RESIDENT EVIL PIERSHERRY

Chapter 5

"I STILL CAN'T believe you didn't call either of us from the hotel."
Sherry could tell from the tone in Collin's voice that he was
vacillating between being concerned about her in light of the events of the
night before, and pissed that this was the first he'd heard about them.
In her defense, after Piers and Wilkins had dropped her off at home, her
first plan had been to call both Collin and Amy. The three of them had been
friends since college, and normally she told them everything. But then she'd
remembered that it was Saturday, which meant that Collin would be working
and Amy would be knee-deep in wedding-related tasks, especially since her
big day was only two weeks away. So instead, Sherry had shot each of
them a text message asking if they wanted to meet for dinner at Frasca that
night. Then she'd crawled into bed and passed out for the next six hours.
At the restaurant, as soon as the hostess had seated them, Sherry
began to tell Collin and Amy about the occurrences of the night
before--omitting any mention of Senator Hodges's involvement, since the
FBI was keeping that under wraps. From across the table, she'd watched as
Collin grew more and more agitated as her story progressed. And a few
minutes ago, he'd run his hand through his sandy brown hair and folded his
arms across his chest--his usual gesture when working through something
that bothered him.
To Sherry's left was Amy, who looked as sophisticated as always in
her tailored brown shirt-dress and shoulder-length blonde hair cut in an
angled bob. She was more diplomatic in her response than Collin. "It sounds
like you had a pretty intense night, Sherry. You shouldn't have had to go
through all that alone."
"I would have called"--Sherry said pointedly to Collin--"if the FBI
hadn't restricted my calls." She turned to her left. "And yes, it was an
extremely intense night. Thank you for your concern, Amy." She started to go for her wineglass, but Collin reached across the table and grabbed her hand.

"Stop--you know I'm concerned, too."
Sherry glared at him but didn't pull her hand away. "Then stop
complaining about the fact that I didn't call you."
He gave her one of his trademark but-I'm-so-innocent smiles. She'd
seen that smile many times over the last twelve years, and yet it still worked
on her. Usually.
"I apologize," Collin said. "I freaked out hearing your story and
inappropriately expressed my emotions through anger. It's a guy thing." He
squeezed her hand. "I don't like that you were one room away from a murder,
Cam. Strange noises, watching a mysterious, hooded man through a
peephole--this whole thing is far too Hitchcockian for me."
"And I haven't even told you the twist," Sherry said. "Piers Nivans is
one of the agents handling the case for the FBI."
It took Amy a moment to place the name. "Wait--Agent Hottie?"
"Agent Asshole," Sherry corrected her. "Agent Hottie" had been her
former nickname for Piers, one long since dropped. Ever since he accused
her of taking bribes from Roberto Martino.
"That is a twist. How is Agent Asshole these days?" Collin asked dryly.
As Sherry's best friend, he was de facto required to exhibit animosity
toward Piers Nivans as well.
"More important, how was it seeing him after all this time?" Amy asked.
"We traded sarcastic barbs and insults the whole time. It was nice,
catching up like that."
"But is he still just as hot?" Amy exchanged a look with Collin. "Well,
one of us had to ask."
"That's kind of irrelevant, don't you think?" Sherry managed a coolly
disdainful look as she took a sip of her wine. Then she swallowed too fast,
nearly choked, and coughed while gasping for air.
Amy smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."
Sherry dabbed her watering eyes with a napkin and turned to Collin
for help.
"Don't look at me--I'm staying out of this one," he said.
"I would like to remind both of you that the jerk embarrassed me on
national television."
"No, the jerk embarrassed himself on national television," Amy said.

Sherry sniffed, partially mollified by this. "And I'd also like to point
out that because of him, virtually every FBI agent in the Chicago area has
carried a grudge against me for the past three years. Which has made things
tons of fun, considering I work with the FBI on a near-daily basis."
"You don't have to see him again, do you?" Collin asked.
"If there is a god, no." Sherry thought about this more seriously. "I
don't know, maybe if there are some follow-up questions they need to ask.
But I'll tell you this: if I do see Piers Nivans again, it will be on my terms. He
may have caught me off guard last night, but next time I'll be prepared. And
at least I'll be dressed appropriately for the occasion."
"What was wrong with the way you were dressed?" Amy asked.
"I was wearing yoga pants and gym shoes." Sherry scoffed. "I might
as well have been naked."
"Certainly would've made for a more interesting interrogation."
Collin sat back in his chair, all haughty manlike. "You and your high
heels. You're lucky you weren't still in your underwear. Between that and
being interrogated in your gym shoes, which would you prefer?"
Sherry thought about this. "Do I still get to wear high heels in the
underwear scenario?"
"That was supposed to be a rhetorical question. You have a problem,"
Collin said.
Sherry smiled. "So I like to vertically enhance . . . I'm a
five-foot-three-inch trial lawyer. Cut me some slack."
AMY LEFT APOLOGETICALLY as soon as dinner was over, saying
that she needed to get up early the following morning to meet with her florist.
Sherry and Collin stayed at the restaurant for another round of drinks,
then walked the five blocks to her house.
It was a crisp October evening. Sherry pulled her Pierset closed,
belting it at her waist. "I'm not sure Amy's going to make it to the wedding
without having a nervous breakdown. I keep telling her to let me help out
more."
"You know how she is--she's been planning this since she was five,"
Collin said. "Speaking of planning, how's the bachelorette party coming
along?"