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Excerpt

Excerpt

Triptych

CHAPTER ONE

February 5, 2006

Detective Michael Ormewood listened to the football game on the
radio as he drove down DeKalb Avenue toward Grady Homes. The closer
he got to the projects, the more tension he felt, his body almost
vibrating from the strain by the time he took a right into what
most cops considered a war zone. As the Atlanta Housing Authority
slowly devoured itself, subsidized communities like Grady were
becoming a thing of the past. The in-town real estate was too
valuable, the potential for kickback too high. Right up the road
was the city of Decatur, with its trendy restaurants and
million-dollar houses. Less than a mile in the other direction was
Georgia's gold-encrusted capitol dome. Grady was like a worse-case
scenario sitting between them, a living reminder that the city too
busy to hate was also too busy to take care of its own.

With the game on, the streets were fairly empty. The drug dealers
and pimps were taking the night off to watch that rarest of
miracles occur: the Atlanta Falcons playing in the Super Bowl. This
being a Sunday night, the prostitutes were still out making a
living, trying to give the churchgoers something to confess next
week. Some of the girls waved at Michael as he drove past, and he
returned the greeting, wondering how many unmarked cars stopped
here during the middle of the night, cops telling Dispatch they
were taking a ten-minute break, then motioning over one of the
girls to help blow off some steam.

Building nine was in the back of the development, the crumbling red
brick edifice tagged by the Ratz, one of the new gangs that had
moved into the Homes. Four cruisers and another unmarked car were
in front of the building, lights rolling, radios squawking. Parked
in the residents' spaces were a black BMW and a pimped out Lincoln
Navigator, its ten-thousand-dollar razor rims glittering gold in
the streetlights. Michael fought the urge to jerk the steering
wheel, take some paint off the seventy-thousand-dollar SUV. It
pissed him off to see the expensive cars the bangers drove. In the
last month, Michael's kid had shot up about four inches, outgrowing
all his jeans, but new clothes would have to wait for Michael's
next paycheck. Tim looked like he was waiting for a high tide while
Daddy's tax dollars went to help these thugs pay their rent.

Instead of getting out of his car, Michael waited, listening to
another few seconds of the game, enjoying a moment's peace before
his world turned upside down. He had been on the force for almost
fifteen years now, going straight from the army to the police,
realizing too late that other than the haircut, there wasn't that
much difference between the two. He knew that as soon as he got out
of his car it would all start up like a clock that was wound too
tight. The sleepless nights, the endless leads that never panned
out, the bosses breathing down his neck. The press would probably
catch on to it, too. Then he'd have cameras stuck in his face every
time he left the squad, people asking him why the case wasn't
solved, his son seeing it on the news and asking Daddy why people
were so mad at him.

Collier, a young beat cop with biceps so thick with muscle he
couldn't put his arms down flat against his sides, tapped on the
glass, gesturing for Michael to roll down his window. Collier had
made a circling motion with his meaty hand, even though the kid had
probably never been in a car with crank windows.

Michael pressed the button on the console, saying, "Yeah?" as the
glass slid down.

"Who's winning?"

"Not Atlanta," Michael told him, and Collier nodded as if he had
expected the news. Atlanta's previous trip to the Super Bowl was
several years back. Denver had thumped them 34 --- 19.

Collier asked, "How's Ken?"

"He's Ken," Michael answered, not offering an elaboration on his
partner's health.

"Could use him on this." The patrolman jerked his head toward the
building. "It's pretty nasty."

Michael kept his own counsel. The kid was in his early twenties,
probably living in his mother's basement, thinking he was a man
because he strapped on a gun every day. Michael had met several
Colliers in the Iraqi desert when the first Bush had decided to go
in. They were all eager pups with that glint in their eye that told
you they had joined up for more than three squares and a free
education. They were obsessed with duty and honor, all that shit
they'd seen on TV and been fed by the recruiters who plucked them
out of high school like ripe cherries. They had been promised
technical training and home-side base assignments, anything that
would get them to sign on the dotted line. Most of them ended up
being shipped off on the first transport plane to the desert, where
they got shot before they could put their helmets on.

