“Don’t, darling, please.” Gianna whispered.
“How can you call me that?” Mimi hurled the words at her.
“Easily. I love you.”
“I almost got you killed.” Mimi pulled her face and body away from Gianna and jumped to her feet.
“Eric says you saved my life, that it was you who figured out where she’d taken me.”
“It was my fault you were there! If I hadn’t written that story! That’s what set her off and made her target you.”
“Is that what you think?” Gianna asked incredulously. “That you...that what happened between us somehow is responsible for what that poor, insane woman did? Is that it, Mimi? Tell me.”
“Yes,” Mimi said almost inaudibly. She was washing her face in the sink and shivering as much from the frigid water as from the gradual release of the emotion pent up inside her.
“Well, you’re wrong, and you’ll get rid of that notion quickly unless you want to put distance between us.”
“Unless I want distance between us? You’re the one who put the distance between us!” Mimi yelled the words and she threw the balled-up paper towels she’d used to dry her face at Gianna who caught them with a wry grin.
“You were right and I was wrong. I had eighteen hours to think about nothing but how wrong I was to send you away, to walk away from you. It was dumb. It was unnecessary. And I’m sorry.”
Mimi went and knelt down beside her. “But you thought I would betray you or your investigation?”
“I never thought that. Never. I was afraid of myself, Mimi, afraid that I couldn’t love you well enough and do my job well enough at the same time. And for the first time in my life I found that I resented the job and that scared me.”
Gianna seemed about to say more but shook her head and turned her eyes to Mimi.
Mimi kissed them, gently, first one and then the other, wanting to kiss away the hurt and the pain. She kissed the bruise under the right eye, afraid to know how it came to be there, and she kissed her mouth, softly, gently, and then she collapsed in her arms and wept again and out tumbled the fear that had been locked inside her—the fear that she’d lost Gianna forever and the certain knowledge that life with such pain would be impossible and Gianna held and rocked her and whispered to her until the sobs abated, then she wiped her face with the towels that had been hurled at her in anger just moments before.
“What about your story?” Gianna asked softly.
“Tyler’s working on it downstairs in the basement. We’re almost finished.”
“You have everything you need? A statement from the police?”
Gianna wore her Lieutenant’s face so Mimi knew she was serious but she wasn’t sure how to respond. Haltingly she asked, “You mean a statement from you?”
And when Gianna nodded Mimi laughed out loud, through her tears, imagining Tyler’s glee at being able to interview the police Lieutenant who’d solved the city’s first serial murder case in two decades by almost becoming a victim herself. He’d be so pleased with himself he’d become his usual obnoxious self before the night was over.
“Let’s go find Tyler. He’ll be thrilled.”
“Tell me something before we go?”
“What? Anything.” Mimi looked into her eyes.
“Tell me you love me,” Gianna whispered.
“I love you.”
“Tell me you’ll take me away from this madness, someplace we can’t be found for at least a week.”
“I’ll take you to a cabin in Garrett County, a place where if it snows no one will be able to get in and we can’t get out. We’ll look out on to a massive dark blue lake and into thick woods beyond where you can see the deer, and champagne by the case is stacked up in the pantry, and the fireplace logs are three feet long and will burn for hours. And there’s a hot tub on the deck, in the snow.”
“Tell me you’ll take me tomorrow.”
“Freddy will fly us up in his plane.”
“Tell me you love me again.”
“I love you again. And again. Forever.”
#####
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Also by Penny Mickelbury
A Phil Rodriquez Mystery
Two Graves Dug
A Murder Too Close
The Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries
One Must Wait
Where To Choose
Paradise Interrupted
The Mimi Patterson/Gianna Maglione Mysteries
Keeping Secrets
Night Songs
Love Notes
Watch for more at Penny Mickelbury’s site.
About the Author
Penny Mickelbury is the author of ten mystery novels in three successful series, as well as a novel of historical fiction, Belle City, and a collection of short stories, That Part of My Face. She also is an accomplished playwright, and has contributed articles and short stories to several magazines and journals.
Read more at Penny Mickelbury’s site.
Keeping Secrets Page 15