Free Dark Wings Descending by Lesley Davis

abruptly under Rafe’s cool stare.
    “Get back to your game,” she said, already aiming for the elevator. “You never saw me here.”
    “Yes, ma’am, no, ma’am,” he blustered.
    Rafe was sure she heard him let out a sigh of relief when the doors closed on her. She pushed the button for the floor Ashley Scott supposedly resided on. “If this is a false address, Sparky, then you’re the liar I believe you to be and maybe then I can stop thinking about you.”
    The landing was lit by a sad strip of weak light as Rafe stepped from the elevator. She instinctively drew her jacket back from her gun. She’d been in too many run-down apartment buildings not to be prepared for whatever came out from behind the doors. She hugged the wall, one hand on her gun, counting down the apartment numbers. Rafe raised her free hand to rap on the door. She heard footsteps and the door opened without any preamble. Ashley Scott stood there, dressed in the same clothing she’d worn the night before. She leaned against the door jamb, smiling at Rafe like she’d been expecting her.
    “I figured you’d at least have given me the chance to change before you got here.”
    “You’ve been out all night?” Rafe found the idea of Ashley being with someone else until the early hours made her stomach clench painfully.
    “I wish I could say it was for the pleasant company, but I’d done that earlier in the evening.” She batted her eyelashes outrageously at Rafe. “I was working, Detective. Sadly, not painting the town red.” She stepped back and ushered Rafe inside. “Now that you’re here, without a phone call I might add, do you want to get straight to work or can I at least have a cup of coffee to start my day?” Without waiting for an answer, she moved back toward the kitchen. “Then you can tell me why you’re to be found at my door before even God has gotten up.”
    Rafe followed Ashley into the apartment and looked around. “This isn’t how I pictured you living,” she said, finding the apartment impersonal and curiously empty. She caught sight of a large whiteboard, its back flipped toward her. It looked grossly out of place in the room.
    “That’s because it’s not really mine. It’s just a place to sleep while I deal with stuff before I move on to the next job.” Ashley puttered about the tiny kitchen fixing two cups.
    “Where’s your home?”
    “I don’t have one. I go where the need for me is, then I move on.”
    Rafe heard the resignation in Ashley’s voice. “I’m a workaholic, but even I have somewhere to call home.”
    “And a cat,” Ashley added. “A big black cat to come home to and cuddle up with.”
    Rafe wondered at the wistful quality to Ashley’s words. “I’ve had her from a kitten. She was a present from a friend who said with the job I did, I should always come home to a friendly face.” Rafe remembered Blythe handing over the small scrap of fur that had grown into the beautiful animal Trinity had become. “Admittedly, a face with whiskers and kibble breath.”
    Ashley pushed a cup of coffee toward Rafe, then placed the milk and sugar within her reach. She eyed the file under Rafe’s arm. “Do you come bearing gifts?”
    Rafe placed the file on the table between them and opened it, spreading out the photocopied screen prints of Ashley’s life, at least, all that she could find documented.
    Ashley flipped through a few of the sheets, made a face at the driver’s license photo, then looked up. “What? You don’t have my latest Pap smear results? Your team must be slipping.”
    Rafe could tell Ashley wasn’t very pleased but was holding back her anger. Sipping from the hot coffee, Rafe made her wait for her answer. “I’ve found out just the smallest slivers of information about you. You obviously manage to cover your tracks in all you do. But there’s one detail missing that I really would like to know about that’s not covered in any of these sparse details about