Solitude Creek (Kathryn Dance 4)

"Yep. Went by Andy mostly."

"Are March's clients, the ones who bought his videos, guilty of crimes?"

"I'm not sure where it falls. Conspiracy probably, if they actually ordered a killing. That's a wide net. According to March, though, a lot of the clients are overseas. Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia. We can't reach them and this isn't an extradition situation. TJ's going through the website's records now. I think we'll have some U.S. citizens the Bureau'll come and talk to. March is cooperating. It was part of the deal."

Another shiver.

I'm glad we're in each other's lives now...

Boling was saying, "I've always worried about video games, the desensitizing. Kids, at least. They lose all filtering."

In 2006 a young man arrested on suspicion of stealing a car wrested a gun away from an officer and shot his way out of the police station, killing three cops. He was a huge fan of the very game that March had mentioned, Grand Theft Auto.

Other youthful shooters--the Sandy Hook killer and the two Columbine students--were avid players of violent shooting games, she believed.

One side of the debate said there was no causal effect between games and the act of violence, asserting that youngsters naturally prone to bully, injure or kill were drawn to video games of that sort and would go on to commit crimes even without gaming. Others held that given the developmental process of children, exposure to such games did tend to shape behavior, far more than TV or movies, since they were immersive and took you into a different world, operating by different rules, far more than passive entertainment.

She sipped her wine and let these thoughts vanish, replaced by the memory of Michael O'Neil's words an hour ago.

So, here's the thing...

A tight knot in her belly.

"Kathryn?"

She blinked and realized Boling had asked her something. "Sorry?"

"Antioch. He was Greek?"

"Probably second or third generation. He didn't look Mediterranean. He looked like some hunky actor."

"Antioch. That's a town, right?"

"I don't know."

They watched a wraith of fog skim the house, urged on by a modest breeze. The temperature was cool but Dance needed that. Cleansing. So too was the noise of seals barking and of waves colliding with rock. The two sounds comical and comforting respectively.

It was then, with a thud in her belly, that she noticed something sitting on the Deck floor, near Jon Boling's feet. A small bag. From By the Sea Jewelry in Carmel. She knew the place. Since Carmel was such a romantic getaway, the jewelry stores tended to specialize in engagement and wedding rings.

My God, she thought. Oh, my God.

The silence between them rolled up, thicker than the fog. And she realized that he'd been mulling something over. Of course, a rehearsed speech. Now he got to it.

"There's something I want to say." He smiled. "How's that for verbal uselessness? Obviously if I wanted to say something I'd just say it. So. I will."

Dance administered a sip of wine. No, a gulp. Then she told herself: Keep your wits, girl. Something big's happening here. She set the glass down.

Boling inhaled, like a free diver about to test himself. "We were talking about getting up to Napa, with the kids."

The coming weekend. A little vineyard touring, a little shopping. On-demand TV in the inn. Pizza.

"But I'm thinking we shouldn't go."

"No?"

So he had in mind a romantic getaway, just the two of them.

Then he was smiling. A different smile, though. A look in his eyes she hadn't seen before.