Michael Palmer: Fatal

"Well, I saw him in action," Ellen said. "I hope he gets twenty consecutive life sentences and they let him plea-bargain down to one. When are you headed back?"

"Probably tomorrow night."

"You miss her." It was a statement, not a question.

"I miss her," Matt said.

Nikki had been in D.C. for one day and one night, but her responsibilities as a pathologist at Montgomery County Regional Hospital, and as the new medical examiner for Montgomery County, precluded taking much time off. After having her ankle fixed, she had taken a leave of absence from her Boston position, and had simply never gone back. Six weeks later, with the job offer from MCRH in her pocket, she had sent in her resignation, and a week after that, had flown up to Boston with Matt to pack her things.

"You want to know what she said to me when she was here?" Ellen asked. "She said that men like you don't come along and resuscitate a girl every day, so she had decided to pay attention to that."

"I'm paying attention, too," he said. "She's really been great to be around. I just have to get accustomed to… to having someone in my life."

"It's just a day at a time."

At that moment, Matt's cell phone began vibrating. Actually, it was Nikki's. He had never owned one himself, but she insisted they keep in close touch when he was in the big city.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ellen said as he pulled the phone from his pocket. "Say hello for me."

"Hey, good afternoon, Doc," he said. "Didn't I just talk to you a little while ago?"

"That was then," Nikki said. "How's it going?"

"Hal's performing even as we speak. There're rumblings he's going to cut some sort of a deal with the prosecutors."

"Well, he can't have his jobs back. I like them."

"That won't be a problem. I have mixed emotions about any plea-bargaining. One moment I think there should be some lenience because he was just crazy, and the next I don't want him getting away with anything less than the guillotine."

"It'll work out the way it works out," Nikki said.

"I suppose."

"I know you're in a tough spot, Matt. For what it's worth, I think you're handling things terrifically."

"I think I needed to hear that."

"I mean it. You're a great doc and a wonderful man, and I'll tell you that as often as you want to hear it."

"Thanks. You're pretty terrific yourself."

"Say, I almost forgot the reason I called. Yes, Virginia, there is a reason. The neatest thing just happened. I was getting ready to go into the office, but I had a little time, so I took my coffee and Kathy's mandolin out to the porch and played a few licks out toward the mountains. I have a ways to go on the thing to even be listenable, but I'm getting better."

"That's a gross understatement. Remember, I've heard you."

"But wait, that's not the point. While I was playing, this incredibly beautiful little bird flew down and settled on the railing right in front of me. I've never seen anything like it. I kept playing and playing and it didn't move. It just sat there like it was actually listening to my music. It was small, but so red and… and so perfect. What do you think it was?"

Matt swallowed back a fullness in his throat and gazed across the street toward the Hart Building.

"I think," he said, "it was a tanager. A scarlet tanager."