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Seated in the conference room, she leaned back in her chair and wheeled herself back and forth to the table. Staring at the ceiling had become her latest way of processing the various pieces of evidence from their current case. Whether it accomplished her goal or not remained to be seen. When she heard the distinctive voice of Captain Wagner she bolted upright and looked into the hallway where she spotted a striking woman in a very fine Italian suit following the captain to his office.
“Who is that?” she asked in a sing-song manner.
If the captain hadn’t caught the other woman’s attention, the sudden interest in happenings outside the room did. Looking up from her laptop to the movement in the hallway, Officer Kaya Blanke shrugged her shoulders.
“Don’t know the name,” Kaya answered. “AUSA.”
“Southern district of New York?” she knew her interest was of interest in and of itself. Once a lawyer always a lawyer. That or she might be seen as attempting to tie Wagner to yet another vague something.
“I would guess so. Why?” Kaya looked at her with suspicion. She hated the idea of the captain being corrupt for Kaya’s sake. Yes, she hated corruption, but the way the very notion of that man being corrupt had hurt Kaya made her very sad and angry.
“Just curious…”
She worried her lip between thumb and forefinger. While they were now on the same page about the real reason for being in New York or at least a big part of it, they were not yet in a place to discuss it openly. Especially while at work. Sitting at Kaya’s kitchen table was another matter.
“Elsbeth…” Kaya sighed. “It isn’t unusual for an AUSA to interact with the NYPD.” Kaya was stating the obvious, not being defensive. Or at least she didn’t think it was defensiveness. They were still getting to know each other. She didn’t know all of Kaya’s tells.
“No, of course not.”
“And yet you are not convinced,” Kaya rolled her eyes, closing the laptop that had long ago stopped keeping her interest. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing, really. It’s totally fine. Better than fine.”
Kaya leaned back in her own chair and tilted her head as she studied her colleague. Elsbeth knew herself to be a mystery in many ways. And yet totally transparent in others. She wondered what Kaya was seeing.
“I slept with an AUSA once.”
A random comment even for her. Was she attempting to move the conversation away from the corruption matter?
“In Chicago?” Kaya asked with genuine interest.
“Yes. Not my finest moment,” she nodded. “But it sure was fun.”
Kaya laughed and heat reached her dimpled cheeks. Was she wondering if it was before or after the divorce? She also wondered if they were the kind of friends that could ask such questions of one another. She certainly had not asked Kaya about her personal life. Not really. Then again, she knew Kaya lived alone. Oh dear, she thought, the realization that the light feeling in her belly had nothing to do with them being friends. Please not now.
“Hmm…I hadn’t thought about him in quite some time,” she straightened the lapels of her blazer and then pushed her hair behind her ears. Her fidgeting wouldn’t be suspect to Kaya.
“Was he your—“
“No, no. Nothing like that. Like I said, not my proudest moment. Anyway,” she stood, suddenly animated. “Let’s go get lunch. Did you know there is a ramen place down the street that pulls their own noodles right there in the shop? It’s delightful!”
Kaya shook her head. The ease with which a conversation could turn on a dime wasn’t entirely due to her own personality. Kaya allowed it.
As she was being followed back to her closet of her office, she heard the officer chuckling to herself at the number of tote bags required to leave the office for lunch.
They stepped back into the hallway and subtly clocked the woman still seated with the captain. They shared a knowing look with one another.
“If the Chicago AUSA had looked like that, it definitely wouldn’t have been a one-time thing.”
She made it to the elevator long before Kaya’s mind stopped short circuiting and allowed her to put one foot in front of the other.
A woman full of surprises, yes.
-finis-