Jayne and Steelie - 01 - Freezing by Clea Koff Page B

there. When I got back home, I decided to pursue it; give myself permission to enjoy life, not stay enslaved to my government job and the road to a pension.’ He tapped his cup thoughtfully and then smiled up at her. ‘You charge by the hour or what?’
    Jayne smiled back.
    Gene continued. ‘And you? What happened for you after the Kigali mission?’
    â€˜More missions. Mostly in the so-called Balkan Hot Spots.’
    â€˜That’s right. I think I got news of you and Steelie every now and then. All mass graves?’
    She nodded. ‘Barring a few multiples and a few places where we expected bodies but didn’t find any. Carcasses of animals maybe, but no people.’ She looked out the window. ‘Those were the worst. Thinking you were going to find them and then you didn’t and you know they’re still waiting for you. Even now, while we’re sitting at this table in this window, they’re still waiting for us.’ She wasn’t looking at anything now; her perspective had internalized. ‘Or people like us.’
    â€˜But that’s why you started the Agency, right?’
    â€˜Different bodies but yeah, that’s true.’ She looked at him with a small smile.
    â€˜Hey,’ Gene laughed. ‘I actually do charge. By the minute.’ He looked at his watch. ‘That’ll be seventy-five cents, lady. Next!’ He called out as though to a waiting patient but the host thought he was summoning the bill and hurried over to put it on the table.
    Jayne tried to smother her laughter.
    Gene took the bill. ‘I got it.’
    Eric pulled out of the driveway of yet another body shop and nodded at the manager who was waiting to close the gate after the Suburban. Eric watched him in the rear-view mirror and said, ‘Someone’s not too happy we held him back after class.’
    Scott was flipping through pages in his notebook. ‘He was nervous, wasn’t he?’
    â€˜For a guy whose business is supposed to be on the up-and-up.’ Eric was driving with some haste along the broad boulevards in Van Nuys.
    Now Scott was almost talking to himself. ‘How could he flatly deny they’ve ever had a vehicle in there from Georgia?’
    Eric pulled in to park next to a Tommy’s Burger stand. He looked at Scott meaningfully.
    Scott was still musing. ‘Wouldn’t you expect someone to say, “I don’t remember; let me check my files”?’
    Eric kept his eyes on his partner while lowering the windows until the car filled with the scent of grilling food. Scott finally appeared to get the message because he threw his notebook on the dash and got out of the vehicle. Within two minutes, they were standing at the counter with food in front of them.
    Before eating, Scott pulled out his cell phone but didn’t dial.
    Eric chewed some of his chilli burger. ‘Why don’t you just call her?’
    â€˜What? Who?’
    â€˜You don’t look innocent, Scott. You can’t do innocent.’
    Scott took a deep breath, stretched his arms over his head, arched his back, twisted his torso, and exhaled.
    Eric looked at him. ‘I’m trying to eat here and you’re acting like it’s the warm up for the long jump.’
    Scott re-holstered his phone and took a deliberately large bite of his meal.
    Eric wasn’t finished. ‘What are you worried about – with Jayne, I mean?’
    Scott shrugged, then swallowed. ‘I’m not worried. I just don’t want to start something while we’re working together.’
    â€˜That didn’t stop you with Mindy.’
    â€˜Yeah and look how that turned out.’
    â€˜And Jayne isn’t married to the Bureau anyway, so I don’t buy that excuse on any level. Nor does it explain what you’ve been doing for the past five years.’ Eric took the time to chew. ‘You want me to find out if she’s dating someone? I’ll ask