“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she said.

“Were you seriously trying to hail a cab within city limits in the rain?”

“I thought they’d have to wait for their car to be brought round. I stepped outside the door, and they were already pulling away. How are you?”

“Bumped and bruised,” Ted answered. “My suit’s a goner. I’m okay.” He’d taken worse falls but not in more than a decade and a half. “What have they said about you?”

“I’m lucky. They keep saying that.”

“Anything more specific?”

“Will you tell my folks?”

After his last session with her father, Ted would rather have gargled razor blades.

She read his reaction and his feeble attempt at hiding it. “I’m kidding. I already spoke to them. My mom is on her way.”

“I would have, you know.” He hoped he sounded convincing.

“Yeah,” she said with a light laugh. She wasn’t buying it. “So I’ll be wearing a boot for the next couple of weeks. It’s a fracture, not a sprain. It’s supposed to heal quicker with no lasting effects. Except fifty years from now I’ll get arthritis there and be able to predict changes in the weather by how much pain I’m having. I’ll be sure to blame it on you.”

“How’s the head?” he asked.

“This old thing?” She pointed to the gauze bandage. “I just wear it to generate sympathy. Is it working?”

“I was there, Kenzie. I heard you hit the ground.”

“Yeah. They want to keep me overnight for observation. They did a scan. I’m waiting to hear.”

“Are you in pain?” he asked.

“See? Sympathy. It’s working.” She pointed to the bandage again.

She was hurting. He could see it in the strain around her eyes, in the paleness of her skin. But she wasn’t going to admit to it.

“Why did you take off without me?” he asked.

“I was sure you’d catch up. If I’d found a cab, we’d be staking out Pak’s office right now. Or getting pictures of Cheryl delivering the payoff. We’re going to get those bastards.”

“From what I’ve been able to figure out from listening to the cops argue about it, two well-dressed guys in ski masks walked up to the parking lot, flashed guns, and drove off in the first car they saw.”

“That’s crazy,” she said sounding as though it wasn’t crazy at all. “Nobody’s telling me nothing. Keep talking.”

“Well, after trying to run you down—and almost succeeding—they left the car in a diner parking lot out by Alley Pond. Nobody has come forward with an ID or even a decent description.” Ted didn’t need either. He knew who had done it.