Page 29 of The Girl He Crowned

It was too late tostart looking at any more avenues of investigation today, so Paige foundherself and Christopher heading over to the hotel they were booked in for theduration of their investigation.

This being Eddis, itwas a well-appointed boutique hotel that looked as though it had once been somekind of private library. Every wall of the place was covered in books, and thelobby space was filled with reading nooks with tables and a few comfortablechairs. Even the young woman at the hotel’s reception desk seemed to be dressedas much like a stereotypical librarian as she could, with a slightly staidblouse and skirt, and even horn rimmed spectacles on a chain around her neck.

“You must be thepeople from the FBI,” she said. “I saw you both on the news.”

She didn’t saywhether it was good or bad, but Paige found herself wincing almostautomatically. She could guess, when another woman had been killed and theyhadn’t caught the killer, what the media were going to say about them now.

“Here are yourkeys,” the receptionist said. “I hope you have a great stay.”

Paige took thekeys, but when she looked around for Christopher, he wasn’t there. Instead, hewas off in one of the reading nooks, talking on his phone. His expression as hespoke was worried, then hurt, angry, then something close to broken.

“Like this? You’redoing it likethis? Over the phone? I’m never there because I’m tryingto catch akiller, Jennifer!”

His voice carriedfar too loud across the otherwise silent space of the hotel, so much so thatPaige saw the receptionist getting ready to tell him to be quiet the way a reallibrarian might have. Paige stepped in quickly.

“I’ve got this,”she said. “Do you have somewhere we can talk?”

“Well, the bararea towards the back is still open,” the receptionist said.

Paige nodded andheaded over to Christopher, who had thrown his phone down on a table, hardenough to crack the screen. She could see some of the anguish on his face. Helooked shocked, slightly lost, but also as if he’d been expecting this momentfor a while now. Maybe he had. Paige only knew a few of the details of theirrelationship. She’d assumed from the time that she’d met Jennifer that the twoof them were blissfully happy. Apparently not.

“Come on,” Paigesaid, and led him back towards the bar. It was old-fashioned, with deep leatherchairs everywhere, but there weren’t any other guests in it, only a bartenderwho looked up as they approached.

“Two beers,” Paigesaid.

“Sure, we have-”

“Just two beers,”Paige repeated. Right then, the choice of drink wasn’t the point, only to havesome distraction that would give Christopher a chance to talk.

She sat withChristopher in one of the chairs there in the hotel bar, looking over at himand not saying anything. Paige wanted to give him space to talk if he wanted. Tryingto push might only make things worse. This wasn’t an interrogation with asuspect, or a session with one of the killers she’d worked with back at the St.Just Institute. This was Christopher, her partner, her friend.

“Do you want totell me about it?” Paige asked.

Christopher wassilent for several seconds. He took a long sip of his beer, the actionobviously designed to buy him more time to think. He set it down and stilldidn’t speak for so long that when the words finally came out, they were almosta surprise.

“She’s left me.Jennifer has left me.”

Paige had guessedthat Christopher and his wife were fighting, but she hadn’t realized it wasthat serious when she’d overheard his side of the phone call. She’d assumedthat it was some fight that the two of them would get over quickly if they justtalked it all through.

But she’d lefthim?

“What?” Paigesaid, blinking in surprise. “Why?”

A flash of guiltflared through her then, for all the moments when she and Christopher had beena little too close to one another, for all the attraction that she’d felttowards him. They hadn’t done anything, they’d been careful not to do anything,but had some hint of that shown through to Christopher’s wife? Had Paigeunwittingly played a role in his wife leaving him?

She really hopednot, but she couldn’t help feeling that her presence there must havecontributed to it all.

“I think… I thinkit’s been coming for a while now,” Christopher said. He still sounded hurt, buthe also sounded almost resigned now, as if this was something he’d beenexpecting. “We’ve been drifting apart. We used to be so close, but recently,it’s like we’ve had nothing in common. Jennifer always blamed my job, but Ithink it was more than that.”

“What was it?”Paige asked. She wanted to give Christopher a chance to talk.

“I think we’re justvery different people. Jennifer always talked about a life traveling the world,always had so many dreams of her own, but just recently, it’s been like all shewants is this life where it’s just the two of us somewhere in the suburbs,having dinner parties and going to art galleries. She hated my job, even thoughI was already on the path to becoming an FBI agent when we met.”

“It can be hardwhen people see the reality of things,” Paige said.

Christophernodded. “I… I should feel broken by all of this. I should feel as though I needto drive back to D.C. and make things up to her, just walk off the case and tryto make things right.”

“But you don’t?”Paige asked.

---