“Said if you had a moment, he’d love an in-person meeting with the Lady. A few details to iron out.”

“I’ll bet,” I said, wondering how much Lafferty minded his partner covering up his girlfriend’s murder. “But there’s no Lady anymore. You fished her out of a bathtub tonight.”

“Chief thought you might say that,” MacLeish said. “Told me to tell you, if that changes, he’d appreciate a call.”

“I can’t imagine,” I said, closing my eyes as I said it, “what you owe him now. On my behalf.”

MacLeish sighed. “The chief’s not a sentimental man, I’ll say that much. But it wasn’t painless. And Jo”—and his voice got deeper as he said it—“one day I will collect.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. That was the problem of some future woman. Who knew who she’d turn out to be, what she could handle.

Another pause. A longer one. “Give the chief a call if the Lady’s ever back in business.”

“All right,” I said, and hung up before he could press it again. I flipped the lighter, dropping the hammer again and again. It really was a pretty thing. All cheap Art Deco imitation gold and black enamel, nothing of value but pretty all the same. It was almost enough to make a woman consider taking up smoking.

The irony wasn’t lost on me, that I’d sold out our sisterhood to a man, to a cop. That in the end, I’d chosen to put my life in his hands, the way I’d once laid everything at Lou’s feet. One day, there would be a heavy price tag. I knew that. Nothing is free—not kindness, not friendship. Certainly not favors. The implications unfurled before me, unending and evil. Maybe I’d spent too much time with Jackal, I thought, because I’d learned to gamble. Someday, I’d hear from MacLeish again.

I hadn’t expected to hear from Carrigan first.

“What exactly did you have in mind?” I asked him.

“You know what it takes to win elections these days?”

“Money,” I guessed. It was a pretty safe guess. It was true for most things that had to be won.

“Money,” he confirmed. “Money my lovely little wife’s family didn’t feel comfortable sharing. So now that my political aspirations have been, so to speak, doused in gasoline and lit on fire, I’ve turned my mind to other things. I don’t think I was well suited for office anyway. Too many public appearances, too many babies to kiss.”

“We charge by the hour and that counts for phone calls, too,” I reminded him.