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"About what?"
"As we were leaving the hospital after Starks died, he told me about Berry's missing bracelet. He hated that he would never get an explanation for that. Was it or was it not the one on Sally Buckland's wrist?
"He was complaining that this case had been wacky from the start, that Oren Starks had never followed a pattern, which was odd for a methodical guy so into solving puzzles. It wasn't just the dread of an emotional parting that was bothering Dodge."
"Then why would he leave without a word? Why won't he answer his phone?"
"He's a coward," Berry declared.
"When it comes to situations like this, yes, he is." Caroline reached for Berry's hand and pressed it between hers. Smiling sadly, she said, "Even if he wasn't going to say good-bye to me, I thought he would want to say something to you."
It's better this way, Dodge told himself for the hundredth time.
He'd got in, he'd got out. He had done what he'd come to do. He'd helped get his kid out of a scrape. The culprit was history. Mission accomplished.
Personal issues that were decades old also had been resolved. He'd met his daughter. They'd established a good rapport, far better than he'd had any right to hope for.
As for him and Caroline, he'd have thought the world would end before she shared a bed with him. Last night...
Stop it!
If he let himself think about that, he would turn the car around so fast, he'd give himself whiplash. Loving her, having her love him, had been a bonus, a gift he hadn't expected and didn't deserve. To his dying day, he would be grateful for it. Leave it at that.
Why spoil all the good stuff with a tearful farewell scene? It was better to make a clean break.
Without him, their lives would return to normal. He would be no more missed than a hand that's removed from a bucket of water. That's what his old man used to tell him whenever he threatened to run away from home.
"You know what happens when you take your hand out of a bucket of water? Instantly, it's like it was never there. So go! See if I care. See how long you're missed."
That's how this would be. Caroline had her work to sustain her. Berry was strong-willed and talented. She would recover from the trauma of the last few days and do just fine. And if she needed support, Nyland was there to lend it with his big broad shoulders. Big cock, too, probably.
But if the deputy ever did wrong by her, and Dodge learned about it, he'd come back and kill him.
His phone rang for the umpteenth time. "Why won't that damn woman give up?"
But he saw Derek's number on the readout. He was calling for the second time this morning. Dodge hadn't answered the first time, but, thinking that he might just as well get this conversation over with, he yanked the phone from his belt and barked into it, "Yeah?"
"Dodge?"
"Isn't that who you called?"
Derek chuckled. "Hello to you, too."
"Hello."
"How are you? Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Julie and I have been worried. You said you were going to call. You haven't."
"I've been busy."
"How're things going down there?"
"Fine."
"Then why do you sound so out of sorts?"
