Chapter Twenty-Six
“Ilike him,” Freddie said to Sam when they were in her office. “He fits right in.”
“I’m glad you think so. I’m impressed with his work so far and with the way he seems to understand what he’s navigating coming in here to take Arnold’s place.”
“Not everyone could do that successfully, but I think he’s going to work out well.”
“Agreed. Now I have to find someone to take Tyrone’s place.”
“Any contenders?”
Sam gestured to a bulging file on her desk. “I’m supposed to go through all these applications and narrow it down to three. Who has the time for that nonsense?”
He rolled his eyes. “You want me to do it for you?”
“Would you?”
“Yes, I’ll do it,” he said with a long-suffering sigh as he took the file from her.
“Get me someone good. No drama queens or ass pains.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, sarcastically.
“It might be nice to have another woman around here.”
“We already have four.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I was merely pointing out the existence of four female Homicide detectives.”
“Thank you for doing that math for me. You know it’s not my thing.
” As they talked, she scrolled through her email and clicked on a message from the lab with a report on the first car used in the shootings.
“Hot damn! The lab got some hairs and ruled out the owners of the car. They ran the DNA through the databases, but didn’t get any hits. ”
“So that means our guys are first-time offenders.”
“Or they’re repeat offenders who’ve never been required to give DNA before.
I’m gonna guess that they didn’t start with gunning down innocent people for no good reason.
I’ll ask the lab to cross match the DNA from the hairs to Angel’s rape kit.
We’re closing in on these SOBs.” She typed the request, asked the lab to give it highest priority and pressed Send.
“Perhaps the death in the family will keep our perps off the streets tonight,” Freddie said.
“We can only hope for that, and sketches that’ll get us some faces for these guys.” As she said the words, a dizzy spell hit, making the room spin. She grasped the desk, hoping it would stop the sickening movement inside her head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dizzy.”
“When was the last time you ate?”
Sam couldn’t recall. Suddenly, she was exhausted, starving and craving some time with her husband and son. “I’d like to go home for a little while. Give me a lift?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Avery got home early for once, walking through the door right after six-thirty. From upstairs, he could hear Shelby talking to the baby as she got him ready for bed. He dropped his work bag inside the door and headed up the stairs, eager to see Noah before he went to bed.
“Hey,” he said when he walked into the room.
“Look, Noah,” Shelby said. “There’s Daddy.”
He loved when she called him Daddy. It made his heart ache with a love so big it couldn’t be contained. “Hey, buddy.” Avery leaned over the changing table for a better look at the baby.
Noah squealed at the sight of him, his arms and legs thrashing about.
Shelby laughed. “I think he wants Daddy to pick him up.”
“Daddy would love to.” Avery carefully lifted the squirming bundle from the changing table and snuggled him into his embrace, breathing in the clean baby scent that clung to his freshly washed hair. “Did you guys have a good day?”
“We had a great day,” Shelby said as she cleaned up the room.
“After work, we went for a long walk, we stopped at the park and we checked in on the ladies at the studio.” She referred to the bridal salon that she still owned.
She’d turned the management of it over to others when she accepted the position with Nick and Sam.
Avery moved about the spacious room, rubbing the baby’s back and helping to settle him.
Shelby called him a baby whisperer because he was so good at getting Noah to sleep.
That was another title he loved. Hell, he loved everything about being part of this little boy’s life, and he’d do anything to stay in his life for good.
Working together, they got the baby settled in his crib and turned on the Noah’s Ark mobile that played nursery rhymes. He loved to watch the animals parade around over his head.
They tiptoed out of the nursery, which adjoined their room, leaving the door ajar so they could hear him. Shelby also brought the portable half of the baby monitor that had a screen so she could watch him sleep, which she often did. She said it was much more interesting than anything on TV.
Avery went into their room and pulled off his tie. He changed into a T-shirt and athletic shorts, his usual after-work uniform.
“Are you hungry?” Shelby asked.
Normally, he was starving by now, but his stomach was agitated from thinking about the conversation they needed to have.
Food was the last thing on his mind. He sat on the bed, elbows propped on his legs and dropped his head, hoping to relieve some of the tension that had gathered in his neck as he tried to find the words he needed.
