Damn.
As he ate, gloom crept up again. He needed to fight for Larry, but he’d been stupid. His mission strategy had been essentially zip. Get out here and talk to people. Right. What people?
Maybe he could get Cat to give him some names, but considering the resistance he’d felt in her yesterday, he wasn’t hopeful. Naturally she resented him thundering onto her turf. How would he have felt if she’d shown up at Fort Benning and made demands of him?
He’d have resisted, too.
He stared down at his plate, still holding eggs, bacon and home fries that he no longer wanted to eat. He forced himself to chew and swallow. A soldier learned to eat whenever the opportunity showed up, and he loathed wasting food anyway. He’d seen too many people who didn’t have enough to fill their bellies.
So what now, genius? he asked himself.
Yesterday when he’d been running, he’d imagined Larry on these same streets. It had proved hard to do. Larry was a big-city guy, associated for much of his career with major daily newspapers. He thrived on the action both in his work and in his environment. He collected interesting stories from many he met, just because he was that kind of guy, truly interested in other people.
He remembered Larry saying once, “Everybody has a story, Dan. Most of them are fascinating.”
Larry had lived as hard as he had worked, fearless and daring. This town just didn’t seem like him at all. At least from what Duke had seen.
Which wasn’t much. He faced it—he was going into this mission mostly blind. It couldn’t be helped by learning a language, adopting local dress and eating local food so he wouldn’t smell different to people.
It was vastly more complicated. He was out of place, and people around here would figure that out. They’d be rightfully suspicious about him hanging around, and not even the excuse of preparing a funeral or a burial would give him enough cover. Definitely not if he started asking questions.
Nor was three weeks necessarily long enough to solve a case.
Anger and frustration goaded him anew. He had to do more than that. Larry deserved more than being boxed and put in the ground.
And nothing, but nothing, could make up for their estrangement. They’d both had a part in it, but Duke had still been simmering when he got the news about Larry. Still unable to find his way back. Hell, they had been two brothers locked in separate notions of what had been right.
He pushed that away, too. It would do no good now.
Outside the rain continued to fall.
CAT STARTED TO get uneasy when the morning passed without Duke showing up or her phone ringing. Was he out attempting some kind of investigation without telling her? She hated to think she’d have to rely on people around here telling her what he was doing.
And tell her they would. Or tell any deputy. He was an unknown man from unknown parts, and they’d gossip. Or if he made anyone uneasy, they’d call or walk in the office door.
Whatever he was doing, nobody found it remarkable enough to pass it along to the office.
Thank goodness.
Twice she pulled out her cell to call him but changed her mind. After yesterday, she didn’t want to seem ridiculous. There had to be some trust on her part, or he might decide he was done with her and the whole department.
But she remained uneasy. Finally, she decided that if he didn’t call her by noon, she would call him.
Satisfied, she made some busywork for herself at the office, all the while yearning to go back to regular duty. She couldn’t even go complain to Gage about this impossible task, because he hadn’t come in yet. Probably out talking to someone.
Not that she would complain. Nope, she prided herself on not being the type.
Shortly before noon, she could barely rein her impatience, but then Duke walked through the door. She summoned a smile, opening her mouth to speak.
He forestalled her. “I was over at the mortuary. They don’t have any release date for Larry’s body.”
“The state has him,” she answered. “We don’t have the kind of forensics here that they have.”
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say more than “Can we get coffee?”
She grabbed her yellow uniform rain jacket. “We can go to Maude’s if you don’t mind a lunch crowd. Or we can go to Melinda’s Bakery. She has a handful of tables for people who want to enjoy coffee and pastry, although at this time of day she’s probably nearly sold out of baked goods.”
Remarkably, he hesitated. While she’d known him less than a day and her experience of him was literally a couple of hours, he didn’t strike her as indecisive.
“Or,” she said reluctantly, “we can go to my place, where no one might overhear.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Very generous.”
“Well, I don’t know what you want to discuss. You decide how much privacy you need.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
Which was probably as good as saying he didn’t want the diner or the bakery for this discussion.
“My place it is,” she answered. “You got a car?”
“I walked here from the motel.”
“Can’t cage the beast, huh?”
A flicker of humor appeared then was gone. “Nope.”
“Let’s go.”
The distance to her house wasn’t that great, but given it was raining, she didn’t feel like walking it as she often did. Plus, the sooner they got to her house, the sooner they could get this conversation underway and she could stop wondering if he was about to lob a bomb.
The drive was short enough but worth it just to watch him fold his way into her subcompact. She almost grinned, but he succeeded.
Once at her house, she started a pot of coffee and invited him to sit at her small kitchen table. There was room for a larger table,
