Brian Freeman - Goodbye to the Dead (Jonathan Stride Book 7)

Maggie finished her beer and twirled her index finger in the air at the bartender to order another. ‘Well, when one of my friends mentions it, I’ll cut back.’

Serena nodded. ‘Slam noted.’

‘I’d hate to think I was being subtle when I’m this drunk,’ Maggie told her.

‘Too bad, because I could use a friend. I think you could use one, too.’

Maggie blew her bangs out of her eyes. ‘I don’t need anybody.’

‘Good for you, but that doesn’t work for me. Things have been weird, but it’s not all your fault. Anyway, if you want me to leave, I’ll leave.’

‘No, stay. If this old stonework crumbles, I can hide under your breasts.’

Maggie giggled. Serena, who was briefly annoyed, laughed, too. And that set off a fit of laughing that left them both breathless. When they could talk again, Maggie chuckled and leaned dangerously far back in her chair. ‘Can I just say something? It’s been a shitty couple of years for me.’

‘I know that,’ Serena said.

‘I mean, really. Shit-tee. I thought rich people were supposed to be happy. Maybe I should give it all away.’

‘So you can be poor and unhappy? I don’t think so.’

‘You’re right.’

‘The state fair starts next week,’ Serena reminded her.

‘Yeah, so? I can drink beer right here.’

Serena tapped Maggie’s phone on the table. ‘Call Troy.’

‘He deserves better than me.’

‘He likes you.’

‘Which makes him a party of one.’

‘Do you want me to call him for you? I’ll call him.’

Serena picked up the phone from the table, and Maggie grabbed it out of her hand. ‘I’m not ready,’ she insisted.

‘I think you’re just chicken.’

‘Cluck,’ Maggie said. The bartender brought her another Starfire, and she stared at it with a frown on her face. She knew Serena was right. She’d been drowning her sorrows in a lot of alcohol.

‘So why are you here?’ Maggie asked.

‘I miss our talks,’ Serena said.

‘Does Stride know you were coming to see me?’

‘No. I didn’t want to get his hopes up, in case we wound up in a girl fight.’

‘You’d have to call Guppo first. He’d pay good money to see that.’

Serena smiled. ‘Did Jonny tell you about Cat and the baby?’

Maggie shook her head. ‘We steer clear of the subject of Cat. Is everything okay?’

‘Fine, but Cat’s thinking of giving him up now. Adoption.’

‘Sounds like a better plan to me.’

‘She asked if Jonny and I wanted to adopt him.’

‘You mean, so she can be around for the good stuff, while you guys do all the work?’

‘Wow, you’re cynical,’ Serena said, ‘but it doesn’t matter. We’re going to tell her no.’

‘Do you both feel that way?’

‘Yeah, we do. I can’t have kids, so I’ve never really thought about it. Jonny thinks it’s a younger man’s game. So we’re in sync on this.’

‘And yet here you are talking to me,’ Maggie said, with a pointed look in her eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’

Maggie didn’t miss much. For all of the troubles between them, they knew each other like sisters. And neither one was shy about telling the other when she was making a fool of herself.

‘Honestly, I worry that Jonny saying no to kids is really his way of saying no to me,’ Serena admitted. ‘Like he and I aren’t going anywhere.’

Maggie shook her head. She gave in and drank a healthy dose of Starfire. ‘For such a hot chick, you’re way too insecure.’

‘Look who’s talking.’

‘Insecure? Me? No, just realistic.’

Serena tapped Maggie’s phone again. ‘Troy.’

‘Fine, okay, you win. I will call him.’ Maggie dialed a number on the phone using her index finger and got Troy Grange’s voice mail on speakerphone. ‘Troy, it’s Maggie. I’m in. You, me, and the girls. Deep fried stuff on a stick next week.’

She hung up.

‘Satisfied?’ she asked Serena.

‘You’ll thank me.’

‘Maybe. Now quit reading anything into Stride saying no to Cat. It has nothing to do with how he feels about you.’

‘What about you?’ Serena asked.

‘What about me?’

‘You wanted to adopt a baby last year after Eric got shot. You were all in. You were going to do whatever it took to find one.’

‘Yes, and I got turned down by every agency in the state. Strangely, they didn’t like the idea of handing a child to a single woman with a dangerous job and a very public history of bad romantic decisions. I decided they were right. End of story.’

‘Not if you don’t want it to be,’ Serena said.

Maggie leaned forward. ‘ Me adopt Cat’s baby? Is that what you’re suggesting?’

‘That’s what I’m suggesting.’

Maggie drank more beer. ‘No.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Just like that.’ She put the mug down, and her voice softened, and she covered Serena’s hands with her own. ‘Look, tomorrow I will deny ever being sensitive. Okay? The fact is, Cat living with the two of you, and her baby living with me, is not healthy for any of us. Which I think you know perfectly well. But it was very sweet and very noble of you to suggest it.’

‘I was serious,’ Serena said, even though she knew that Maggie was right.

‘I’m sure you were, but no. I think it’s great that Cat is willing to look at adoption. She should choose a nice, stable young couple somewhere in the city who can give that kid lots of love.’

Serena smiled. ‘You’re going soft.’

‘Bite your tongue.’

She stood up from the table. ‘Okay, I should go. I’ll let you finish your beer in peace.’

‘Actually, I’m done,’ Maggie said. ‘A friend told me I’m drinking too much.’

Maggie threw cash on the table, and the two of them climbed the stairs to the street level of the pub. They didn’t talk. They emerged onto Superior Street, where there was a nighttime buzz of noise and neon. People came and went from the casino and jaywalked between the cars stalled at the red light. A police car turned from the hill, and the two of them waved.

The Sheraton Hotel, where Maggie had her condo, was two blocks away. The Chinese cop shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. It was a cool evening, hinting at an early fall. ‘Night, Serena. And thanks, by the way. I know this wasn’t easy for you.’

‘It was easier than you think,’ Serena said.

Maggie turned away and clip-clopped in her block heels toward the Sheraton. Serena watched her go and then retrieved her Mustang from the casino parking lot. She heard the Zac Brown Band singing on the car radio. She hummed along as she drove back to the Point, narrowly missing being bridged by an ore boat arriving from out on the lake. At the cottage, she parked and went in through the back door. She was surprised that Jonny’s Expedition was gone.

Inside, she checked on Cat, who was still playing Sudoku puzzles from a magazine balanced on her very pregnant stomach.

‘Do you know where Jonny is?’ Serena asked.

‘He went out,’ Cat told her with the strangest of smiles.

‘Out? Did something happen?’

‘I don’t know,’ Cat replied, but her voice said something else. It sang to her, as if to say: I know a secret .

‘Where did he go?’

‘He said he left you a note.’

‘Okay,’ Serena said, but she was confused. She pointed at the lamp beside Cat’s bed and said: ‘Lights out, kiddo, the puzzle will wait. It’s past midnight.’

Cat winked. ‘Yes, Mom.’

Serena shut the girl’s door. She realized that she felt an odd lightness in her heart. She started to undress by unbuttoning her blouse, but then she went inside their bedroom and saw a slip of paper folded on her pillow. She opened it and found Jonny’s handwriting inside.