Cast the Cards

“Now that I finally have you here in Dale, I’m doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.” He might be doing this for Clark, but he meant what he said. His brother just gave him a nudge in the right direction to get the ball rolling.

“Which is what?” Her face twisted into a bitter sneer. “Hold my hand while I cry? Tell me it’s going to be all right, and I should move on?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m going to drag you back to life, kicking and screaming if I have to.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Is that a challenge?” He tilted his head to the side.

“That’s a fuck you, Carey Carr.”

“I expected as much. Doesn’t change my position.”

“I’m not a case to be solved.”

“I didn’t say that.” He paused. “Do you trust me?”

“Obviously. We’re working together.”

“Then please allow me to help you let go.”

“And you made your peace?”

“Yes. I’ll always miss Clark. The hole he left will never be filled. Every year when his disappearance rolls around I’ll get a little wasted. I was lost for a long while. Eventually I realized life had to keep moving forward. He would’ve wanted me to be happy.”

“Are you?”

“I think so. I mean… there are things I don’t have and I’d like to, but isn’t that the story of everyone’s life?”

“How’d you do it?” Her face softened. Emotion bled through her voice.

“It just came with time. I was here in town living with the stares and the whispers. Packaging it up in the back of my mind in a neat little compartment wasn’t an option. So I worked through the volatile emotions, self-loathing, guilt, pity. You know all the usual suspects in a situation like this.”

“For the record, I have no issues with the way I am. I’m happy. But I refuse to be the reason Clark is stuck with one foot in Heaven and the other on earth.”

“Thank you.” Mentally he breathed a sigh of relief.

“I need to go and call this in to the Bureau.”

“You think they’ll come in with guns blazing?”

“This crime was committed in Dale. So it’s a local issue. Unless we get proof of more victims in other places, they don’t really have a reason to.”

“Good.” He held up a hand. “No offense.”

She snorted.“None taken.”

“Are you ready to get back to work, or do you want to leave the room for a bit?”

“No, I’m good now. Thank you.”

Carey nodded. She walked back over to the examination table, placing on a new pair of gloves. He moved over to stand at her side. “Do you think you’ll find something?”

“Chances are they’re trying to bait me. Make me aware of their presence.”

In the end nothing she could see yielded any clues. She was forced to admit defeat and pass the bear on to the lab.

“Come on, Vannah. Let’s go get lunch somewhere.”