Page 22 of A Walking Shadow

“But there was a siren.”

“Honey, are you new here? There’s always a siren.” She grunted and turned back toward her house, laughing to herself at Sasha’s perceived naivety.

“Good night,” Connelly called after her. She lifted a hand over her head and gave them a wave without turning around.

As Sasha limped along beside him on her swollen knee, she wondered aloud, “Do you have any idea what her first name is?”

“Not a clue. Why?”

“We should send her a thank you note or something.”

They reached the end of their backyard and the flood lights mounted on the back of the house switched on.

“I don’t think Hallmark makes a ‘we’re grateful you broke up our street fight’ card.”

“Well, they should.”

He chuckled as he lifted the latch on their back gate and ushered her into the backyard.

As she turned her key in the lock and pushed open the kitchen door, she suggested, “Let’s text Riley and Ryan and ask if the kids can sleep over?” she said. “I don’t want them to see us like this. And if we decide to call the police and they come to the house for a statement, I’d rather they not be here.”

“Step ahead of you,” he told her, holding up his phone. “Riley already responded. She said they’re more than welcome and she’ll take them to school in the morning.”

Sasha flipped on the kitchen lights while he locked the door. He fed the dog and cat dinner and filled their shared water bowl while she got down the first aid kit and took two bags of frozen vegetables from the freezer. She tossed him one for his knuckles and kept the other for her knee. After they’d cleaned and dressed their various wounds, they took their frozen peas and corn into the living room and collapsed on the couch.

“Some date,” she observed.

“Hey, you can’t say it wasn’t memorable.”

“True.” After a moment, she added. “I don’t think those guys picked that up after one weekend of Krav Maga training.”

“No,” he agreed. “They fought like professionals.”

“You don’t think it’s CEO?”

“It seems unlikely.”

She nodded. “So. Are we calling the police?”

He made a low humming sound then clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’m not sure what the right call is.”

“Depends on who it was.”

“Right. And whoever it was knew both our names.”

10

Leo could see that Sasha was fading fast. He handed her two painkillers and a cup of chamomile tea and sent her upstairs with instructions to have a hot bath, drink the tea, and read a few chapters of her book before turning in. In part, he wanted her to rest, and in part, he wanted talk to Hank in private.

Once he heard the tub filling, he opened the link Hank had sent him earlier. His friend and longtime boss’s face appeared on his computer screen.

“You two okay?” he said without preamble.

“Yeah, like I said in my text, we got banged up but the other guys are in worse shape.”

Hank laughed but there was no humor in it. “You gonna file a police report?”

“Do you think there’s any point?”

---