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Ford was on his twentieth or so since I’d gotten there, and Foster, his team leader, was keeping up with him easily.
If you didn’t look at Foster’s face and hair, you’d never even realize that he was older.
Not with how well he filled out a pair of tactical pants and a tight t-shirt.
“What you got there?” Hayes asked, still covered in sweat.
I showed him my dossier on the Hell to Haughton killer.
He read over it, glancing slightly at my face, before saying, “That one mean something to you?”
I swallowed hard.
Then explained that one of my good friends had indeed been one of the victims.
“You can say that it means something to me,” I concurred.
He held out his hand for the folder, and I handed it to him.
“Where is Haughton in relation to where we are?” he asked curiously as he scanned the paperwork.
“About an hour and a half, give or take,” I replied. “Depending on the weather, the number of people that are on the road…”
“The position of the sun?” he teased.
My lips twitched as I stopped talking.
“You got jokes,” I taunted right back. “I’ve got to say…this is the first time I’ve ever really talked to you. Why aren’t you out there working out and doing that stuff still?”
I gestured at the men that were spending their mandatory two hours training.
“I did it this morning,” he answered. “I have a hike I’m going to this afternoon, and I didn’t want to be too tired for it.”
“What kind of hike?” I asked curiously.
He glanced at me before his eyes went back to the papers in his hand.
“A veteran PTSD fight hike,” he answered. “It’s something a group of vets in the area do. I think it’s just to get some of us vets out of the house, out of our heads, and get us spending time with people. The guy that organizes it is an ex-Marine. Was in Vietnam, so he knows how it is.”
I stayed silent as I let him speak, my smile gripping my face as I thought about him.
“You should take Ford with you,” I said. “Sometimes I feel like… I don’t want to bug him. But maybe he should have a friend that knows what he’s going through.”
Ultimately, Ford had it together. There were sometimes, though, that I found him looking at me, but his eyes just weren’t there. It was as if he was seeing something from his memories that only he could see.
“I’ve asked,” Hayes said. “They all turn me down.”
My brows lifted.
“Maybe you shouldn’t ask,” I suggested.
Hayes burst out laughing, causing Ford to turn and look at us in surprise.
I gave him a little finger wave, causing his eyes to narrow.
He mouthed something at me that looked like ‘what the fuck’ but then went back to climbing his rope beside Foster.
“This here.” He pointed. “It’s very vague. I mean, pretty much anyone in the KPD would fit the bill of this person’s ‘possibilities.’”
I agreed.
“Foster’s probably out,” I teased. “This is a white male, thirty to fifty.”
Hayes winked, then went silent as he continued to work through the papers.
“You’re a criminal psychologist?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Not yet. Working on it, though.”
“How much longer do you have?” he wondered.
I looked at my watch.
“Four months or so,” I answered. “Then I’m the full mamma jamma.”
“Mamma jamma?” he laughed.
I shrugged, unconcerned.
“I no longer have to go to school and I get to say I’m an actual Criminal Psychologist,” I amended for him.
He winked at me, then went back to reading.
Ford stopped midway up the rope and cursed, his hand coming away bloody.
“What’s wrong, pretty boy?” Foster asked, catching up to him. “Your poor wittle hand hurwts?”
Ford snorted and finished out that particular rope climb, but when he got back down to the bottom, he didn’t jump back up like he’d been doing.
“This fucking throbs,” he said as he showed Foster.
Foster snorted, laughter filling his voice as he said, “It could be worse.”
I snorted, causing both men to turn their gazes toward me.
Ford winked.
Foster looked rather indifferent.
“Ashe,” he said, walking toward me. “When did you get here?”
I gestured at his body. “You’ve done about thirty rope climbs since I walked in. If that gives you any indication as to how long I’ve been here.”
Ford shrugged and walked to me, stopping about a foot away.
At first, I thought that was going to be as far as he went, but he surprised me by taking that final step forward and dropping a kiss onto my upturned lips.
“How was school?” he asked.
I grimaced. Then told him about the kitten I’d rescued from the storm drain.
“All the kids kept yelling about IT,” I said. “I’m going to have to go watch the movie now.”
Ford shrugged. “I’m down as long as you don’t treat me differently after I scream like a girl.”
I scoffed.
“You would never…”
