Monday morning, Levi found himself strolling along the Andersons’ property line despite the blazing summer sun overhead. Adriana had wanted to go for a walk, and he hadn’t had the heart to say no.
“I know it’s been less than a full day, but how has everything been so far?” he asked.
“Pretty good.” Adriana walked beside him with her hands stuffed into the pockets of a new pair of jeans. “The Andersons are nice.”
“What about Josh and Rima?”
“They’re okay.”
Despite what sounded like faint praise, Levi could see the changes in her already. She still had a hunted air about her—she probably would for a long time—but she looked more relaxed, less likely to bolt at the drop of a hat. When he’d arrived at the house, she’d been talking and laughing with her new foster siblings in the kitchen, and she hadn’t flinched when Rima had touched her arm.
He nodded toward a group of horses that were quite sensibly hanging out in the shade. “Have you been around horses before?”
“No. The Andersons said I could earn extra money helping out with the farm, though, and Wendy’s going to teach me how to ride.” She shrugged nonchalantly and kicked a clod of dirt. “That’ll be kind of cool, I guess.”
Levi hid a smile.
They arrived at the corner of the property, and Adriana hopped up to sit on the wooden fence. Levi leaned against it, his suit jacket draped over one arm.
It was so hot that the air was hazy, the dust an inch thick on the parched earth. Good thing he’d thought to stash an extra shirt in his car; this one would soon be soaked through with sweat.
“I’m glad you caught the guy who killed that doctor,” Adriana said. “He’s not gonna get away with it, is he?”
“Definitely not. The DA’s office is offering to avoid seeking the death penalty if he agrees to life in prison without parole.”
Levi thought that was a ballsy move on Rashid’s part. Though Nevada technically had dozens of men sitting on death row, the state hadn’t executed anyone since 2006. He knew for a fact that the government’s stockpiles of one of the drugs used for the lethal injection was about to expire, too, and pharmaceutical companies weren’t exactly jumping at the chance to participate in executions these days.
But Rashid knew as well as Levi did that Warner was a coward at heart. He’d take the deal.
“Confirming that the bag you found was the same one in those photographs was a big help,” Levi added. “Thank you.”
She smiled and swung her legs back and forth as she sat atop the fence. He could tell there was more she wanted to say, so he gazed out across the horse pasture while he waited.
“Did your boyfriend hit you?” she asked abruptly.
Startled, he raised a hand to his lip. The healing cut and lingering bruise still looked bad, but it barely hurt anymore so he tended to forget about it.
“No,” he said. “I was searching a suspect’s apartment and her boyfriend came home and attacked me.”
She didn’t apologize for suspecting Dominic, and he didn’t scold her for it. “Did you win the fight?”
“Yes.”
She looked him up and down, then nodded. “I asked Natasha about you. She said you study some kind of Israeli martial arts and that a few months ago you took down three guys in like twenty seconds.”
“It’s called Krav Maga,” he said, hoping Natasha hadn’t hyped him up too much. “It was created for the Israel Defense Forces in the 1940s. I train under the IKMF—the International Krav Maga Federation.”
“Are you a black belt or something?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “Uh, no. Krav doesn’t use belts. There’s fifteen levels—five Practitioner, five Graduate, and five Expert. I’m an E1.”
She was silent for a minute while she absorbed this. Then she said, “You told me you’d teach me how to defend myself. Did you mean it?”
“I did. If you’re still interested.”
“I am,” she said, but she hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. “It’s just . . . do you think people will think it’s weird, you spending time with me? Like maybe it’s inappropriate?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Would people think that, knowing I’m gay?”
“Are you?”
“You know I have a boyfriend.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re gay,” she said archly.
That surprised a laugh out of him, and he said, “You’re absolutely right; I stand corrected. But I am gay, no doubt about it. I’ve only ever kissed one girl in my entire life—Jessica Stein, at my bar mitzvah. I think she only did it out of pity though, because later that night I caught her making out with Danny Chen.”
“Ouch.”
“Honestly, it was a relief. They ended up dating for a few years too.” He straightened up. “We’ll just be straightforward with the Andersons and your caseworker about what we’re doing and why. I doubt anyone will have a problem with it.”
“Okay,” she said, grinning. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now let’s head back. I have to be in court in a couple of hours.”
Adriana jumped off the fence, and they started toward the house. Halfway there, she said, “You didn’t have to help me. You don’t have to help me now. What are you getting out of this?”
