In This Rain by S. J. Rozan

larkspur, nothing yet blooming was blue; and it came out early and was going by already. Its fading color was no match for Ann’s eyes.
    Still he turned to her and said, “No, Ann.” Looking into those beautiful, mismatched eyes, he said, “Go home.”

CHAPTER
19
    City Hall
    Charlie Barr closed the door behind Mark Shapiro and Greg Lowry. He turned to his deputy mayor, who was fumbling with a cigarette. “Well?” Charlie demanded. “What?”
    “What, what?”
    Charlie flopped on the sofa and stretched out. “Those things’ll kill you, you know.”
    “Not faster than working for you will.”
    “Okay, you’re fired.”
    “Fine.” Don Zalensky puffed out smoke. He held his cigarette between straight fingers and smoked it from the center of his mouth, like a clueless nerd trying to impress the cool crowd. Probably, Charlie thought, Don’s pack-a-day habit had started from just that situation. Don was a New York City first deputy mayor now. Charlie wondered what the cool kids had become.
    “So?”
    Don began tentatively, “I don’t know
    ”
    “Yes, you do. That tells you have. The thing you do with your chin.” Charlie rubbed his jaw. “This thing.”
    “I did that?”
    “Umm-hmm.”
    “Damn. I’ve been trying to stop.”
    “You’d be better off stopping smoking.”
    “The universe would unravel.”
    “Your altruism is noted. Now: the meeting?”
    “Well, just
    when Lowry looked at you.”
    “He looked at me funny?”
    “No, he looked at you. When you asked whether their people were squeaky clean.”
    “Why shouldn’t he look at me? I was talking. And I’m the friggin’ mayor.”
    “Yes, I know, but
    Shapiro was looking at him. Every other time you asked something, they looked at each other before they answered. It’s kind of normal, people at different levels. Like when you and some staff are at a meeting, and they have the data.”
    “We look at each other?”
    The deputy mayor nodded. “They’ll wait a second to see if you want them to answer. You’re the boss, so in case you want it yourself. All the Deps do it.”
    “Really?” Interesting; Charlie would have to watch for that. “Except, of course, for you.”
    “Except for me,” Zalensky agreed. Don never spoke in meetings, at press conferences, in public forums of any kind. Charlie had gotten used to that years ago; in their business it was refreshing.
    “But Shapiro and Lowry didn’t do that?” Charlie asked. “And you think it matters?”
    “They did it except when you asked about their people. Then Lowry just kept looking right at you. As though
    ” Zalensky sucked on his cigarette, frowning. “As though he wanted to look like this wasn’t a problem he’d thought about.”
    “Meaning it was?”
    “Not necessarily. It’s just, I think the reason they moved those people out and brought in someone new might not only be because they wanted ‘new eyes.’ ”
    “What? Oh, Don, say it ain’t so. Not again. You’re telling me someone at DOI is bent?”
    “I’m not saying that. I’m saying, there may be some other reason they wanted to use Montgomery on this, besides what they said.”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “I have to know. They have to tell me. If there’s shit between Three Star and Buildings, that’s bad enough. If this is going to blow up, if it’s DOI again
    Shit. Ah, shit.” He ran his hand across his head. “I’m calling Shapiro. What? I shouldn’t call? Or there’s something else? Shit. What else?”
    “Ann Montgomery.”
    “You’re worried about that?”
    “I don’t know. You think she still hates you, from back then?”
    “She thought I should’ve kept my mouth shut. That my public statements poisoned the jury.”
    “How do you know she thought that?”
    “She told me.”
    “Just walked up to you on the street and said that?”
    “Our paths sometimes cross. Benefits, openings.”
    “Oh, the nightlife.” Don, who spoke nine languages and read ten-pound books in all of them, wasn’t much for the social whirl.
    “Don’t knock it. They vote, they contribute, and the food’s good. She’s your