“Ah, that’s a good reason. Best not to take him away from his family.”
“There’s very little in our world that allows us to have special moments, except for things like this,” she noted. “So we have to honor them when we can get them.”
“And I appreciate the fact that you called me instead of one of the other team members.”
“Well, honestly”—she winced—“you won’t like this.”
“What? I was the last choice?”
“Actually I was gonna come out here alone, except my sergeant told me not to.”
“Right, so not only was I the last choice,” he noted, “I’m the only choice.”
At that, she burst out laughing. “No, that’s not true. I could have hauled in somebody else from the team, but I thought about who I’d like to spend all these hours with, and you’re the one person who came to mind.” She leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek.
He stared at her in surprise.
She shrugged. “What? I’m not allowed to do things like that?”
“Always, of course you’re allowed to,” he replied, his voice low. “It’s just that you never do.”
She stared at him nonplussed. “Sure I do.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t.”
She frowned, feeling like another argument was about to break, when she glanced at the house and whispered, “Action.” She didn’t even know if he understood what she meant, but she pointed, and he immediately turned and stared.
“Is that the garage door opening?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Now the question will be, who is the driver and where is he going?”
“Well, I sure as hell hope he’ll go to the right place, so we can find that poor woman.”
“That’s the plan,” she stated, “so keep the lights off and don’t start the engine just yet.”
“Fine,” he said, “but you should know I’ve done a little of this in my time.”
“Yeah, but probably on the other side of the law.”
“What do you know about that?” he asked in surprise.
She shrugged. “I figure anybody who had the history you did probably went wild for a bit.”
“I did, but I also came back to the straight and narrow.”
“You sure did, which is the only reason you’re here right now.” She nodded. “Get ready.”
He watched as an SUV approached, its darkened windows rolled up. “We won’t see the driver, will we?”
“I’m looking,” she replied, “but it’s damn hard to see anything.”
“Isn’t that the mother’s vehicle?”
“Yes,” she agreed, “but did you notice that she has a limp and a hearing aid?”
“No, I didn’t,” he replied, “but how the hell did you see a hearing aid?”
“She kept fiddling with it, like she couldn’t quite get the right tone.”