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“Soon, I hope, sweetheart,” Laura said. “I just have to stop one more bad guy, okay? And I promise I’ll see you soon.”
Soon. It was such a vague concept. She couldn’t commit to anything. Not when she didn’t know what Marcus was thinking. But he was letting her have this call. Surely, that meant he was softening? Changing his mind?
“That would be nice, Mommy,” Lacey said, clacking something together on the other end of the line. “And we can all have tea.”
Laura’s eyes brimmed with tears as she pictured Lacey playing tea party with her dolls and toys. “Yes, sweetie, we’ll have a lovely tea party and invite everyone,” she said, playing along.
“Alright, that’s enough now.” Laura heard Marcus’s voice through the phone with a wrench. He was far away, but getting closer, and she could hear him perfectly. “Say goodbye to Mommy.”
“Bye, Mommy,” Lacey said, cheerfully enough.
“No, wait!” Laura said. “Lacey – I love you – just…”
“I’m hanging up, Laura.” That was Marcus, much closer – the phone must have been against his ear now, in his hand –
“No, please, Marcus!” Laura cried out – but it was no use. He’d already hung up, the line going dead. She knew she had to play by his rules, after everything that had happened. But still…
She stared at her phone for a moment, blinking back tears of pain and anguish, coupled with the relief and joy at finally hearing her daughter’s voice.
“Hey,” Nate said, his voice a deep rumble. “Do you think I’d better drive?”
***
Nate settled into the driver’s seat, catching his breath. He’d had to wait for a gap in traffic and then spring out of the car and run around, making sure that neither he nor Laura would be at risk of getting hit by any passing vehicles. He’d seen enough footage of RTAs in his time to know that they weren’t pretty when a pedestrian went up against a car.
He notched the seat back to give himself more room, glancing over at Laura as he started the engine back up and got the car moving. She was subdued now, quiet and staring at her own lap. At least she didn’t look like she was about to burst into tears anymore.
Nate hated it when Laura looked like that. He had no idea what to do. No way to comfort her. They had been partners long enough that seeing her upset was enough to break his own heart. But she had never quite opened up to him. Even in the depths of her despair, when he knew that she must be missing her daughter terribly, she never allowed herself to really break down.
He didn't ask about Lacey or the phone call. He had heard enough of it, not that he had wanted to. It had been awkward to just sit there in the passenger seat and listen to her try to talk to her daughter, then desperately call for her ex-husband to give her a little bit longer. He wasn't able to help with that, either.
And even if he had been able to help, he was doubtful now that Laura would want to talk about it with him. She didn't seem to want to talk about anything anymore. She was clearly hiding things, something that he thought must be pretty big, and he had thought they were past this.
He took an exit from the highway and kept an eye on the GPS, following through twists and turns into a more residential area. Years they had worked together, so many cases, and yet she still didn't seem able to trust him fully. Why was that? What had he ever done to make her think he couldn't be trusted? He’d always tried to have her back, to let her know that she was safe when he was at her side. He always listened to anything she had to tell him. All of her strange whims, her hunches that always seemed to turn out correct. He had listened and respected them. Even when they didn't seem to make sense.
Even when other people told him that she was strange, maybe even that she was crazy, that she didn't know what she was talking about. He had backed her up every time, and the fact that they had always been proven right was just the icing on the cake. He would carry on backing her up, even if she wasn't so bizarrely good at this. That was what being partners meant.
And he liked to think they were more than partners. Over the years, they had become friends. So, why was it that there was still a wall up between Laura and him, on her side and not his? Why was it that she still didn't see him as someone that she could trust, talk to, confide in?
Why did she feel the need to keep on lying to him about what was going on?
Nate resolved to himself that it wasn't over. He wasn't going to stop asking her. The sooner he got to the bottom of this, the sooner they could carry on trusting each other again. But the more she lied to him, the harder it was for him to keep supporting her. To keep backing her up without question. Even believing, as he did, that partners should always have each other's back, it was starting to feel like everything was one-sided.
Laura needed to trust him, the way he trusted her.
He considered revisiting the question about the password, trying to ask her again. But it wasn't the time. The GPS showed that they were nearly at the suspect's apartment, and they couldn't be arguing in front of someone they were about to arrest. Nate simply followed the instructions on the screen and pulled up outside the apartment without saying a thing, glancing over to check that Laura had managed to compose herself again before turning off the engine.
“Do you want me to handle this on my own?” he asked, because it was the decent thing to do, and because trust issues or not, he wanted to make sure that Laura wasn't put into a compromising situation.
“No, I can do this,” Laura said. She seemed to take a deep breath and wake herself up, as if she was emerging from a dream. Even though she had been on the verge of crying not long before, now she looked completely normal, as though nothing had happened. The professional mask had come down over her face, shuttering out any emotions. “I need the distraction.”
Nate nodded once, accepting this at face value. He knew how it felt to have a situation at home that made you want to bury yourself in work. He could, at least, respect that.
They both got out of the car, and Nate led the way up to the apartment building. By coincidence, someone was just leaving as they approached, so they managed to enter the building without any trouble. They were just approaching the door to the apartment numbered for Caleb Rowntree when they heard it.
Angry shouting, coming from inside the door. Coming from inside the door that they were about to knock on. Nate exchanged a glance with Laura. Whatever was going on inside there, it did not sound good.
Then, there was the unmistakable sound of a smack, flesh hi
