Southern Lights: A Novel

He was there when she arrived, and he could see that she was miserable. Her hair was pulled back in a barely combed ponytail, and she hadn’t worn makeup, and had put on jeans for work. She looked like she was convalescing from an illness. She was pining for her child.

Sam made small talk with her for a few minutes, as they talked about how bad the food was, and then he smiled at her. “Maybe I have something to cheer you up,” he said hopefully. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake meeting with her when she was in such low spirits. “I have a proposition for you,” he said mysteriously, as she looked at him with both curiosity and suspicion.

“What kind of proposition?”

He took a breath and said it. “A job.”

“What kind of job?” She frowned at him. “Like a case?” And then she laughed. “You guys have a case you want my help on? Now, that is a compliment!” She was very flattered that the FBI wanted her help, but they had worked well on the Quentin case together.

“Not a case, Alexa.” He smiled at her. “A job. We want to offer you a job with the OCG, the Office of the General Counsel of the FBI. It’s a desk job, not a field job, so you’re not going to be shooting bad guys. You know what the OCG does. They were all over our asses on the Quentin case. Only now you’d get to be the one bugging everyone else, watching everything, or taking the cases on yourself and kicking ass. They’re going to make you an official offer, but I wanted to talk to you about it first. I’ve been wanting this to happen since we worked together on the Quentin case. I think you’ve done it in the DA’s office. This could be a really exciting career move for you. The benefits are great, it’s interesting, and hell, it’s the FBI.” She’d never even thought of that before. Not once. She assumed she’d be in the DA’s office till she retired.

“Here? In New York?” she asked, still looking amazed. It was definitely a prestigious job, and a huge compliment to be asked.

“No,” Sam said awkwardly, “in Washington, D.C. But your kid is gone, Alexa. As far as I know, you don’t have a guy in your life. Why not Washington, D.C.?”

“My mother is here,” she said, looking distracted and confused. It was a lot to absorb all at once. New job, new city, new life.

“New York is three hours away by train. It’s not a big deal. It’s not Venezuela, for chrissake.”

“No, it isn’t. What’s the money like? Better than what I make now?”

“Yes.” He smiled at her. “You can’t lose on this one. And if you hate it, you can always come back here. But you won’t want to. You’ve done this. It’s over for you. You’re burned out, and you know it.” She had been feeling that way before the Quentin case, and that had spiced things up for a while. Now she was back to robberies and shoplifters, drug busts, and the occasional murder. She missed having something more important to do. “Will you think about it?”

“Yes.” She nodded, smiling, and feeling a lot less depressed than she had an hour before. She was scared but excited. “I thought you were asking me out on a date.” She laughed then.

“I can do that too.” He grinned at her. “I didn’t think you’d go out with me if I asked, or I would have.”

“I wouldn’t. I don’t go out with guys I work with. I did that once. It was stupid and a mess, so I don’t.”

“I figured.” He had guessed correctly from the vibes she put out that she was only interested in being buddies while they worked together. And he saw her treat Jack that way too. “Just take the job. They want you, and you’ll love it. You need something new in your life. Maybe a guy too.”

She shrugged. “You sound like my mother. And my daughter.”

“Maybe you should listen to them.” She laughed again, and they spent the rest of lunch talking about the OCG.

They made her an official offer two days later. The job sounded interesting, the benefits were great, and the money was terrific. It was hard to beat. But she felt guilty leaving the DA’s office. She had been there since she’d graduated from law school seven years before, and they’d been good to her. And she liked Joe McCarthy. She hated to leave them, but they didn’t really need her.

As she always did, when she had a difficult decision to make, she turned up in her mother’s chambers at the end of the day, looking troubled.

“Everything okay?” her mother asked. “Savannah okay?”

“Disgustingly happy,” Alexa answered. “It’s my job.”

“You got fired?” Her mother looked shocked. She had done such a great job on the Quentin case. How could they fire her? But Alexa shook her head.

“I’ve had an offer. From the FBI.” Her mother’s eyes opened wide.

“That’s impressive. Are you going to take it?”

“I don’t know. The money is good, and I like the job. The FBI would be more fun than the DA’s office at this point.” And then she sighed. “But it’s in Washington. How do you feel about that?” she asked her mother honestly, and Muriel thought about it.