mind he’d rationalized his omission because he didn’t want to get his mother’s hopes up. Both he and Marina had moved on. The uneasiness between them now was only due to both of them trying to figure out how to work with each other on a daily basis.
Outside the house he stepped into warm darkness once more. There was no one around. As he neared his Explorer Sportrac, he noticed that it was pitched at an odd angle. Whipping out his flashlight he examined the tires. The front tire on the driver’s side had been slashed.
From time to time youths in the neighborhood vandalized property, but Reed seldom had a problem. He hoped there was no connection with his new assignment.
Angry, Reed surveyed the area once more, certain that someone was behind the curtains of a nearby house, laughing. The perpetrator was long gone. Opening the trunk, he took out his tire iron and jack, and got to work. He was going to have to be more cautious at work and during his time off. Hopefully this wasn’t the start of something nasty.
Marina’s dinner with her dad at the Italian restaurant was a dramatic affair. In between salad and lasagna, Javier, darkly handsome with just a touch of silver at his temples, was usually a very charming and talkative man. Tonight he punctuated the silences with soulful sighs. This unconscious habit was something he did when he was worried and wanted to discuss his concerns with her. Through conversation she usually got it out of him.
For some unfathomable reason she suspected that this was one time she should ignore the signals. When she could stand it no more, she fixed him with an exasperated gaze. “What? What is it, Dad? What’s got you so stressed?”
He reached across the table to pat her hand. “Marina, you know you’re my heart. Maybe I didn’t always make the best example for you, but I always tried to do my best.”
Cocking her head to the side, she gave him a puzzled look. “Sometimes you drive me crazy, but you’re a wonderful dad. Have I ever complained?”
He shook his head. “No, but it’s not your nature. I should have remarried after your mother died, let you see what it’s like to have a mother around all the time instead of…all the girlfriends.”
This time Marina sighed loudly. Her father was as amorous as they came. Simply put, he liked women, and age, beauty and intelligence were no barriers. One concession she appreciated was that he’d never dated any of her friends, but that hadn’t dampened the interest of a determined few once they reached legal age. “Dad, where are you going with this?”
Javier gripped her hand. “Chica, is it my fault that you don’t get married?”
“No.” She eyed him as if he’d transformed into a three-legged chicken. “Uh—how’d you come up with that?”
“You and your cousins Janisa and Carmen, are all about the same age, but both of them are married. Carmen’s little Chico has the birthday party this week. Janisa is expecting. But you, you are alone. You don’t even have a boyfriend. Why not? I want you to be happy. And I can hardly wait for some grandchildren.”
“You’ll get grandchildren. One day,” she added quickly. “What’s the rush?”
“You’re twenty-eight now. You don’t have a long time to make babies.”
Marina rolled her eyes. “Uh…thanks, Dad. Do you think I’m almost old enough to retire?”
Ignoring her comment, he thrust another question at her. “What happened to Emilio?”
“I told you. It didn’t work out.”
“But you liked him. We liked him.” Javier’s tone deepened and he leaned forward, intent on pressing his point.
It had been a number of months since she’d sent Emilio on his way. Resenting her father’s pushing himself into her love life, Marina leaned forward, too. “Yes, I liked him, but I didn’t love him and he wanted to get married.”
“Then what about the other guy? Rich? Rod?”
“Reed,” Marina corrected. “And don’t tell me you liked him. I know better.”
“He was okay,” Javier corrected her gently. “But his Spanish wasn’t that good and he didn’t share the Puerto Rican heritage of our family.”
“Mama was African-American,” she stated flatly.
“Yes, mija, my daughter, I loved her very much. Why do you think no one has replaced her?”
“And her Spanish was good?” she asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear him say more.
“Her Spanish was excellent. She tutored me in English.”
“But she didn’t share the Puerto Rican heritage,” Marina noted, just to see what he’d say.
Javier’s eyes lit up as he gazed inwardly. “To tell you the truth, I was so in love with Lily Ann Taylor, she could have been an alien and I would have followed her to the end of the universe.”
“Oh, Dad.” Marina gave his hand a squeeze. Hearing her dad talk about her mother often made her misty-eyed.
Javier lifted her hand and kissed it. “That’s what I want for you, mija, a love so strong that nothing else matters.”
“Maybe one day,” she murmured, wishing she could get misty-eyed about a love of her own.
The waiter came and give them dessert menus. Marina studied hers, hoping her dad was through poking into her love life. She’d never experienced a love so strong that nothing else mattered, and couldn’t even imagine that notion. The truth was that she’d never experienced love at all. What she’d had with Emilio had been a comfortable combination of lust and like with enthusiastic family approval on both sides.
“Tell me about your job,” her father said, starting a welcome new thread of conversation. “What’s going on with that?”
Marina told him about being appointed to the task force. She left out the part about working with Reed because she wasn’t going to have that discussion with Javier and she wouldn’t be doing anything with Reed but finding a serial killer.
As Javier dropped her off at home she saw her neighbor heading inside with her fiancé. The two looked so wrapped up and in love with each other that Marina felt an acute pang of envy. She wasn’t naive enough to think that any successful man would do. A man who stimulated her mentally, physically and emotionally, like Reed Crawford, was what she needed, only better. She started thinking of how she could improve on Reed. After all, he wasn’t perfect. After several minutes she gave up, disgusted with herself.
As she settled down at her computer, Marina forced her thoughts back to the task force and Lissa Rawlins. Tomorrow she would find out if Lissa could have killed Elliot Washington and Colton Edwards.
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