Ted Greer came out of the building, tugging at his tie like he
needed air. The lieutenant was pasty for a black man, spending most
of his time behind his desk basking in the fluorescent lights as he
waited for his retirement to kick in.

He saw Michael still sitting in the car and scowled. "You working
tonight or just out for a drive?"

Michael took his time getting out, sliding the key out of the
ignition just as the halftime commentary started on the radio. The
evening was warm for February, and the air-conditioning units
people had stuck in their windows buzzed like bees around a
hive.

Greer barked at Collier, "You got something to do?"

Collier had the sense to leave, tucking his chin to his chest like
he'd been popped on the nose.

"Fucking mess," Greer told Michael. He took out his handkerchief
and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Some kind of sick perv got
ahold of her."

Michael had heard as much when he'd gotten the call that pulled him
off his living-room couch. "Where is she?"

"Six flights up." Greer folded the handkerchief into a neat square
and tucked it into his pocket. "We traced the nine-one-one call to
that phone." He pointed across the street.

Michael stared at the phone booth, a relic of the past. Everybody
had cell phones now, especially dealers and bangers.

"Woman's voice," Greer told him. "We'll have the tape sometime
tomorrow."

"How long did it take to get somebody out here?"

"Thirty-two minutes," Greer told him, and Michael's only surprise
was that it hadn't taken longer. According to a local news team
investigation, response times to emergency calls from Grady
averaged around forty-five minutes. An ambulance took even
longer.

Greer turned back to the building as if it could absolve him.
"We're gonna have to call in some help on this one."

Michael bristled at the suggestion. Statistically, Atlanta was one
of the most violent cities in America. A dead hooker was hardly an
earth-shattering development, especially considering where she was
found.

He told Greer, "That's all I need is more assholes telling me how
to do my job."

"This asshole thinks it's exactly what you need," the lieutenant
countered. Michael knew better than to argue --- not because Greer
wouldn't tolerate insubordination, but because he'd agree with
Michael just to shut him up, then turn around and do whatever the
hell he wanted to anyway.

Greer added, "This one's bad."

"They're all bad," Michael reminded him, opening the back door to
his car and taking out his suit jacket.

"Girl didn't have a chance," Greer continued. "Beat, cut, fucked
six ways to Sunday. We got a real sick fuck on our hands."

Michael put on his jacket, thinking Greer sounded like he was
auditioning for HBO. "Ken's out of the hospital. Said come by and
see him anytime."

Greer made some noises about being real busy lately before trotting
off toward his car, looking back over his shoulder as if he was
afraid Michael would follow. Michael waited until his boss was in
his car and pulling out of the lot before he headed toward the
building.

Collier stood at the doorway, hand resting on the butt of his gun.
He probably thought he was keeping watch, but Michael knew that the
person who had committed this crime wasn't going to come back for
more. He was finished with the woman. There was nothing else he
wanted to do.

Collier said, "The boss left fast."

"Thanks for the news flash."

Michael braced himself as he opened the door, letting the damp,
dark building slowly draw him in. Whoever had designed the Homes
hadn't been thinking about happy kids coming home from school to
warm cookies and milk. They had focused on security, keeping open
spaces to a minimum and covering all the light fixtures in steel
mesh to protect the bulbs. The walls were exposed concrete with
narrow windows tucked into tight little corners, the safety wire
embedded in the glass looking like uniform cobwebs. Spray paint
covered surfaces that had been painted white once upon a time. Gang
tags, warnings and various pieces of information covered them now.
To the right of the front door, someone had scrawled, Kim is a
ho! Kim is a ho! Kim is a ho
!

Michael was looking up the winding staircase, counting the six
flights, when a door creaked open. He turned to find an ancient
black woman staring at him, her coal dark eyes peering out around
the edge of the steel door.

"Police," he said, holding up his badge. "Don't be afraid."

The door opened wider. She was wearing a floral apron over a
stained white T-shirt and jeans. "I ain't afraid'a you,
bitch."

Clustered behind her were four old women, all but one of them
African-American. Michael knew they weren't here to help. Grady,
like any small community, thrived on gossip and these were the
mouths that fed the supply line.

