Sara's phone rang, then someone picked it up on the other end of the line.
There was silence.
He didn't need to speak, she knew who it was. "Hello, Nottingham," she murmured.
More silence, then the connection was gone and she was left listening to a dial tone.
Gabriel gave her a strange look, then went back to . . . whatever it is he was doing.
Sara ignored him and flicked her cellular phone closed with an irritated snap. She stood like that for about thirty seconds, then opened the phone again and punched in his number from memory.
It picked up, and again there was silence. It was the kind of silence she had become accustomed to with him. They rarely need to speak to understand each other. Most of the time this frightened her, but not now. Now she listened to the silence on the other end and could easily imagine him doing the same.
At last, almost reluctantly, she said, "I need to ask you some questions."
Silence.
"Some papers were missing at a crime scene today. Did you—?"
"No."
As she always does, she felt a little thrill pass through her at the sound of his voice.
"That is because I am not here right now. I am currently out of town on . . . business—And in case you were wondering, Sara, this is a recording."
She took the phone away from her ear and gaped at it in surprise, then, sounding amused despite herself, she said, "You are a deranged parasite, Nottingham." Then she couldn't help adding, "And because this is a recording, I'm still gonna have to ask you some questions."
"Goodbye, Sara." He sounded amused as well, and she had trouble believing that she's been having a 'conversation' with a recording.
"Goodbye, Nottingham."
"That sounded like it went well," Gabriel said.
Sara grinned. She had no idea why she was so amused—she had a killer to find, after all—but when she turned back to Gabriel to see what he'd found stored in that miraculous computer of his, she was smiling like an idiot.
"So, what have you got?"