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“I understand.” And she did. Still... She drew a breath and pasted on a smile. “Gonna take up golfing?”
Baz shuddered. “Hell, no. But I might call Akiko and set up a fishing trip. Last time we went fishing was when you made detective.”
Akiko had hosted the celebration party on her boat. “That was a nice day. You deserve all the nice days, Baz.” Her lips trembled and she firmed them. “So it’s on Facebook already?”
He made a face. “Marian is so excited. She’s already planning my retirement party and a cruise.”
“A cruise, too? You jet-setter, you.”
They went silent for a long moment, then Kit sighed. “You’ve been in my life for sixteen years, Baz. I’m not sure how to be a cop without you.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” he stated. “You are a damn good cop and would have been no matter who trained you. I was lucky it got to be me.” He shrugged awkwardly. “And I get to go out on a bang. A serial killer is behind bars. I mean, you solved the case, but I trained you, so I get to claim at least partial credit.”
“You were there with me, old man. Full credit.”
“That’s not exactly true, but I’ll take it. Connor did well, huh?”
“He did.” She narrowed her eyes. “Is he my new partner?”
Baz looked up at the ceiling. “I didn’t say that.”
She huffed. “Who did?”
“The captain. He stopped by an hour ago, so I told him my retirement plans. He wanted to check on me and congratulate me on the case.” He hesitated. “He also wanted to tell me that Navarro’s taking a leave of absence.”
Kit gaped. “What?”
“He’s not in a good place, Kit. He’s blaming himself for Scott killing those girls. Says that if he hadn’t been feeding the bastard information, they might have been able to catch him faster.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yeah, but it’s how he feels. The captain said he’d be telling you later, too. So act surprised. I wasn’t supposed to let that out of the bag.”
“I’ll try. So... when did you decide on this retirement?”
“A few days ago, but I sat on it until last night.”
“What happened last night?”
“I was able to help you get past your panic, so you’d see what you needed to do. I realized that I’ve been hanging around because I didn’t want to leave you all alone. But, Kit, you’re a superstar. You’re only going to get better.”
She scowled at the compliment. “If you’re going to say I don’t need you, just... don’t.”
“I wasn’t. I was going to say that I consulted with you last night. I can do that anytime you need me. I’ll be a phone call away. I don’t have to leave you all alone.”
But you are. “I won’t abuse the privilege. I don’t want to face Marian’s wrath.”
Baz mock shuddered. “Who does?” His expression softened. “You did good, Kit. Your gut was spot-on this whole time.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hardly. Scott fooled me.”
“He fooled everyone. But you believed in the good shrink from day one.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “The good shrink? Is that what we’re calling him now?”
His smile was sweetly paternal. “You can call him Sam.”
And I have a date with him on Sunday.