Still, he had to ask, "Any of y'all see anything?"

They shook their heads in unison, bobbleheads on the Grady
dashboard.

"That's great," Michael said, tucking his badge back into his
pocket as he headed toward the stairs. "Thanks for helping keep
your community safe."

She snapped, "That's your job, cocksucker."

He stopped, his foot still on the bottom stair as he turned back
toward her, looking her straight in the eye. She returned the
glare, rheumy eyes shifting back and forth like she was reading the
book of his life. The woman was younger than the others, probably
in her early seventies, but somehow grayer and smaller than her
companions. Spidery lines crinkled the skin around her lips,
wrinkles etched from years of sucking on cigarettes. A shock of
gray streaked through the hair on the top of her head as well as
the ones corkscrewing out of her chin like dreadlocks. She wore the
most startling shade of orange lipstick he had ever seen on a
woman.

He asked, "What's your name?"

Her chin tilted up in defiance, but she told him, "Nora."

"Somebody made a nine-one-one call from that phone booth
outside."

"I hope they wash they hands after."

Michael allowed a smile. "Did you know her?"

"We all knowed her." Her tone indicated there was a lot more to be
told but she wasn't the one who was going to tell it to some
dumb-ass white cop. Obviously, Nora didn't exactly have a college
degree under her belt, but Michael had never set much store by that
kind of thing. He could tell from her eyes that the woman was
sharp. She obviously had street smarts. You didn't live to be that
old in a place like Grady by being stupid.

Michael took his foot off the step, walking back toward the cluster
of women. "She working?"

Nora kept her eye on him, still wary. "Most nights."

The white woman behind her provided, "She an honest girl."

Nora tsked her tongue. "Such a young little thing." There was a
hint of challenge in her voice when she said, "No kind of life for
her, but what else could she do?"

Michael nodded like he understood. "Did she have any
regulars?"

They all shook their heads, and Nora provided, "She never brought
her work home with her."

Michael waited, wondering if they would add anything else. He
counted the seconds off in his head, thinking he'd let it go to
twenty. A helicopter flew over the building and car wheels squealed
against asphalt a couple of streets over, but no one paid
attention. This was the sort of neighborhood where people got
nervous if they didn't hear gunshots at least a couple of times a
week. There was a natural order to their lives, and violence --- or
the threat of it --- was as much a part of it as fast food and
cheap liquor.

"All right," Michael said, having counted the seconds to
twenty-five. He took out one of his business cards, handing it to
Nora as he told her, "Something to wipe your ass on."

She grunted in disgust, holding the card between her thumb and
forefinger. "My ass is bigger than that."

He gave her a suggestive wink, made his voice a growl. "Don't think
I hadn't noticed, darlin'."

She barked a laugh as she slammed the door in his face. She had
kept the card, though. He had to take that as a positive
sign.

Michael walked back to the stairs, taking the first flight two at a
time. All of the buildings at Grady had elevators, but even the
ones that worked were dangerous. As a first-year patrolman, Michael
had been called out to the Homes on a domestic disturbance and
gotten caught in one of the creaky contraptions with a busted
radio. He had spent about two hours trying not to add to the
overwhelming smell of piss and vomit before his sergeant realized
he hadn't reported in and sent somebody to look for him. The
old-timers had laughed at his stupidity for another half hour
before helping get him out.

Welcome to the brotherhood.

As Michael started on the second flight of stairs, he felt a change
in the air. The smell hit him first: the usual odor of fried foods
mingled with beer and sweat, cut by the sudden but unmistakable
stench of violent death.

The building had responded to the fatality in the usual way.
Instead of the constant thump of rap beating from multiple
speakers, Michael heard only the murmur of voices from behind
closed doors. Televisions were turned down low, the halftime show
serving as background noise while people talked about the girl on
the sixth floor and thanked the Lord it was her this time and not
their children, their daughters, themselves.