“Are you all right?”
“No. I’m not all right.” That wasn’t how he’d imagined broaching the subject, but it was the truth.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen at work?”
“Work is fine.” He forced himself to look up at her. “Will you sit with me for a minute? I need to talk to you.”
“Sure,” she said, her brows furrowing in confusion.
He found her adorable, even when confused. Taking hold of her hand he brought it to his lips, buying himself another minute to figure out what he should say.
“Are you leaving us?” she whispered.
The question stunned him. “What? No, I’m not leaving you. I’d never leave you.”
“You’re scaring me with the way you’re acting. Something is wrong.”
“Yes, something is wrong, and I can’t be the only one who’s noticed.”
She looked at him blankly, which made him crazy. How could she not know what he meant?
“Between us, Shelby.”
“Oh.”
Avery forced himself to press on, to put it out there, to give voice to the worries that’d been keeping him awake at night. “You know I’ve been seeing Rosemary twice a week.”
She nodded.
“Today we talked about my relationship with you—or lack thereof. She said from the way I described it that we’re living together but estranged. I have to agree with her description.”
“Things have been busy. With Noah… And everything.”
“I know. Having a baby has been a big adjustment for both of us. You more than me, of course, but we can’t blame what’s happened between us on him. No, that’s all my fault because of what happened before he was born. I take full responsibility for the breakdown between us.”
“It’s not only your fault. It’s mine, too.”
“How do you figure?”
“I’m so caught up in Noah that I haven’t had much time for you.”
“It’s more than that, Shelby.” He sighed. “It’s like our romantic relationship ended the day I screwed up, and since then we’ve been platonic roommates who share a baby.”
She looked down at the floor, her shoulders sagging.
“I can’t live like that forever, and you shouldn’t have to either.”
“What’re you saying? You want to break up? If you do, I hope you know that I’d never keep you from Noah. I know how much you love him.” The words came out in a rush, as if she’d practiced them.
“I don’t want to break up. I want to go back to what we had before I screwed it all up.
I want you. I want Noah. I want our family.
But not like this, Shelby. Not with this awful abyss between us.
I can’t handle it anymore. It’s killing me to sleep next to you every night and feel like I don’t have a right to touch you.
” Dropping her hand, he put his arm around her and drew her in close to him. “I want you back. I want us back.”
To his great horror and dismay, she broke down into sobs.
“Shelby, honey… Please don’t cry. I’m so sorry I hurt you. If I could do my whole life over, I’d go right back to that day and fix it so you’d never have to be so hurt. I swear to God, on Noah’s life, the only woman I love is you. The only woman I want is you.”
“I’m trying so hard to get past it, Avery, because I love you so much. I want to believe you when you say I’m the only one…”
He wrapped both arms around her. “You are, sweetheart. I swear you are.”
“I don’t know how to get past it.”
“Rosemary suggested you come in with me to figure that out. Would you be willing?”
“Yes, of course. If she thinks she can help us, I want to do it.”
“Oh, good,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t want to?”
“I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you were over me.”
She drew back from him and looked up, her face tearstained, her eyes big. “I’m not over you. I want to put this behind us so we can get on with our lives. I’ve… I’ve missed you, Avery.”
Bending his head, he captured her lips in a sweet, soft kiss, the first one in longer than he could remember. “I’ve missed you, too, sweetheart. We’re going to put this back on track. I swear.”
She burrowed into his embrace, seeming as desperate to be close to him as he was to be close to her. As long as she clung to him, he had hope that they could get past their troubles.
Nick was on his way out of the White House to head home when he encountered his longtime friend, Derek Kavanaugh, President Nelson’s deputy chief of staff.
“Could I have a word please, Mr. Vice President?”
The formality rankled him, even though he knew it was necessary within these four walls. “Of course.”
Nick followed Derek to a conference room and shut the door behind them while Brant stood watch outside. “What’s up?”
“We heard you were called to testify, and the president is wondering what you’re going to say.”
“If I testify, I’ll answer the questions I’m asked truthfully.”
“What do you mean if?”
“My inclination is to refuse their kind invitation to tell my side of the story.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be president, not like this anyway. If I go up to the Hill and answer their questions, he won’t be able to recover.”