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ee to meet my flight, we could go to UC together.”
Her insides fluttered again. And she couldn’t even pretend it was because of the meals she’d missed. “Okay.”
“If we get any hits, it could take until Tuesday, which is just about the time you’re due for your next meeting with Wakerby, right?”
“You’ll go with me?” It was like he was reading her mind. Life didn’t usually work that way.
“I don’t mind tagging along.”
“I’d like you to be there.” She’d love him to be there. But that was her business.
“I’ll plan to head home on Wednesday, then.”
“You’ll need a place to stay. You have anywhere in mind?”
He’d stayed at the airport hotel the only other time he’d flown into the area, the day Sloan Wakerby had been apprehended.
“No. I’d like to be someplace in Aurora so you don’t have so far to drive back and forth.”
The University of Cincinnati was an hour away from Aurora.
“You could stay with me,” she said, feeling as if she was jumping off the high dive before she’d learned to swim. “I have an extra bedroom,” she quickly added. “On the other side of the house. With its own bathroom.”
She held her breath. His answer mattered. It shouldn’t. But it did.
Her life didn’t have room for it to matter.
“That’s fine.”
Her breathing faltered. She took a second to let it catch up.
“Let me know what time you get in and I’ll pick you up.” She sounded almost normal.
It made sense, him staying with her. She was his ride. Their business was together. And cops didn’t get paid enough to spring for all of the expenses involved in off-duty investigation.
And none of those reasons were why she’d asked. Or why her heart was pounding.
“I’ll text you.”
He was going to hang up. Looking around the deserted and sterile vestibule where she sat, picturing the night ahead in the antiseptic-smelling atmosphere, Lucy had a fresh attack of doubts.
“We’re going to get them, aren’t we, Ramsey? We’re going to find out what happened to Allie and Claire. We’re going to get the people who take innocent children away from the families who love them.”
As she sat there alone, thinking of everything she’d taken on, Lucy was afraid.
“I don’t know whether we’re going to get them or not.” His voice was more mellow than she was used to. He’d had a long week, too. And he was equally alone in the dark. “I just know that I can’t stop trying.”
There was a certain amount of peace in knowing that you might not succeed. It took some of the pressure off, knowing you couldn’t be perfect all the time. And there was peace in knowing that you weren’t alone in your aloneness.
“Take care of yourself,” she told Ramsey.
“You, too.”
“I will.”
“Talk later.” He disconnected the call.
Standing, Lucy reholstered her phone and went back in to keep trying.
