“Well, that would be my instinctive answer, yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s right. We really can’t make any assumptions here.”
She felt better, as she recognized what he was saying. “Exactly,” she replied.
“But, if he calls again, I want to know about it.”
“I don’t know why he called in the first place,” she said, “so I really don’t know why he’d call again.”
“Well, if he called once, chances are he will call again because he didn’t get whatever he was looking for.”
She snorted. “Well, rest assured, I don’t have anything that rat is looking for.”
“But he called you, so something’s going on there.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just go back to sleep.”
“I’m actually down at the river,” she said. “It’s really, really low again.”
“That’s life on the river. When it storms up above, the water rises fast, and, in that case, that’s what carried you down toward the lake. Once the weather calms down and all the snow in the mountains has melted, the fluctuation in volume will be minor.”
“Sure,” she said. “I was pretty upset about it at the time, but, now that I think about it, it was actually a saving grace, wasn’t it?”
“Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion, but if you say so,” he said cautiously.
“Well, if I hadn’t been carried away by the river, he probably would have just shot me dead.”
“Ouch,” he muttered. “Not something I want to think about.”
“No, yet, at the same time, it’s hard for me not to.”
His voice was suddenly gentle. “Do you need to talk to somebody?” he asked. “You’ve been through a harrowing experience.”
“Lots of them,” she said. “Maybe they’re starting to stack up. I don’t know.” She threw her free arm out wide. “I’m just really confused, and I blame you.”
“Me?” he said in surprise.
“Yes, because I think all of this is because Nick opened up that door.”
“That’s possible,” Mack said slowly. “And it’s certainly not what we would have wanted to happen, but, at the same time, you also couldn’t just leave things as they were.”
“Why not?” she asked in a reasonable tone of voice. “Think about it though. I mean, who else would get hurt if we left it alone? It was just me.”
“Well, that lawyer of yours, Robin, she wasn’t just talking about what Nick had stirred up, was she? Wasn’t it for something else that happened first? Nick said, when he first met with you on this matter, that he’d found a complaint filed against Robin for another issue.”
“Well, she was pretty angry, and I’m pretty sure that’s what was behind it all,” she said. “When you think about it, everything in her life got flipped around because of it.”
“Maybe so,” he said, “but this is the hand we have now.”
“I know. I know,” she said, with despair in her voice. “It doesn’t make me feel any better though. Anyway, rather than hanging up on you too,” she said, “I’m getting off now.”
“Wait,” he said, as she wanted to end the call. “What are you doing today?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m in an odd mood.”
“I know,” he said. “I can hear it in your voice, and it worries me.”
“Worries you?”
“Well, like I said, you’ve been through an awful lot. Maybe you need to talk to somebody.”
“Well, that takes money,” she said, “and I don’t know that I would trust anybody out there enough to talk to.”
“What about Nan?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said, feeling the pain in her stomach spread. “I don’t think she would be the right person.”
“We do have some specialists who are consultants to the force here, and they deal with people who’ve had to deal with some really difficult things. Maybe you should talk to one of them.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, more to get him off the subject than anything.
“What about dinner?” he asked suddenly.
“What about it?”
“You had takeout last night, but maybe you’re ready for another home-cooked meal.”
“I’d love a home-cooked meal,” she said, with a bright smile. “That would cheer me up here good.”
He said, “That’s done then. What do you want for dinner?”
She sighed. “I have no idea.”
“If you were at home with your ex, what would you have?”
“Oh, it could be anything from steak tartare to duckling and orange sauce,” she said, with a shrug. “That’s hardly my budget anymore, is it?”
“Not really in either of our budgets,” he said, with a note of amusement. “But, for a special occasion, we could do it.”
“I’m just not sure I’m up for something like that right now anyway.”
“How about something much simpler?” he asked.
“Like what?”
“Is there any food you wouldn’t be allowed, rather than those kinds of things?”
“Yes, actually. What were you thinking of?” she asked.
He laughed. “Well, I’m fancying a good old-fashioned burger,” he said, “if that appeals to you.”
“I’d love a burger,” she said, her mind instantly conjuring up the flavor of tomatoes and pickles on a bun with a big thick medium-rare burger. “And you’re right. That was something I couldn’t get before.”
“You couldn’t even have burgers?”
“Peasant food,” she muttered.
“We’re peasants then,” he said, with a laugh. “As long as you don’t mind me cooking there, it will be absolutely fine.”
“I don’t mind,” she said in delight. “And thank you for even offering.”
“So, what time then tonight?” he asked.
“Well, you’re really busy at work, aren’t you?”
“Yep, I sure am,” he said. “Somebody around here keeps me busy.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Well, I’d believe you a little more,” he said, “if you didn’t keep going out and finding new cases for me, but, in the meantime, I’ll probably be here until five or six.”
“Fine,” she said. “Whenever you’re done, just come on over. I might get into the garden here. I haven’t been in my own garden for a while. I was at your mom’s yesterday.”
“She told me,” he said. “I’ll bring some money along for you when I come.”
“That would be good.”
“Are you starving yet?”
“Nope, not yet,” she said, “but I think it’s just
