“I’m not ever going to marry.”
“You sound very sure.”
“I am. It just isn’t out there for me. You’re a catch, but you’re too much like me. Jackson was a wholly different person, calm and wise and funny. He wasn’t brilliant, but he knew how to do the right thing in any situation.”
“That’s as much a gift as Ham’s shooting.”
“You’re right, and he cultivated it every day. But he’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Did they ever catch the people who did it, that cult group, or whatever they were?”
“No, but Lance says I’d have a better chance with the Agency. I could never run them down in law enforcement. Either I’d have a department to run, like now, or I’d be caught up in a bureaucracy with some supervisor’s shoe on my neck. I don’t think it would be like that with Lance.”
“Maybe not.”
“I could always quit, if I didn’t like it.”
“I suppose.”
The phone rang and Stone picked it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Dino. The address is less than two blocks from your house.”
“Jesus.” He got a pencil and wrote it down. “We’ll meet you there.”
“No, come here. We’ve got the building plans on the way, and we need to plan this well.”
“We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Bring your weapons and Holly’s warrant.”
“Will do.” He hung up.
“Got your warrant?” he asked Holly.
“You bet your ass.”
“Then let’s go.”
On the way uptown, in the cab, Stone reached out for Holly’s wrist and felt her pulse.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s about ninety,” he said. “You want to calm down. Take some deep breaths. It’s going to be at least a couple of hours before we go in.”
“I want to do it now.”
“I know, but you have to be patient.”
“No, I don’t,” she replied.
“You’ll do a better job if you pace yourself.”
“Maybe.”
“Certainly.”
She began taking deep breaths, and her heart rate started to come down.