In this relative quiet, sounds started to echo down the stairwell:
the familiar rhythms of a crime scene as evidence was gathered,
photos taken. Michael stopped at the bottom of the fourth-floor
landing to catch his breath. He had given up smoking two months ago
but his lungs hadn't really believed him. He felt like an asthmatic
as he made his way up the next flight of stairs. Above him, someone
barked a laugh, and he could hear the other cops join in,
participating in the usual bullshit bravado that made it possible
for them to do the job.

Downstairs, a door slammed open, and Michael leaned over the
railing, watching two women wrangle a gurney inside the foyer. They
were wearing dark blue rain jackets, bright yellow letters
announcing "MORGUE" on their backs.

Michael called, "Up here."

"How far up?" one of them asked.

"Sixth floor."

"Mother fuck," she cursed.

Michael grabbed the handrail and pulled himself up the next few
stairs, hearing the two women offer up more expletives as they
started the climb, the gurney banging against the metal railings
like a broken bell. He was one flight away from the top when he
felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Sweat had glued
his shirt to his back, but some sort of sixth sense sent a chill
through him.

A flash popped and a camera whirred. Michael stepped carefully
around a red stiletto shoe that was flat on the stair, looking as
if someone had sat down and slipped it off. The next step up had
the perfect outline of a bloody hand gripping the tread. The next
stair had another handprint, then another, as someone had crawled
up the stairs.

Standing on the landing at the top of the fifth flight was Bill
Burgess, a seasoned beat cop who had seen just about every kind of
crime Atlanta had to offer. Beside him was a dark pool of
coagulating blood, the edges spreading in rivulets that dropped
from one step to the next like falling dominoes. Michael read the
scene. Someone had stumbled here, struggled to get up, smearing
blood as she tried to escape.

Bill was looking down the stairs, away from the blood. His skin was
blanched, his lips a thin slash of pink. Michael stopped short,
thinking he'd never seen Bill flustered before. This was the man
who'd gone out for chicken wings an hour after finding six severed
fingers in the Dumpster behind a Chinese restaurant.

The two men did not speak as Michael carefully stepped over the
puddle of blood. He kept his hand on the rail, making the turn to
the next flight of stairs, thankful for something to hold on to
when he saw the scene in front of him.

The woman was partially clothed, her tight red dress cut open like
a robe, showing dark cocoa skin and a wisp of black pubic hair that
had been shaved into a thin line leading down to her cleft. Her
breasts were unnaturally high on her chest, implants holding them
up in perfection. One arm was out to her side, the other rested
above her head, fingers reaching toward the handrail as if her last
thoughts had been to pull herself up. Her right leg was bent at the
knee, splayed open, the left jutting at an angle so that he could
see straight up her slit.

Michael took another step, blocking out the activity around him,
trying to see the woman as her killer would have seen her. Makeup
smeared her face, heavy lipstick and rouge applied in dark lines to
bring out her features. Her curly black hair was streaked with
orange, teased out in all directions. Her body was nice, or nicer
than you'd expect from what the needle marks on her arms indicated
she was: a woman with a habit she fed between her legs. The bruises
on her thighs could have come from her killer or a john who liked
it rough. If it was the latter, then she had probably willingly
endured it, knowing she'd be able to get more money for the pain,
knowing more money meant more pleasure later on when the needle
plunged in and that warm feeling spread through her veins.

Her eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the wall. One of her
fake eyelashes had come loose, making a third lash under her left
eye. Her nose was broken, her cheek shifted off center where the
bones beneath the eye had been shattered. Light reflected against
something in her open mouth, and Michael took another step closer,
seeing that it was filled to the top with liquid and that the
liquid was blood. The light overhead glinted off the red pool like
a harvest moon.

Pete Hanson, the medical examiner on call, stood at the top of the
stairs talking to Leo Donnelly. Leo was an asshole, always playing
the tough cop, joking about everything, laughing too loud and long,
but Michael had seen him at the bar one too many times, his hand a
constant blur as he slammed back one scotch after another, trying
to get the taste of death out of his mouth.

Leo spotted Michael and cracked a smile, like they were old pals
getting together for a good time. He was holding a sealed plastic
evidence bag in his hand and he kept tossing it a couple of inches
in the air and catching it like he was getting ready to play
ball.

