That made her laugh. “Just like that? You want carte blanche on everything, or just one thing in particular?”
“I want you to promise me you won’t go digging around Jefferson Square anymore on your own.”
Anna grabbed his earlobe and pulled, ignoring his yelp to plant a kiss on his cheek. “That’s a deal,” she said. “I won’t go back there on my own. Satisfied?”
His brow pleated itself when he scowled, as he was doing now. “Savard,” he said. “I know you, and you’ve got something up your sleeve.”
“I will not put myself in harm’s way,” she said. “I know very well that I’m out of my depths. I’m not foolish, Mezzanotte. What I am, what I’ve got up my sleeve, as you put it, is anger. I can’t remember ever being so angry.”
He studied her face for a long moment, and then nodded. “Let’s go see what Oscar’s got.”
42
THE NEXT MORNING Jack caught up with Anna before she had reached Cooper Square, took her Gladstone bag, and held out his free arm; he raised a brow at her until she took it.
“I said I’d be home in time to walk you to work.”
“I wanted to get an early start. And you need to get some sleep, Mezzanotte.”
Mornings Anna was often on edge, but there was something more to her mood this morning. They had spent a good part of the evening poring over the surveyor maps of the Jefferson Square area, compiling a list of buildings within three blocks of the coffeehouse and Smithson’s where a doctor might have offices. It would take days for the officers assigned to the case to canvass all of them, but that was the next and necessary step. That, and a new and more intense look at Neill Graham.
He said, “You didn’t sleep well.”
“Not especially.”
“I wondered if this would happen.”
She rounded on him, her brows drawn down. Ready to be irritated; almost, Jack thought, eager to be irritated. “What would happen?”
“You with your quick doctor’s mind and quicker surgeon’s hands are finding the slow pace of the law frustrating.”
They stopped at a corner to let an omnibus pass, wheels screeching on the rails. When they had crossed the street Anna looked up at him.
“I had a dream,” she said. “I don’t usually remember my dreams, but this one woke me and I was damp with sweat. After that I couldn’t sleep any more at all.”
He waited, but she didn’t go on. “You don’t want to tell me about the dream.”
“I think I have to tell you about the dream. It goes onto that long list of things I need to talk to you about.”
Jack was tired too; they had been called out to a street fight after midnight, stevedores and sailors bent on breaking each other’s heads. He thought about telling her this story and decided it would wait until they were both in better moods.
In front of the New Amsterdam he gave back her Gladstone bag, brushed a curl off her forehead, and kissed the corner of her eye so that her lashes fluttered against his mouth.
“You’re not easily spooked,” he said. “But I’d be surprised if this case didn’t give you some bad dreams.”
She seemed to relax a little, her forehead pressed to his jaw. And still she looked unhappy, distracted, overwhelmed. He didn’t like any of it, and there was nothing he could do for her in the here and now.
“I didn’t dream about the case,” she said finally. “It was about my brother. I dreamed he came to apologize to me, and I hit him in the head. With a hammer. But he was a ghost and he just stood there looking at me as if I’d disappointed him.”
Jack heard himself draw in a sharp breath. “We need more time to talk about this,” he said. “But I don’t mind telling you that I thought that when you got around to telling me about Paul, the story would be something else entirely.”
“I know.” She touched his cheek with her gloved hand. “I think that’s why it’s been so hard for me to talk about it. Everybody expects a story that I can’t give them.”
“Anna. I’ll take whatever you’ve got.”
She smiled then, something almost regretful in her expression.
“We’ll talk tonight.” She went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek and he turned his head to catch her mouth. A soft, warm kiss; in need of comfort herself, she tried instead to comfort him.
He kissed her back, possessively, hungrily, to remind her who he was.
? ? ?
THE OPERATING ROOM was one place where Anna knew she could drop everything and clear her mind. There was a simple hernia to be done, an operation she did day in and day out, but she was looking forward to it. Then she turned into the hall and saw Archer Campbell waiting outside her office door.
Two thoughts went through her mind at that moment: first, that it would be childish and silly to run away; and second, there were times when she really did have use for a hammer.
“Dr. Savard.” He dragged his hat off his head with a reluctance that spoke volumes. “Can I have a word?”