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her
eyes. Had some of the vomit splashed onto my clothes? “You look…” she began.
    “Yeah?”
    “You
look really bad, Nevada.”
    I
blinked in surprise. “Okay,” I said. “Well, I appreciate your honesty, Sarah.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “You need to get out of my way now.”
    “Nevada,
I…”
    I shook
my head at her. I didn’t begin to have time for this. “Sarah, I always liked
you. You’re a nice girl and I knew you’d make a good detective. But you need to
get out of my way now.” I didn’t need to raise my voice. My tone didn’t invite
argument or discussion.
    Sarah
swallowed hard and stepped aside. I looked around the room. Every eye was fixed
on me now. I’d known I couldn’t walk around up here without drawing at least some attention, but I hadn’t expected all of this. But then, the last time I’d been
in this room it had ended pretty badly. If I hadn’t been a cop, I probably
would have gone to jail for what I’d done.
    I made
it to the northwest corner office without any further interruptions. Dan Evans,
my former boss, was sitting behind his desk. He was a huge bear of a man whose
dress shirts never fit him right and whose ties always seemed comically small
on his frame. I’d offered to take him shopping more than once; the man needed
some quality time in a Big & Tall department like nobody’s business. He’d
never taken me up on it.
    Dan was talking
with one of the higher-ups from Vice whose name I couldn’t remember when I
stepped into his office. “Get out,” I said to the other man.
    “Excuse
me?” the Vice cop asked.
    Dan
raised a hand in a gesture of supplication. “It’s all right, Harry,” he said.
“We can finish up later.”
    Harry,
whoever he was, stood up and looked me square in the eyes. “You’ve got a lot of
damn nerve coming back here.”
    “Do
something about it,” I dared him.
    Harry
eyed me for a second, then glanced back at Dan. “You need me to call someone?”
    “No,”
Dan said. “Don’t. Do me a favor and shut the door on your way out.”
    Harry
took another look at me as he passed by, closing the door behind him. I turned
my attention to Dan. He gave me a small half-smile. “Nevada,” he said. “It’s
always nice to see you.”
    “You son
of a bitch…” I began.
    “Shut
up!” he thundered, his voice like a mountain tearing itself apart. It stopped
me in my tracks instantly. I’d heard Dan shout plenty of times, but he’d never
erupted at me like that before.  “You sit the fuck down, and you shut the fuck
up!” He pointed at the chair in front of his desk that Harry had been sitting
in when I’d arrived.
    Telling
me what to do was, historically speaking, not such a great idea. But my energy
was fading quickly and I’d lost my train of thought when he blew up at me. I
tried to think of a cutting remark but drew a blank. Frustrated with myself, I
sat down.
    Dan
stood up and I could see that he was shaking in rage. I’d crossed a line with
him, a line I hadn’t even known was there to cross. Maybe I should have started
with “hello” before I cussed him out.
    “Do you
have any idea what you look like right now?” he asked.
    “I took
a shower…” I started.
    “You
look like shit !” he continued. “Absolute shit! You look like some
goddamn thing the cat dragged in and then dragged back outside to die.”
    I stood
up, trying to hide the fact that my legs were beginning to tremble. “I don’t
have to take this.”
    Dan took
a step around his desk, fists clenched. “Sit in the fucking chair,” he warned
me.
    Dan and
I had gone at it before, plenty of times, but it had only ever been words. Things
had never gotten physical between us. He just wasn’t that kind of guy. But now
I wasn’t sure if he was willing to go there or not. If he wanted to take things
to the next level I wasn’t going to be able to put up much of a fight. On a
better day, maybe. His size would be a problem, but I was faster, and