Leo said, "Hell of a night to be on call."

Michael didn't voice his agreement. "What happened?"

Leo kept tossing the bag, weighing it in his hand. "Doc says she
bled to death."

"Maybe," Pete corrected. Michael knew the doctor liked Leo about as
much as everyone else on the force, which was to say he couldn't
stand the bastard. "I'll know more when I get her on the
table."

"Catch," Leo said, tossing the evidence bag down to Michael.

Michael saw it in slow motion, the bag sailing through the air end
over end like a lopsided football. He caught it before it hit the
ground, his fingers wrapping around something thick and obviously
wet.

Leo said, "Something for your cat."

"What the --- " Michael stopped. He knew what it was.

"Lookit his face!" Leo's shotgun laugh echoed off the walls.

Michael could only stare at the bag. He felt blood at the back of
his throat, tasted that metallic sting of unexpected fear. The
voice that came out of his mouth did not sound like his own --- it
was more like he was under water, maybe drowning. "What
happened?"

Leo was still laughing, so Pete answered, "He bit off her
tongue."

CHAPTER TWO

February 6, 2006

When he had returned from the Gulf War, Michael had been haunted by
his dreams. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the bullets
coming at him, the bombs blowing off arms and legs, children
running down the road, screaming for their mamas. Michael knew
where their mothers were. He had stood by helplessly as the women
banged the closed windows of the schoolhouse, trying to break their
way out as fire from an exploded grenade burned them alive.

Aleesha Monroe was haunting him now. The tongueless woman in the
stairway had followed him home, worked some kind of magic in his
dreams so that it was Michael chasing her up the stairs, Michael
forcing her back onto the landing and splitting her in two. He
could feel her long red nails sinking into his skin as she tried to
fight him off, choking him. He couldn't breathe. He started clawing
at his neck, her hands, trying to get her to stop. He woke up
screaming so loud that Gina sat up in bed beside him, clutching the
sheet to her chest like she expected to see a maniac in their
bedroom.

"Jesus, Michael," she hissed, hand over her heart. "You scared the
shit out of me."

He reached for the glass of water by the bed, sloshing some on his
chest as he took large gulps to quench the fire in his
throat.

"Babe," Gina said, touching the tips of her fingers to his neck.
"What happened?"

Michael felt a sting on his neck and put his fingers where hers had
been. There was a rent in the skin, and when he got up to look in
the mirror over the dresser, he saw a thin trickle of blood
dripping from the fresh cut.

She stood beside him. "Did you scratch yourself in your
sleep?"

"I don't know." He knew, though. He still hadn't caught his breath
from the dream.

Gina wrinkled her nose as she pulled his hand to her mouth. For a
second, he thought she was going to kiss it, but she asked instead,
"Why do you smell like bleach?"

He'd had to scrub it off him --- that smell, that stickiness, that
came from being around the dead. Michael didn't tell her this,
didn't want to open up that conversation, so instead he squinted at
the clock, asking, "What time is it?"

"Shit," she groaned, dropping his hand. "Might as well get dressed.
My shift starts in two hours."

Michael picked up the clock to see for himself. Six-thirty. After
processing the crime scene, tossing the woman's apartment and going
through the paperwork, he had gotten maybe four hours of
sleep.

The shower came on, pipes rumbling in the wall as the hot water
heater kicked in. Michael went into the bathroom, watching Gina
slip off the shirt she'd slept in.

"Tim's already up," she said, taking off her panties. "You need to
make sure he's not getting into anything."

Michael leaned against the wall, admiring her flat stomach, the way
the muscles in her arms stretched as she took the band out of her
hair. "He's fine."

Gina gave him a look, noticing him noticing her. "Check on
him."

Michael felt a smile on his lips. Her breasts had kept their
fullness after Tim, and his mouth was almost watering at the sight
of them. "Call in sick," he told her.

"Right."

"We'll watch a movie, make out on the couch." He paused, then
tried, "Remember how we used to just kiss for hours?" Christ, he
hadn't had more than a peck on the cheek in months. "Let's kiss
like that, Gina. Nothing else. Just kissing."

