Page 87 of Lion & Lamb

Maybe he should try again, convince her that he was worth her trust.

While settling the tab at Chickie’s, Cooper bought a six-pack of Yuengling and stashed it in the trunk of his car. After dropping off his children—and once again hearing the story of how Dad had ruined the championship game for them—Cooper drove across Center City to Eighteenth Street. As it was Sunday, there were parking spots available. He parked in essentially the same spot he had a few days ago and nursed his beer while waiting for Maya to return home. Although maybe she had plans with Mickey Bernstein.

At the tail end of Cooper’s fourth lager, Bernstein dropped Maya off. They kissed goodbye. Maya went upstairs.

Cooper was nowhere numb enough. It still hurt.

He thought about drinking the fifth and sixth beers. Instead, he went into Maya’s building. The two lagers were enough of a bribe for Curt the doorman—hell, the entire city was in a celebratory mood. Besides, Curt recognized Cooper. “Go on up. I’ll let her know you’re on the way.”

While consuming beers one through four in the driver’s seat of his car, Cooper had planned his speech—this was how he’d earn her trust and work his way into her heart. But when Maya opened the door, his brain refused to cooperate, so he said the first thing that came to mind, an item he’d just come across in Vincent’s latest file: “You own a Glock forty-four.”

“Good to see you again too, Cooper. Do you want to come in?”

So much for trust. Well, in for a dime, in for a dollar. “That’s the same model that killed Archie Hughes.”

Maya closed the door behind him. “You think I killed my own employer?”

“No,” Cooper said. “I’m just following the evidence. Did anyone have access to your gun besides you?”

“Before I start talking about my personal firearms—which, by the way, are perfectly normal in West Virginia—can I offer you something to drink?”

“I’ve had enough to drink,” Cooper said. “Schuylkill punch will be fine.”

“I don’t know how to make that cocktail.”

“Just turn on the tap.”

Where was he going with this? Cooper didn’t know, but the document that Victor had sent while Cooper and the kids were at Chickie’s and Pete’s clearly showed a Glock .44 registered to Maya Rain at this address. Recent permit too; Victor said it had been pushed through the system in record time. Why would a nanny suddenly need to pack heat?

When Maya returned from the kitchen, she was holding a gun.

Chapter92

“I’M NOexpert,” Cooper said, “but I’m fairly sure that’s not a glass of water.”

“I’ll get that in a minute,” Maya said.

“Would that beafteryou kill me?”

There was one of those horrible, elongated moments—a second or two in actual time that feels like an eternity when you experience it. Both of their lives could hinge on what happened next.

“You really do think the worst of me,” she replied, breaking the tension. “No, I brought this out to show you my high-school graduation present from my father. Very ladylike, isn’t it?”

Maya snapped open the wheel of the small pearl-handled revolver and showed him the empty chambers. She moved with the grace of a person who had grown up with guns. Cooper was simply relieved he wouldn’t be forced to pull his own piece and engage in a gun battle with the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

“Adorable,” Cooper said. “But that’s not the gun I was talking about.”

“But this is my point,” Maya said. “I don’t know how you learned about the Glock, but that was a gift from Detective Bernstein. I guess he thinks I’m just some rube from West Virginia, so I need to have some personal protection.”

“Where is the Glock?”

“That’s the weird thing—I don’t know. Maybe he took it back when he realized I had my own gun and a permit to carry? I honestly hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned it.”

Cooper’s mind spun with possible explanations, all of them sinister. Among the worst was the idea that Bernstein was trying to frame Maya, taking advantage of her kindness and her proximity to the murder victim. Could be that he wasn’t dating Maya; he was merely getting close enough to tighten the noose around her slender neck.

“I know where the gun is,” Cooper said. “It’s booked into evidence.”

Maya’s face twisted with revulsion. “Are you sayingthatgun was used to kill Archie?”

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