Leben’s articles. Turns out Leben knew Solberg, looked up to him as a
mentor, and for a while they were fairly close. Solberg has great
praise for Leben, says he isn’t the least surprised that Leben made a
fortune out of DNA research, but Solberg also says there was a dark side
to Eric Leben. And he’s willing to talk about it.”
“What dark side?”
“He wouldn’t say on the phone. But we have an appointment with him at
UCI at one o’clock.”
As Julio pushed his chair back and got up, Reese said, “How can we keep
digging into this and stay out of trouble with Nick Folbeck?”
“Sick leave,” Julio said. “As long as I’m on sick leave, I’m not
officially investigating anything. Call it personal curiosity.”
“That won’t hold up if we’re caught at it. Cops aren’t supposed to have
personal curiosity in a situation like this.
“No, but if I’m on sick leave, Folbeck’s not going to be worrying about
what I’m doing. It’s less likely that anyone’ll be looking over my
shoulder. In fact, I sort of implied that I wanted nothing to do with
anything this hot. Told Folbeck that, given the heat on this, it might
be best for me to get away for a few days, in case the media pick up on
it and want me to answer questions.
He agreed.”
Reese got to his feet. “I better call in sick, too.”
“I already did it for you,” Julio said.
“Oh. Okay, then, let’s go.”
“I mean, I thought it would be all right. But if you don’t want to get
involved in this-” “Julio, I’m in.”
“Only if you’re sure.”
“I’m in,” Reese said exasperatedly.
And he thought but did not say, You saved my Esther, my little girl,
went right after those guys in the Chevy van and got her out of there
alive, you were like a man possessed, they must’ve thought it was a
demon on their tail, you put your own life on the line and saved Esther,
and I loved you before that because you were my partner and a good one,
but after that I loved you, you crazy little bastard, and as long as I
live I’m going to be there when you need me, no matter what.
In spite of his natural difficulty expressing his most profound
feelings, Reese wanted to say all of that to Julio, but he kept silent
because Julio did not want effusive gratitude and would be embarrassed
by it. All Julio wanted was the commitment of a friend and partner.
Undying gratitude would, if openly expressed, impose a barrier between
them by obviously placing Julio in a superior position, and ever
afterward they would be awkward with each other.
In their daily working relationship, Julio always had been in the
superior position, of course, deciding how to proceed at nearly every
step of a homicide investigation, but his control was never blatant or
obvious, which made all the difference. Reese would not have cared if
Julio’s dominance had been obvious, he did not mind deferring to Julio
because in some ways Julio was the quicker and smarter of the two.
But Julio, having been born and raised in Mexico, having come to the
States and made good, had a reverence and a passion for democracy, not
only for democracy in the political arena but for democracy in all
things, even in one-to-one relationships. He could assume the mantle of
leadership and dominance if it were conveyed by mutual unspoken consent,
but if his role were made overt, he would not be able to fulfill it, and
the partnership would suffer.
“I’m in,” Reese repeated, rinsing their coffee cups in the sink.
“We’re just two cops on sick leave. So let’s go recuperate together.”
The sporting-goods store was near the lake. It was built in the form of
a large log cabin, and a rustic wooden sign advertised BAIT, TACKLE,
BOAT RENTALS, SPORTING GOODS. A Coors sign was in one window, a Miller
Lite sign in another. Three cars, two pickup trucks, and one Jeep stood
in the sunny part of the parking lot, the early-afternoon sun glinting
off their chrome and silvering their windows.