’t need it. As long as he knows you’re not there to make cops look bad, he’ll help you.”

“You know that’s not why I’m doing this, right?” Alex asked. It was an aspect that hadn’t occurred to her before Kayla had mentioned it.

“Of course I know,” Kayla said. “But it’s him you have to convince.”

“I’ll manage.”

“You always do,” Christine put in. Then, settling back in her chair, she eyed Alex with interest. “So…tell me about you and the Dark Angel.”

Alex nearly groaned. “Can’t we stick to something easy, like ten-year-old murders?”

It was Kayla’s turn to laugh. Alex quickly turned on her friend; anything was fair game now. “Why don’t we talk about you and Peter instead?” she said, referring to the detective Kayla had gotten involved with during Rainy’s murder case.

“Because he’s not an Athena legend,” Kayla said with exaggerated blitheness.

“Fine,” Alex said, defeated. “He’s fine. I’m fine. We’re still testing the waters, trying to make the long-distance thing work.”

“Wasn’t he supposed to be in D.C. about now?”

“Yes.” She tried to leave it at that, but Kayla and Christine were both watching her too intently. “He is in a D.C. Training seminar. We’ll be getting together when he gets back here.”

And if I weren’t the biggest coward on the planet, I’d probably be staying at his place, like he’d offered, instead of a hotel.

Later, she tried not to fixate on the thought as she headed back to her nice but impersonal room at that hotel. Justin had been great about not pushing for more than she was ready to give, while at the same time making it clear that he wanted more. Much more.