'You saying that maybe I take on too much responsibility on my shoulders?'
'Precisely, yes.'
They fell silent for a time, listening to the robins and sparrows circling and darting through the trees outside the kitchen window in what seemed an eternal dance, but was in fact a series of short-lived bursts of energy in a chase of give-and-take, back-and-forth. A Texas raven cried off in the distance, while hummingbirds, tasting of the nectar of oleander bushes, silently hovered about the windows. A mild scent of oleander wafted into them. Meredyth smiled and pointed at the hummingbirds, telling Lucas they had once had a family of hawks visit the cabin and take up residence for two months before they'd disappeared.
Together, they made their way out on the wide screened porch, taking their sandwiches and drinks with them. Here they looked out over the lake to one side, the horse stables to the other. 'What shall we do now?' she asked. 'Water play or horse play?'
A phone rang somewhere deep in the house. 'That sounds like my cell phone,' he said. 'And I left it upstairs in the bedroom.'
'It's most likely mine. I switched it back on when we woke. My secretary at the practice is likely wanting to know when she can begin scheduling patients again.'
'So where's your cell?'
'Upstairs alongside yours. But I didn't activate yours again,' she lied.
'So not even Sophia knows the phone number to the cabin?'
'Not even Sophia, no, since there is no phone in the house. It's my one sinful indulgence, this place, and I vow it will never be spoiled by TVs, telephones, radios, computers, E-mail, or any other gadgets of labor. If I have to make a call out from here, it's done on my cell.'
'You mean to tell me you don't have one TV or radio in the entire house?'
'I thought you knew that from your last visit.'
He blew out a lungful of air. 'Guess I was having too much fun to notice.'
'The only radio is the one in your car, Lucas.'
'Hmmm…I see. And you're not curious about what's going on downtown?' he asked. 'I mean with the case, any results on the APB on the girl or the car?'
'Not in the least, not today.'
'I can't help but wonder if there've been any sightings of her… what her whereabouts might be… any new developments we should be paying attention to… that sort of thing, you know.'
'Lucas, listen to yourself. No wonder you're so tightly wound.'
'Whataya mean?'
'You left the scene of a grisly murder maybe ten, eleven hours ago, one in which you were relieved of command by your superior-remember that?'
'Yeah, yeah, but-'
'But nothing! You as much as told Lincoln to cram it.'
'I did? I don't remember telling him to-'
'You told him he could rely on Jana North to assist the FBI, implying you wouldn't be available for such duty, and he took you up on it, Lucas.'
'All right…I remember… but you know as well as I do that we're both too much a part of this case to simply step off.'
'Lauralie has seen to that, and up to this point, she's been pulling all the strings, pal, but not anymore…at least not my strings. I'm more highly invested in this case than anyone, Lucas, but I'm not playing her game any longer. I am stepping off this lunatic's merry-go-round.'
'Bravo! I think that's excellent advice you're giving yourself, Mere. Go for it.'
'I intend to. Maybe Patterson and Lincoln are right, Lucas. Maybe you and I should have turned over the investigation from the moment we realized the killer's mania was focused on me and you.'
'Well, now you've got your wish. Removed from the case, way out here in a place where she can't get at you…it's the right thing to do. Mere, absolutely.'
'You make it sound as if I'm washing my hands of any responsibility.'
'No, not at all. I don't mean to suggest anything of the sort.'
'What's the alternative? Go on the offensive? Attack this crazy young woman where she lives? I might like the plan except for the fact we don't know where the fuck she is or where the fuck she will be in an hour, a day, a week. And you, Lucas 'Wolf Clansman' Stonecoat, what do you do given an opportunity to wash your hands of it? You fight it tooth and nail!'
'All I'm suggesting is we answer the cell phone, Mere.'
The ringing from upstairs stopped.
'Bullshit. At least be honest with me, Lucas.'
'What?'
'My restless Cherokee detective. You want to leap back into the chase with both feet. You're chomping at the bit like Says who and Yesyado when Jeff jingles their reins. You are that anxious to get back to tracking that bitch.'
'All right, I admit that I'm a little eager to know what, if anything, has come to light since we put out the APB on the car.'
'Do you have to be a cop twenty-four-seven?'
'What about you, Doctor? Heal thyself. Do you have to be a shrink twenty-four-seven?' he countered.
'Touche, mon amour. I guess we both know each other better than most couples, hey, Lucas?'
'That's usually a good thing, isn't it?'
'Dr. Phil would say so, but sometimes there's such a thing as too much honesty.'
'Really? And when is that?'
'When the truth is clearly that two people are incompatible.'
'You think that's the case with us?' he asked.
'Do you?'
'What kind of word games are we playing here, Mere?
What's more important than the truth that… that I love you?'
This silenced her for a moment. She raised her lips to his, kissing him. 'I love you too, Lucas, truly.'
The noise of birds skimming over the lake at the bottom of the lawn rose up to them. 'Then we have no problem we can't overcome.'
'You buy into that? That love can overcome any problem, any obstacle?' she asked.
'In my culture, aside from God, it is the most powerful force in the cosmos.'
'Once you loved Tsali, and once she loved you, but what happened to your powerful force then?'
He dropped his gaze and sipped at his lukewarm coffee. She saw that she had hurt him, her words stinging. 'That was young love. Our love, Meredyth, makes us feel young, but it's more solid, grounded. We have much more in common than you had with Byron and I had with Tsali, and we learn from each other each day.'
She wrapped her arms around him. 'So much evil is done in the name of love, like this love-starved, love- seeking Blodgett girl, searching for the attention of the world because she couldn't get it from her own mother.'
'Every beat cop and detective on the force knows that love kills,' he replied, holding her tight. 'If it's not a prostitute murder, it's a stalking-ex murder, and if not that, the father who kills his family, why? Because 'I loved them too much.''
'So many deaths all balled up with love and its many permutations. And yet so many beautiful and wondrous outcomes have resulted from pure, genuine love.'
'Let's don't ever take our love for granted, Mere.'
'Agreed. Let's celebrate it often.'
'Right you are. All the same, sweetheart, I am curious to know if anything's come of our APB.'
'Christ, Lucas, it's not our APB anymore. Ahhh,' she mock-screamed. 'I give up. Make the call. No! Wait a minute. Hold on!' She had pushed him away from her and stepped back. 'If you love me, you'll get it off your mind for a while.'
'Celebration time, you mean?' he asked, holding his arms out for her to return to him.
