Mind Games - Page 228

“It’ll remind him of my mother. This.” She tapped her wrist. “This is the watch he killed them for.”

He closed his hand briefly over hers, then made the turn.

“What do you need?”

“To finish this.”

“Until then, from me. Small talk, pep talk, silence, tunes?”

“Before that, I want to say this is more than a little surreal. I haven’t set foot in Virginia since I was twelve. Now you’re driving me there, someone up until about six months ago I only knew as … don’t let it be weird, but as an icon.”

“I can go with surreal. A lot of firsts right here. The first time I’ve seen you look like you could run a board meeting without breaking a sweat. The first time we’ve been together in this car without a kid in the car seat. The first time I’ve driven you or anyone to the big house.”

That made her smile a little. “It’s funny they call it a house. It’s so not. When I looked in the mirror before I left, I saw my mother.”

And she’s with me now, Thea thought. She’ll be with me, as Grammie will, as all the others who came before will.

“This is her professional look. Her ‘I’m strong and smart and put together’ look. This is what he saw in the grocery store that day and hated because she was strong and smart and put together and wore an expensive watch.”

“And that’s what he’ll see when he looks at you.”

“That’s the plan. An in-your-face move. That’s how I want to begin. And you begin as you mean to go on.”

“You don’t need a pep talk.”

“I’m ready. I’m nervous, but I’d be stupid not to be. I left three people back there who’ll worry about me. Grammie will light candles, then keep herself busy. Rem will take his meetings and pace. Maddy’ll go to work and check the time between patients. And you.”

She turned to him. “You’ll worry, and you’ll wait. But the worry doesn’t mean y’all don’t believe in me.

“He doesn’t have that, Tyler. He’ll be alone, and I won’t.”

Saying it, saying just that helped settle some of those nerves. “Let’s try some not-so-small talk. How’s the pissed-off rock going?”

Chapter Thirty

No, it looked nothing like a house, and certainly nowhere life might thrive. The prison consisted of a series of unadorned, low-slung white buildings surrounded by a high, sheer wall.

She’d studied images of it online, had dozens of them in her file. More, she’d seen and felt and smelled what Riggs had seen and felt and smelled. The catcalls and cries, the wild laughter and wilder weeping from inside the blue doors of segregation that echoed constantly. The bright, bright lights through the narrow window in those blue doors.

The hopeless sounds of doors, or bars, sliding shut and the final thunk of locks.

But she’d walk inside there now, and needed to block everything out but Riggs.

“That’s Phil, Captain Musk, oh, and Detective Howard. I have my ID, it’s all I can take. My purse stays here with you.”

“I got it.”

Before Thea could open the door, Musk reached it and did it for her.

“Right on time.” He held out a hand for hers.

Though he still had a head full of hair, the gray had taken over. She thought it made him look like a captain.

The hug surprised her a little, and warmed her a lot. Then Howard moved in for his own.

“It’s good to see you.” He drew her back. “I was against this, but now that I look at you? I should’ve known better.”

“How’s retirement?” she asked, and Musk snorted.