Chapter 3: Bathwater

A week passed before Kalinda saw Zach again. In the meantime one word she had uttered during their conversation had bothered her. 'Thanks.' It indicated that there was something to be thankful for. He had helped her or whatever you wanted to call it. She had said nothing to Alicia about his assistance. Most people would rather be owed a favour than owe someone else a favour, but Kalinda even more so. However, it was the fact that he did not demand a favour that concerned her.

There was something slightly uneasy about the situation and it was not because he wanted a date. He was too naive to request the date in return for delivering the note to her. He had asked her if she wanted a date; he had given her a choice. If she had accepted she would not have been doing him a favour. There were no strings attached, no ulterior motives, and no coercion. Well, there would be strings and motives, but not the kind she was used to dealing with in her line of work. It was all very above board. In his mind he had done something nice for her, so he figured she might have softened towards him and he simply took advantage of the opportunity.

The testimony of the security guard would almost certainly clear their client. Kalinda did wonder how Zach had guessed he was gay. Through the grapevine she had heard about Peter's rage when he had been made aware of the guard seeing the woman entering the building. She wondered what he would do if he knew his son had a crush on her. Pop a blood vessel, most likely. He had made it so difficult to regard him as anything other than a cartoon villain.

It was still cold, but at least it was not raining as it had done for the past three days. The sky was coloured a dreary grey and that morning as she had entered Lockhart/Gardner/Gold the wind had whipped her hair around her face. Lunchtime a long time ago would have meant that she had half an hour to chat with Alicia, but those days were over. There was a restaurant close to the firm that she now regularly went to. Immediately when she left the building the wind undid her hair from the tight clip that had been holding it. She brushed the strands behind her ears. That was when she noticed Zach. The collar of his coat was turned upwards and he was huddled against the building to protect himself from the wind.

'Are you following me?' she asked with a slightly raised voice to make herself heard. His face lit up when he saw her, but the question extinguished this light at once. He offered her a spot next to him, but she declined.

'Actually, I came to have lunch with my mother, but I can see why you would think that. I have to confess I was hoping to run into you.'

'Were you now?'

'Yes, I wanted to apologise for last week.'

Kalinda looked around to see if anyone she knew could see her talking to him. The streets were crowded and she doubted anyone would notice the two of them. It was true that he had been a nuisance, but she could not remember anything he had said or done that would require an apology. If anyone needed to apologise it was probably her, with her patronising and snide comments. She resented the feeling that she should, because although she was not unused to apologising, she rarely did. An apology implied either a social necessity to do so or a close relationship that could not survive without it. Luckily, she was intelligent enough to not cross the line - when anyone was looking - when she was committing work-related offenses. Since she had no friends nowadays, she simply did not feel the need to apologise to people she privately insulted, because she did not care about the person whom she had hurt or wronged.

'I want to apologise for a number of things. For presuming to know anything about you. For the staring and bothering you. For the rude parting remark. Oh, and I'm sorry I left you there. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to walk you home or to your car; to make sure you got to wherever you were going safely,' he summed up and he was ticking the apologies off on his fingers.

Kalinda looked him up and down again. Lank; that was the word for him. Not the type to ward off criminals. Her handgun would do that job just fine. She preferred that method anyway. It meant that what needed to be done was done by her. It meant keeping herself safe and being in control. It was the opposite of depending on someone else to fight her battles. Honestly, the thought of him protecting her from evil was laughable and this must have shown on her face.

'That was ridiculous, wasn't it? You don't need someone to take you home safely, least of all me,' he said and chuckled. You've got that right, she wanted to say, but she was in a good mood. An exceptionally kind and generous mood, so she said nothing. As it was she was already unsure of why she was standing there talking to him and not in the restaurant ordering her lunch. She glanced at her wristwatch; a gesture Zach interpreted correctly to mean that she was leaving.

'I know you think of me as a boy…'

'That would be because you are a boy,' she interrupted. Her good mood was dissipating swiftly. It was time she changed tactics. Every time she refrained from deliberately insulting him he somehow took that as a sign to jump in with another silly attempt to woo her.

'Let's put it like this. Last night I was throwing out some bathwater, as one does, and I was afraid I had thrown you out with it,' she baldly stated. Impatiently, she glanced at her watch again.

'That's not funny,' he protested, but he smiled nonetheless. Perhaps it was funny and perhaps it wasn't. That was entirely beside the point. Zach got the message. He was not for her. She was not for him. To put a stop to it permanently, she rubbed it in a little more.

'Not even a little bit? Strange, I thought it was,' Kalinda asked innocently. This whole episode was such a drag. Nothing was ever going to happen between them for so many reasons. It seemed a supreme waste of her time to be gentle when being harsh worked faster and better. Where was Alicia anyway? If Zach had been telling the truth about them having lunch together, which she felt was the truth, yet still doubted, Alicia should be appearing any moment. She peered into the lobby and saw her exit the elevator. Zach barely acknowledged Kalinda when she said goodbye, but something occurred to her that she had been wondering about.

'How did you know the guard was gay?'

Zach pushed himself away from the wall and the motion was surprisingly graceful. He was mysteriously not one of those gangly adolescent boys; all arms and legs flapping around. Their limbs often seemed alien to them and they never knew where to put them, which resulted in an awkwardness that was sometimes endearing and mostly annoying. The real mystery was why he was interested in her at all. Sure, she knew she possessed certain qualities, but girls must be falling all over him.

'He didn't tell you what you wanted to hear,' he simply said. Kalinda swivelled round to obscure her face as he made his way over to the entrance of the building to meet Alicia. He might as well have said that because the guard didn't instantly fall in love with her that must mean he was gay. Nothing could be further from the truth. During her PI work she had encountered many men who were immune to her charms and decidedly not gay. They did not like throaty voices or leather skirts or picked up on the fact that her charms were feigned. It was impossible to suit everybody, but evidently Zach thought she could.

Probably because he found it hard to believe that someone would not became enamoured of her, because with him it had happened so easily and quickly. Kalinda was just guessing, but she was afraid his crush had endured her barbed criticism. Next time she saw him she would have to be merciless to dispel any lingering doubts he may have. The throwing out the baby with the bathwater expression had been stupid and insufficient. Yes, in the idiom Zach was the baby, but he was also something good, something essential. Talk about sending the wrong message.