It was a fair question, so Levi gave it thought before he answered. “It makes me angry to see people get hurt, especially by someone they should have been able to trust. The best way to deal with that anger is to address the problem head-on.”
She scuffed her sneaker along the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and dirt. “Huh.”
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s a good reason, maybe the best reason. It’s a little weird though, because if you think about it, isn’t that kind of the same reason that serial killer slit all those people’s throats?”
Levi didn’t have a response for that.
Dominic knocked on the half-open door to Room 227 and peered around it before entering. The woman in the first hospital bed was asleep; he walked quietly past her to where a drawn curtain separated off the room’s second occupant.
Diana Kostas was flipping through a magazine, the head of her bed raised at a gentle incline. Her throat was mottled with vicious dark bruises, but she was breathing unassisted. The only equipment hooked up to her was an IV line.
He cleared his throat and said, “Excuse me, Ms. Kostas?”
She glanced up and sucked in a breath, her fingers tightening around the edges of her magazine—not an unexpected reaction to a man his size in a woman who’d just been brutally assaulted. But her anxiety quickly turned to confusion as her eyes fell on the enormous bouquet of dahlias and yellow roses he held in one arm.
“I’m Dominic Russo. Detective Abrams’s boyfriend?”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh my God,” she said, her voice so hoarse and ragged it was painful to hear. “You’re the one who saved me.” She struggled to sit up, then gasped and grabbed the side of her rib cage.
“Um, yeah, I—wait, let me help you.” He set the flowers on the side table and moved to the bed, using the controls to lift the top half so she could keep her body still.
“Thanks,” she said, still holding her ribs. “Sometimes I forget they’re broken.”
“I’m the one who broke them,” he said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “Please. You saved my life. If you hadn’t given me CPR, I’d be dead. My son would have lost his mother. A couple of cracked ribs is a small price to pay.”
By the time she finished talking, she was panting for air and her voice was barely audible. It must have been agonizing for her to speak.
Hovering over her with his bulk while she was injured and immobile felt rude, so Dominic backed away. He spied a cup of water with a straw sitting next to the flowers he’d brought, and handed it over to her before settling into the visitor’s chair. She thanked him with a nod and sipped slowly.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said.
She gave him a thumbs-up as she drank. He smiled.
There was another knock on the door, and Levi rounded the curtain a couple of seconds later. He and Dominic had arranged to meet here, so he showed no surprise when he saw them sitting together.
“How are you feeling, Ms. Kostas?” he asked.
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
“Glad to hear it. You should know that Dr. Warner is in police custody now, and it looks like he’ll be taking a plea deal. If he does, you won’t have to testify against him in a public trial.”
Profound relief flashed across her face. Dominic couldn’t blame her—he and Levi were about to do exactly that, and neither one of them was looking forward to it.
“Where’s your son?” Levi asked.
“Staying with a cousin of mine. Someone I can be pretty sure wouldn’t stand by while I was framed for murder.” Her snort turned into a cough, and she took another sip of water. “I should be out of here in a day or so.”
That brought them to the other reason for Dominic’s visit. Leaning forward in his chair, he said, “The police taped over the broken window Warner used to get inside your house, but it’s still a vulnerable point. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to replace it with reinforced glass, so this kind of thing is less likely to happen again in the future.”
She blinked at him, obviously taken aback. Levi stood silently at the foot of the bed.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said.
“I know, and I won’t if it would make you uncomfortable. You’re going to be laid up for a couple of weeks with those ribs, though, and you won’t be able to do it yourself. A professional company will charge you an arm and a leg. It wouldn’t be any trouble for me.”
Her hand fluttered over her rib cage, and then she smiled and nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure, I’d really appreciate that. My cousin brought me my house keys; they’re in that cabinet there.”
Dominic retrieved the keys and put them in his pocket. “I’ll get these back to you tomorrow once it’s finished.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Both of you.”
Levi inclined his head solemnly, Dominic wished her a speedy recovery, and they left her alone to rest. Out in the bustling hallway, Levi said, “Will fixing her window make you feel better about cracking her ribs?”
“It’ll do for a start.” Dominic could see that Levi thought he was being ridiculous—but Levi also wasn’t going to argue with him about it, which he appreciated. “Besides, you can’t expect me to believe that you’d be okay with her and her son going back to a house with a busted window right next to their back door.”
“It’s a stupid fucking place for a window,” said Levi. “If you want my opinion, she should just brick the whole thing over. Now let’s go get this bullshit trial over with so I can go home and get drunk.”
“What a sweet-talker,” Dominic said, grinning, and followed him to the stairs.