Chapter 10 #3
He thought about that for a moment. The honest answer wasn't complicated, but it wasn't simple either. “Both,” he said. “She's why I don't stop. She's also why I can't.” He paused. “I haven't figured out the difference yet.”
Haven looked at the profile document. “I think the difference is the same thing,” she said quietly. “I think not stopping is the same as can't. I think that's what it looks like when something matters enough.”
Marcus looked at his legal pad. At the line he'd written after meeting her. Don't screw this up. He'd been thinking about the case when he’d written it. Now, he was less certain that was all he'd meant. Call it a premonition. Yeah, he’d make sure not to screw this up.
Haven picked up her pen. Wrote something in the margin of the profile document. Turned it so he could read it.
Imaging. — H
Not a conclusion. A prediction. His word returned to him.
He looked at it for a moment. Then he wrote underneath it.
Probably. — M
The corner of her mouth moved upward.
Neither of them said anything.
They went back to work.
At 11:45 p.m., Haven put her pen down and said, “I can't place the smell.”
Marcus looked up.
“The disinfectant. The thing underneath it.” She was frowning at the middle distance. “I've been trying to get to it for two weeks. It's there. Every time I try to look at it directly, it moves.”
“What does it feel like?” Marcus said. “Not the smell. The feeling of knowing it.”
She thought about that. “Like something from a long time ago. Not recently. Before.” She shook her head. “I'll get there.”
“I know,” he said.
She looked at him when he said that. The kind of look of someone registering that they'd been believed without having to argue for it. She held his gaze for a moment and then looked back at her notes.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
“Webb's analysis,” he said.
“And then we'll know.”
“Then we'll know.”
She gathered her jacket, while he gathered the profile document. Then they walked out of the building together because the parking garage was in the same direction, and there was no reason not to.
* * *
Connie pointed to the same booth they were in last night. She didn’t bother to ask for their order and just delivered the food along with two glasses of water. “Did you eat this for the entire six weeks?” he asked as he dug in.
“Yup.” She swallowed the food in her mouth. “When you eat once a day, getting something that will stick with you is necessary.”
“True,” he said as he slathered butter on his cornbread. “What do you do when you’re not working?”
She looked up and blinked. “Is that a thing? Not working?”
He laughed. “For some people.”
She shook her head. “Not for me. My job fills my head twenty-four-seven. That’s why I run … or used to run. Doc says he won’t clear me to run until I’m headache-free for a month. Which is stupid.”
“Not really, if you got dizzy and fell and hit your head again, you could be off the force. Then what would your brain work on?”
She stopped with the spoon halfway to her mouth. “You’re depressing tonight. First, you make me realize I don’t do anything but work, and then you say I’m one bump on the head from leaving the force.”
“I didn’t say either of those things.”
She shrugged. “Close enough. What do you do?”
He took a drink of his water before answering her. “In my spare time?”
She nodded as she chewed her food.
“Family mostly. I have a huge extended family. Aunts, uncles, and cousins out the ears, and most of them work for Guardian in some capacity or another.”
“A family business?”
“It’s not really …” He frowned. “Or maybe it is. My father and his four brothers and three sisters all worked for Guardian. My grandfather was a silent partner when the company was formed. The founder found places for all of them after my grandfather died.”
“I’m so sorry he didn’t get to see you work at his company.”
“No … okay.” He put his fork down. “This is complicated, but let me map it out for you. My grandmother is now married to her second husband, my Grandpa Frank. Her first husband was killed on the job. He was the father of my father. He was a sheriff and worked for Guardian, too.”
“Which grandfather was the silent partner?”
“Frank.”
“Okay. I understand. It wasn’t that complicated, and I’m still sorry for your loss.”
“You’re the first person who’s ever said that it wasn’t that complicated.
” He chuckled. “Family is always complicated. Especially mine. Someday, when you have nothing to do, I’ll fill up a whiteboard with the ins and outs of my family.
It’s a mess, but I wouldn’t change any of it.
” He was silent for a moment. “My Grandpa Frank was the reason I started looking into these murders.”
She put her spoon down. “How’s that?”
“The victim in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was the granddaughter of a friend of my grandfather. Something about the murder and then the posing kept tapping me on the shoulder. I couldn’t ignore it, so I just kept digging …
“I’m glad you did.” She smiled at him, and he caught her gaze. The thing between them was getting stronger. At least for him it was. Or maybe he was reading into things. Maybe he was sleep-deprived. Maybe it was both. “I’m glad I did, too.”
She smiled at him and winked before she got busy eating again.
Now, what in the hell was he supposed to make of that?
Was she outright flirting? He took a bite of food and, while chewing, decided she was, and he didn’t mind it in the slightest. In fact, he rather enjoyed it.
The only obvious problem was the case and the fact that they were both driven to the point of being obsessed.
There would be time for them … eventually.
“How long have you been running?” he asked her, trying to be a decent human and learn something about her.
“All my life. I ran in school, ran for the track team in college. It helps me think. The breakthroughs when you hit the runner’s high are the best. You’re not processing anything at that point.
It’s all being done on a different plane.
Your body is working, so the physical takes top priority and allows you to see things from a different angle.
” She shook her head. “I know that sounds stupid.”
“Not at all. I spar when I get to that point.”
“Martial arts?”
He nodded. “There’s a workout floor in the building where we’re located. I can usually find someone to kick my ass for free, or I call up one of my cousins, and we find a gym to spar.”
“Again with the not easy to work with scenario?” She laughed at him.
“Absolutely.” He smiled back at her. “Most of my cousins who are my age or older work for Guardian, so their training is exceptional. My cousin Blake kicks ass on the routine. His father is … well, let’s just say he and his dad are phenomenal at what they do.”
They finished their food and walked out to the vehicles together. He called over to her at her car, “Same time tomorrow?”
“It’s a date,” she yelled back before she got into her car.
A date. Yeah, no … he wasn’t going to read too much into that. He wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, he wouldn’t think about anything except the imaging equipment analysis that would be waiting for him in the morning.
That was a lie. There was a wink and a mention of a date that kept coming to mind. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to wanting that date. A real one. The woman was everything he ever imagined he’d want in a partner. But that would have to wait … maybe …