“It could just be a guy with the same jacket. It may not be the one from Overton. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
“I realize it could be a coincidence, but I don’t think it is. I think he’s the key to the case. So we find him, we may find Becky and the kid from Overton, too.”
“That’s what I’m hoping,” she said, chewing her lip.
“Hey,” I said, “you watch your back. He was following you.”
“I will. And I’m gonna tell Rachel to keep an eye out because he hangs out at the diner. Right after I got back here, she said he just showed up and nobody knew who he was. Just sits in the back and stares, drinks coffee.”
“That doesn’t sound like a Rockford Falls boy. Anybody who knows their shit orders the pie there first thing before they run out,” I said, wondering if I should head down to the diner for lunch one day and check it out.
The manager got me the footage, and I helped Laura carry her groceries to the car. She swore she could do it, and would’ve died trying if I hadn’t just grabbed some of the bags while she argued.
“Tell your mom I said hello,” I said.
“My dad really likes that show, the one you recommended,” she said. So the cat was out of the bag about me taking Mr. Vance to dialysis, I figured.
“Good. Damon said he had cycle training that day and couldn’t change it.”
“Mmm-hmmm,” Laura said, which meant she believed my reason about as far as she could spit.
“You have a good evening. See you tomorrow.”
“Give me a call if there’s anything on the video you think I need to look at,” she said.
“I’ll just talk to you at the station tomorrow.”
She huffed in frustration. “Why are you acting like I’m a pariah?” she demanded, straight out like that, no beating around the bush with her.
“Because the intimacy between us was a problem. Not just what happened in the bar, but everything that led up to it. The long talks, the dinner together—it crossed a line, and I’ve got to keep us both on the straight and narrow.”
“You think I’m gonna go wild if you don’t make sure I behave myself?” she asked, irritation in her voice.
“No, I think I would,” I admitted, clearing my throat. “So you’re reassigned to Carl after this case. You suggested it before, and I should’ve taken the hint. Besides, I have administrative work to do that doesn’t allow for as much field investigation as I’d like. You two can eat donuts and talk traffic stops.”
“I don’t want to eat donuts with Carl,” she said, and something about that one stupid sentence went straight to my chest and burst like a mortar shell. The rest of the thought was that she wanted to be with me. That I’d pushed her away and hurt her.
“Neither do I,” I told her. “But you deserve better than a boss who paws all over you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said flatly. “I’m not.”
“Good. You have nothing to be sorry for, Vance. You’re not the one who blew up his code of ethics to feel up the new officer.”
“And you didn’t even get past second base. That’s just sad, Chief,” she said archly, “better luck next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” I said balefully, “after the Simms case, you’re with Carl until he retires.”
“So for the next fifteen years?”
“Pretty much.”
“I thought you were worried about employee retention with me. Fifteen years of Carl isn’t exactly enticing.”
“Maybe he isn’t the most entertaining guy, but he won’t act like an animal. Few more days, we wrap this up and find the kid, and then you’re safe from me.”
“What makes you think I wanna be safe from you?” she asked, her eyes sparkling. “What makes you think you’re not a lot of what I like about my job?”
“Don’t say that. You’re young, you’re beautiful. You have your whole life ahead of you. You deserve better than a fling with your widowed boss, which is wrong on a lot of levels besides the fact I’m Damon’s friend.”
“You know, you’re right. You are old and decrepit and probably couldn’t give me what I needed,” she taunted.
“You don’t give a guy a break, do you?” I asked. I wanted to crowd her up against the car and put my tongue in her mouth, bend her back against the door and get my knee between her legs again.
“I don’t know. It depends. Tell me the truth, do you think about me when you get in bed at night? Do you imagine me insisting on a full body search, running my hands and mouth all over you?”
“Jesus, Laura,” I said, backing up. “Go home.”
“I’m off duty, Brody. You can’t tell me what to do,” she challenged.