Read Last Run for Free Online Page B

tasted it and found it less pleasing than usual, knew it had nothing to do with the beans or machine, and everything to do with the risk of falling out
with Saul.
    ‘Did Terri ask you to come?’
    ‘She said she’d like me to talk to you,’ Saul said. ‘And I got mad at her.’
    Sam smiled. ‘And then you figured you’d come kick my ass.’
    ‘I guess.’ Saul’s mouth twitched in a semblance of a smile.
    ‘What can I tell you, bro?’ Sam said. ‘Love’s the best thing in the world, but sometimes it hurts like hell.’
    ‘You need – we all need – to get past this right away,’ Grace told Sam in bed early on Sunday morning. ‘Invite them to brunch, maybe.’
    ‘Might turn into a replay of Friday,’ Sam said. ‘Better to take them out.’
    Grace went to see if Cathy wanted to come along – found her on the way out for a run, with a load of study to catch up on later – made the call to Saul, found him just leaving to
pick up Terri to take her to Metrozoo.
    ‘The zoo again?’ Sam raised his eyebrows.
    ‘Terri loves wild animals,’ Grace said. ‘Nothing wrong with that.’
    ‘Caged animals.’ Sam appreciated animal conservation, but tended to remember the bad old zoos, majestic big cats pacing up and down in tiny spaces behind bars and glorious birds
banned from the skies.
    ‘Don’t start,’ Grace told him. ‘Saul said we were welcome to join them.’ She saw his face. ‘It’s OK. We settled on a late lunch instead.’
    ‘Sure you’re up to it?’ Sam asked. ‘You worked yesterday.’
    ‘One session,’ Grace said. ‘You know it was important.’
    ‘You’re important, too,’ Sam told her. ‘And the baby.’
    ‘One appointment, Sam, sitting down the whole time.’
    ‘Stressing about the patient,’ Sam said.
    ‘I’m not going to make a habit of it,’ Grace assured him.
    ‘I hope not,’ he said.
    ‘I guess it’s partly the incorruptibility of animals as well as their magnificence that keeps drawing me back,’ Terri said to Grace later at Ocean’s Ten
in South Beach. ‘Makes a nice change from some of the humans we have to deal with.’
    ‘I’ll go with that,’ Sam agreed. ‘Though the dogs I’ve known may not have been corrupt, but they’re—’
    ‘I should think not.’ Grace wound pasta around her fork, raising her voice over the insistent thump of the background music.
    ‘But they’re certainly mercenary creatures,’ Sam went on. ‘Woody would do just about anything for a slice of ham or a tummy rub, and Harry was no different.’
    ‘Domestic animals,’ Terri said, tucking into her paella, ‘dancing to man’s tune.’
    ‘Luckily for us,’ Sam said, enjoying his swordfish.
    ‘You love dogs, Teté,’ Saul said, ‘and Woody certainly likes you.’
    ‘Woody’s a sweetheart,’ she agreed, ‘and pets are fine, but I’d rather watch an animal in the wild.’
    ‘Plenty of the two-legged variety in Miami,’ Sam said.
    ‘Cliché, bro.’ Saul poked at his Alaskan king crab.
    ‘I know.’ Sam grinned.
    ‘Did you ever consider a career in wildlife conservation, Terri?’ Grace asked.
    ‘Working in the wild was a bit of a fantasy for a while,’ Terri replied. ‘The two things that make me feel most alive are police work and being around animals, especially
primates.’
    ‘So what made you choose law enforcement?’ Sam asked.
    ‘Mostly, I think,’ Terri answered, ‘my grandma’s tales about my grandfather.’
    ‘He was a Manhattan cop,’ Saul said. ‘Died in the line of duty.’
    ‘I didn’t know that,’ Sam said. ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘My grandmother was so proud of him.’ Terri’s expression softened. ‘She’s been gone a while now, but I guess that’s one of the things that drives me to be the
best cop I can – wanting to make her proud of me too.’
    ‘Sounds like a good reason to me,’ Sam said.
    ‘Me too,’ Grace agreed.
    ‘Still, going to the zoos – even if it’s nothing compared to seeing them running free –