"Michael," Gina said, leaning in to check the water temperature.
She stepped into the shower. "Stop leering at me like I'm a hooker
and go check on your son."

She closed the shower door, and he waited a full minute before
leaving, watching her silhouette behind the glass, wondering when
things had started to go wrong between them.

He had met Gina before his unit left for the Gulf. No one was
expecting to get hurt over there, but Michael and his fellow grunts
had played it up, getting all the action they could before being
dropped in the desert. Ellen McCallum was a petite, bottle blonde,
not too bright --- just the kind of girl you wanted to remember
when you were stuck in some filthy, sand-encrusted tent a million
miles from home, telling the guys about the girl back home who
could suck the leather off a couch.

Michael had spent the better part of a week trying to get into
Ellen's pants when up walked Gina, her cousin. She'd pretty much
ripped Michael a new one for messing around with her favorite baby
cousin, but when he'd shipped out a couple of days later, it was
Gina he was thinking about. Her curly brown hair, her delicate
features, the smooth curve of her ass. He started writing to her,
and to his surprise, she wrote back --- real mean at first, but
then she calmed down a little, almost got sweet on him. He was in
Kuwait, supposedly keeping the peace, when some dumb-ass teenager
fooling around with a handgun accidentally shot him in the leg. The
kid was a lousy shot, but the wound wouldn't heal. When Michael was
sent to the base in Germany for surgery, it was Gina he called
first.

They got married a week after he was discharged and two weeks later
he signed up with the Atlanta Police Department. Gina graduated
from nursing school at Georgia Baptist and got a good job at
Crawford Long Hospital. Two years later, she went over to Piedmont
where they paid her more. Michael got his gold shield and was moved
from his patrol beat at Grady to Vice, with a pay bump to match.
Soon, their life was rolling along better than Michael had ever
expected. They bought a house just north of Atlanta, started
putting money away for a rainy day, thinking about having a kid or
two and making it a real family. Then Tim came along.

He was a quiet baby, but Michael saw a sparkle in his big blue
eyes. The first time he held Tim was like holding his own heart in
his hands. It was Barbara, Gina's mom, who saw the problems first.
He never cries. He doesn't engage. He stares at the wall for hours.
Michael fought it tooth and nail, but the doctor confirmed
Barbara's suspicions. Tim had been deprived of oxygen at some point
during Gina's pregnancy. His brain would never develop past the
level of a six-year-old. They didn't know how or why, but that was
just the way it was.

Michael had never liked Barbara, but Tim's diagnosis made him hate
her. It was a cliché to despise your mother-in-law, but she
had always thought her daughter traded down and now she saw Tim's
problem as Michael's failure. She was also some kind of religious
nut, quick to find fault in others, not so quick to see it in
herself. She wasn't just the glass-is-half-empty type; she thought
the glass was half empty and they were all going to hell for
it.

"Tim?" Michael called, putting on a T-shirt as he walked through
the house. "Where are you, buddy?"

He heard giggling behind the couch, but kept walking toward the
kitchen.

"Where'd Tim go?" he asked, noting his son had scattered a full box
of Cheerios all over the kitchen table. Tim's blue bowl was filled
to the rim with milk, and for just a second Michael could see
Aleesha Monroe's red, red mouth, the way it had been filled with
her own blood.

"Boo!" Tim screamed, grabbing Michael around the waist.

Michael startled, even though Tim did this practically every
morning. His heart was thumping in his chest as he lifted his son
up into his arms. The kid was eight now, much too big to be held,
but Michael couldn't help himself. He stroked back the cowlick on
the top of Tim's head. "You sleep okay, kiddo?"

Tim nodded, pulling away from Michael's hand, pushing at his
shoulder so he could get down.

"Let's clean up this mess before Ba-Ba gets here," he suggested,
scooping some of the cereal into his hand and tossing it into the
box. Barbara came during the week to watch Tim. She took him to
school, picked him up, made sure he had his snack and did his
homework. Most days, she spent more time with him than either
Michael or Gina, but it wasn't like either of them had a
choice.

