Page 44 of The Deadly Shallows

Had he just made Austin Kelly blush?

“I’d like that.” She shrugged.

Recognizing a small grimace of pain, he asked, “How’s the shoulder?”

“Pretty good.”

“Uh-huh.” Of course, she’d never admit pain.

She took a deep breath. “All right, it’s a little sore but manageable.”

“How’d it go at the vet?” he asked, switching gears. He prayed Dirk was doing better. The strong bond between Austin and her pup was evident.

“I’m actually on my way to pick up Dirk and head there now. Lucy was running late, so she moved me to the end of the day.” She glanced at the time on her phone. “Yikes! I better scoot.”

“Let me know how it goes.”

“Will do.” She smiled and headed toward the open door.

Caleb watched her go, wishing he’d said something more, but having no clue what. He just hadn’t wanted her to leave.

Austin paused in the open doorway and waggled a few fingers good-bye.

He waved back, and she strode away, her dress swirling about her knee-high boots.

The woman was breaking down his walls. Oh, who was he kidding? She was obliterating his fastidiously placed guard.

And the scary thing was he didn’t mind at all.

“Hey, Caleb,” Rissi said, rounding the corner with Mason behind her.

“Hey, man,” Mason said, lifting his chin in greeting as the two entered Noah’s room, though Noah hadn’t spent any time in it, remaining with Brooke practically every moment since she’d been found, as far as Caleb could tell.

“Can I help set things up?” Mason offered.

“That’d be great.” Caleb lifted the manila envelope that tied in the back with a red string—just like the ones they’d used in elementary school to send papers home. Unfortunately, this envelope was full of crime-scene photos Emmy had sent over. “You and Ris know far more about these images than I do,” he said, handing the folder off to Mason. “You want to take care of placing and noting them?”

“No problem,” Mason said.

Caleb’s gaze inadvertently shifted back to the door, the image of Austin waving good-bye tracking through his mind.

Rissi smirked as she caught his gaze, then she and Mason exchanged a knowing glance.

“What?” he asked a little too defensively and, of course, being an amazing profiler and body language expert, it wasn’t lost on her.

“Nothing,” Rissi said, holding up her hands.

He glanced at Mason.

“Like the lady said, nothing.”

“Uh-huh.” He wasn’t buying that either.

Great. Soon everyone would know he was falling for Austin.

Mason used a magnet to place the next photo on the board. “How’d you manage to get this board in here?”

Caleb explained again, and Mason laughed. “Brilliant.”