Chapter 5

The rest of my day was long, hard, and depressing. More than anything, I needed a break from the Mastermind.  I’m not exactly sure when, where or how I got up the nerve, but I had a date that night. It was with a lawyer for the DA’s office here in Washington. Elizabeth Moore was wickedly funny and nicely irreverent. She was a large woman with a really sweet smile that made me smile. We were having dinner at Marcel’s in Foggy Bottom, a good spot for this kind of thing. The food is French, with a Flemish flair¹.  The night couldn’t have been going any better. I thought so, and I was pretty sure that Elizabeth would agree.
After the waiter left with our orders for dessert and coffee, Elizabeth put her hand lightly on top of mine. Our table was lit by a simple crystal votive candle.
‘All right, Alex. We’ve gone through all the preliminaries. I enjoyed the preliminaries,’ she said. ‘Now what’s the catch? There has to be a catch. Has to be. All the good ones are taken. I know that from experience. So why are you still playing the dating game?’ I understood exactly what Elizabeth meant, but I pretended to look slightly puzzled.
‘Catch?’ I shrugged², then I finally started to smile.
She laughed out loud. ‘You’re what - thirty-nine, forty?’
‘Forty-two, but thanks,’ I said.
‘You passed every test I could possibly throw at you . . .’
‘Such as?’
‘Such as picking a great spot for dinner. Romantic, but not too romantic. Such as being right on time when you arrived to pick me up. Such as listening to some of the things that actually interest me.  Such as being very handsome - not that it matters to me.Yeah, right.’ /! also like children, wouldn’t mind having more/I added.’I’ve read all of Toni Morrison’s novels. I’m a decent plumber³. I can cook if I have to.’
‘The catch?’ she said again. ‘Let’s leave it.’ Our waiter returned, and right as he was pouring a steaming cup of coffee for Elizabeth, the beeper on my belt went off. Oh Jesus.
Busted⁴!
I looked across the table at her - and I blinked. I was definitely the first one to blink.
‘You mind if I take this? It’s important. I recognize the number the FBI in Quantico. I won’t be long. I’ll be right back.’ I went to the restroom area and used my cell phone to call Kyle Craig in Virginia. Kyle has been a solid friend for many years, but ever since I became liaison⁵ between the Bureau and the DC police, I’ve seen way too much of him. He keeps dragging me into the nastiest murder cases on the FBI’s docket. I hated taking his calls. Now what had happened?
Kyle knew who was calling back. He didn’t even bother to say hello. ‘Alex, do you remember a case you and I worked about fourteen months ago? A runaway⁶ girl was found hung from a lighting⁷ fixture⁸ in her hotel room. Patricia Cameron? There have been two murders in San Francisco that match up. Happened last night in Golden Gate Park. This is a very bad scene - the worst I’ve heard about in a while.’
‘Kyle, I’m having dinner with an attractive, very nice, interesting woman. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’ll call you. I’m off duty tonight.’ Kyle laughed. I amused him sometimes. ‘Nana already told me.
Your date’s a lawyer, right? Listen to this one. The devil meets with this lawyer. Says he can make the lawyer a senior partner, but the lawyer has to give him his soul and the soul of everybody in his
family. The lawyer stares at the devil and asks, “So what’s the catch?” ‘After he told his joke, Kyle went on to tell me more than I wanted to hear about the similarities connecting the awful murders in San Francisco to the one I had investigated in DC. I remembered the victim, Patricia Cameron. I could still see her face. I shook off the image.
When he was finished, and Kyle tends to be thorough if a bit long-winded, I went back to join Elizabeth at our table.  She smiled ruefully and shook her head. ‘I think I just figured out the catch,7 she said.
I did my best to laugh, but my insides were already tied up in knots. ‘Honestly, it’s not as bad as it looks.’ It’s much worse, Elizabeth.

1 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

2 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

4 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

5 liaison   

n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通

参考例句：

• She acts as a liaison between patients and staff.她在病人与医护人员间充当沟通的桥梁。
• She is responsible for liaison with researchers at other universities.她负责与其他大学的研究人员联系。

6 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

7 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

8 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。