“A little?” Bailey said. “No problem.”

Decker glared at them. They moved to the next aisle. He quickly dialed, waited for Jan to answer.

“What is it?” she asked.

“First, why’d you call?”

“I’ll show you, if you show me?”

“Please, Jan.”

She said, “Cindy called. She’s in Paris. She’s coming back to the States in two weeks. She said she’ll probably stop off in New York for another couple of weeks. I thought Allen and I could meet her there. You’re not planning a trip back East, are you?”

“I’m not planning one, no.”

“Good,” Jan said. “I know…I know you have business back there. I think it would be awkward if we were all there at the same time.”

“No problem,” Decker said. “Have fun.”

“Okay,” Jan said. “Now what’s up with you?”

Decker said, “It’s about that business you were referring to. I wanted you to hear it from me. Rina and I are getting married. I don’t know exactly when, probably within the next couple of months. I just thought you should know.”

Without missing a beat, Jan said, “Nothing like a young filly for breeding.”

Decker felt his face go hot. “Well, thanks so much for your good wishes, Janet. I really appreciate them.”

There was a rare silence on the other line. Finally, she managed to say, “You’re right. That was awful.”

Decker was aware of his heart beating. “Forget it,” he said. Knowing the reason behind the barb, he meant it.

“No,” Jan said. “I’m sorry. I hope you do have kids. Cindy could use another sib.”

“Cindy is basically an adult,” Decker said. “I think a sib would have little impact on her.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Jan argued.

“Fine,” Decker said. “We’ll see…if it even happens—”

“What do you mean?”

Decker cursed his loose tongue. Then he thought, What the hell? Maybe it would soften Jan’s opinion of Rina if she knew they had this sore point in common. He said, “We don’t talk about it, but I know Rina has had several miscarriages.”

A second of silence. Then Jan said, “But she’s so young.”

“You were young, too,” Decker commented.

Another silence over the phone. This one full of palpable tension.

Cindy’s conception. At that time, it had been a low point in his life. Four months past twenty-one, his mind still agog with bad memories, a rookie on the force. His first assignment had been the riot squad. In 1970, Nixon had sent U.S. forces into Cambodia. The protests had been hard and furious, had influenced even traditional party schools like the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Jan had been one of his first arrests.

The pregnancy had been a terrible accident.