"Ba-Ba won't like this mess," Michael said.

"Nope," Tim agreed. He was sitting at the table, legs pulled up
underneath him. The fly to his Spiderman pajamas sagged open.

"Tuck in your equipment, buddy," Michael admonished, trying to
fight the wave of sadness that came over him as Tim fumbled with
the buttons.

Michael had been an only child, probably a little more than
spoiled. When Tim came along, he didn't know anything about caring
for a baby. Changing Tim's diaper had been embarrassing, something
to get over with as quickly as possible and with minimal contact.
Now, all Michael could think about was the fact that Tim would hit
puberty in a few years. His body would start growing, changing him
into a man, but his mind would never catch up. He would never know
what it was like to make love to a woman, to use what God gave him
to bring pleasure to another human being. He would never have
children of his own. Tim would never know the joy and heartache of
being a father.

"Who made this mess?" Gina asked. She was wrapped in the blue silk
robe Michael had given her for Christmas a couple of years ago, her
hair swirled up in a towel. "Did you make this mess?" she teased
Tim, cupping his chin in her hand as she kissed his lips. "Ba-Ba
won't like this," she said. Michael got a secret kick that the kid
hadn't been able to call Barbara grandma like she wanted.

Tim started to help clean up, making more of a mess in the process.
"Uh-oh," he said, dropping to his knees, picking up one Cheerio at
a time, counting them out loud as he handed them to his
mother.

Gina asked Michael, "You getting home at a decent hour
tonight?"

"I told you I had a case."

"In a bar?" she said, and he turned his back to her, taking a
couple of mugs down from the cabinet. He'd been too wound up last
night to come straight home. Leo had suggested they get a drink,
talk about the case, and Michael had taken him up on the offer,
using the excuse to toss back a couple of bourbons and take the
edge off what he'd seen.

"Eleven . . ." Tim counted. "Twelve . . ."

Gina said, "You smell like an ashtray."

"I didn't smoke."

"I didn't say you did." She dropped a handful of Cheerios into the
box and held out her hand for more.

"Fourteen," Tim continued.

"I just needed some time." Michael poured coffee into the mugs.
"Leo wanted to talk about the case."

"Leo wanted an excuse to get shitfaced."

"Uh-oh," Tim sang.

"Sorry, baby," Gina apologized to their son. She softened her tone.
"You skipped a number. What happened to thirteen?"

Tim shrugged. For the moment, he could only count to twenty-eight,
but Gina made sure he hit every number along the way.

Gina told Tim, "Go get dressed for Ba-Ba. She'll be here
soon."

Tim stood and bounced out of the room, skipping from one foot to
the other.

Gina dropped the Cheerios into the box and sat down with a groan.
She had pulled a double shift this weekend to pick up some extra
money. The day hadn't even started and already she looked
exhausted.

"Busy night?" he asked.

She took a sip of coffee, looking at him over the steam rising from
the mug. "I need money for the new therapist."

Michael sighed, leaning against the counter. Tim's old speech
therapist had taken him as far as she could. The kid needed a
specialist, and the good specialists weren't on the state health
insurance plan.

"Five hundred dollars," Gina said. "That'll get him through the end
of the month."

"Christ." Michael rubbed his fingers into his eyes, feeling a
headache coming on. He thought about the BMW and the Lincoln he'd
seen at Grady Homes last night. Tim could see fifty specialists for
that kind of money.

"Take it out of savings," he said.

She snorted a laugh. "What savings?"

Christmas. They had raided their savings for Christmas.

"I'm gonna ask for another shift at the hospital." She held up her
hand to stop his protest. "He's got to have the best."

"He's got to have his mother."

"How about your mother?" she shot back.

Michael's jaw set. "I'm not going to ask her for another
dime."

Excerpted from TRIPTYCH © Copyright 2011 by Karin
Slaughter. Reprinted with permission by Delacorte Press, an imprint
of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Triptych
by by Karin Slaughter

  • Genres: Fiction, Suspense
  • Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Dell
  • ISBN-10: 0440242924
  • ISBN-13: 9780440242925