Chapter 6

It was the slowest walk up stairs Alex had ever taken. By the end, she was walking directly behind him, afraid she would have to catch him when he collapsed.

But, slow though it was, Bobby Goren was triumphant. He made it to the top without stopping, and sat down on the landing to recover.

"You okay?" Alex asked, since his face was flushed and he just didn't look well.

He nodded, but said nothing.

"I'll go get you some water," she offered, and she disappeared. He would never know how quickly she trekked to the vending machine and back.

Handing him the bottle, she lowered herself to sit by him on the top step.

"I did it," he said, taking a sip.

"Yep. You did it."

He drank again. "Where are we going Friday night?" He asked.

"I was thinking maybe mountain climbing."

Bobby flicked his wrist and a tablespoon of water flew out and landed on her pants. She wiped it away, laughing.

"Anything you want, Bobby." She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. "You did great."

"Okay, but I'm not doing this," he gestured to the stairs he'd just ascended, "more than once a day."

"Deal."

"Larry Nevins, I'm Detective Goren, this is Detective Eames." They displayed their badges for him. "About a year ago, you were arrested in an altercation with Mack Thornton."

"Yeah, I remember."

"How did you know Mack?" Alex asked.

"We played hockey together on the Whales."

Bobby put his finger to his chin a moment, then snapped his fingers suddenly. "You were number 52. Center."

"Yeah, that's right."

"You've got a strong wrist-shot," Bobby commented.

"Yeah, thanks."

"So what happened that night? Just arguing about the game, or what?"

"Oh, hell no. If I'm going to fight about a game, I do it in the arena, on the ice." He leaned back against his countertop. "We were fighting over a girl."

"Mack was… married then?"

"No. He and Tammy were divorced already."

"You fought over Michelle?"

"Who?"

Goren and Eames traded a look.

"Who were you fighting over?" Alex asked.

"Margo. Margo Rutherford. I was engaged to her for 8 months, then Mack had some kind of fling with her, and she dumped me."

"So what happened, you know, after the fight?" Bobby asked, dipping his head to the left as he listened.

"She dumped me. I got stuck with a bill for damages at the bar. And we played hockey."

"Did Mack keep it going with Margo?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a few weeks. Next thing I know, I see him out with some redhead."

The puck slid swiftly across the length of the rink. Two men charged after it, one slammed heavily against the plywood wall behind the goal as the other man scooped the puck out and passed it to a forward, who smacked off a shot, sending chips of ice knee high.

The goalie caught the puck easily with his foot and waited for his men to get into position before he kicked it out to a teammate. Play resumed, this time in the opposite direction. Again, the puck zoomed across the ice, hit the wall, and bounced back into a more central position, where two men hacked away at it until one managed to flick it out to the side of the arena.

A skater swooshed to a stop, and slapped it, firing it between the goalkeeper's feet and into the net. Emery's whistle blew, and the players glided out into a loose line, and took off their face shields.

"Good practice, boys. We'll see you tomorrow night."

Goren stepped out on the ice carefully. He tried to walk with the same ease as the coaches, but his unpracticed legs betrayed him and he walked very stiffly. "Kato," he called, and flashed his shield. "My partner and I would like to ask you a few questions." He tilted his head back at Alex, who had been smart enough to stay on the rubberized floor outside the rink.

"Sure," Kato grunted and skated to the edge of the floor and hopped up onto the sidelines. He sat down on the player's bench and started unlacing his skates.

"We understand you used to date Michelle Garner," Alex said. She leaned against the rail between the rink and the sidelines.

"Yeah, we went around for a while."

"Before she met Mack?" Bobby asked. "Or maybe… when they had a little falling out…"

"She was seeing him."

The detectives stared silently, hoping he would continue.

"She was seeing Mack, but she wasn't happy. This was back on the Whales. After a game one night, Mack headed back to his room, I guess he wanted to talk to his daughter or something. Michelle was upset. I bought her a few beers, and well… that girl gets friendly when she's drunk."

"How friendly?" Eames prodded.

"Let's just say I ran out of condoms that night."

Bobby looked out at the Zamboni that was pulling onto the ice. "How did he, uh, Mack, take that… when he found out?"

"He was pissed. But he'd seen her drunk before. He knew how she was."

"He wasn't mad at you?"

"No." Kato removed as many pads as he could without stripping down.

"But she got back with him," Bobby said. "That must have hurt."

Kato wagged his head back and forth. "I didn't take it so well at first, but hey… women. A dime a dozen, huh?"

He expected Goren to join in with his sexist jibes, but Bobby just gave Alex a look and then turned back to the player. "Women. Yeah."

"You said you didn't take it so well. Like how?" Alex asked him.

"I went out looking for her, gave her a piece of my mind. But in the end, she wanted Mack. Nothing I could do."

"Did you hit her?" Bobby asked very, very quietly. "C'mon, man. I'm not looking to arrest you. I just want… the truth. You know, man. The truth."

Imperceptibly, Kato nodded. "Just the one time. And then I left. I never tried to, you know, see her again after that."

After the day's interviews, Alex and Bobby hashed out Mack Thornton's relationship timeline. It was laid out across the bulletin board from left to right, with extra tidbits dangling down underneath, exposing extra tangles in the web. The visual provided an instant picture that encompassed it all: Mack's women, his daughter, and his women's other affairs.

They stared at it a while when it was finished, and Bobby rubbed his tired eyes. Alex bit her tongue. She wanted to tell him to go home, to take care of himself, but she knew it would only rub him the wrong way. Instead, she stretched. "I think I'm going to call it a day," she announced. "Make sense of this in the morning?"

"Sure," Goren said, secretly enjoying how her breasts lifted when she stretched out her arms. She dropped a hand on his shoulder as she walked past him out the door, and he suddenly felt warm all over.

"See you in the morning, Bobby," she said.

"Good night, Eames."