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“Count it down?” Nate frowned, picking up on that immediately. “This is some kind of sick game or something? He lets them know how long it will be until they die?”
“You appear to have it already,” Rondelle nodded. “The setup includes a kind of mechanism which allows a platform to drop at the time marked on the clock. When it falls, the woman is hung.”
“We’d better get there as soon as possible,” Laura said, glancing at Nate. “Someone like this, they’re not going to take two victims and stop. This is someone having the worst kind of fun. They’re playing a game, and they’ll keep playing it until we stop them.”
“Agent Frost has it,” Rondelle nodded, with a sly look in his eyes. “I’ve got the pair of you on flights that leave in less than an hour. You’d better get moving as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” Laura said. She stepped forward, holding out a hand to take the briefing documents, which he handed over readily. She turned, only sparing one glance to make sure that Nate was following her as she left the room. To her relief, he did.
Laura had found in her time in law enforcement that sometimes, if you just walked quickly and purposefully enough in one direction, people would end up following you.
“Laura,” Nate said, his voice low as they made their way down the hall.
“What?” she asked, throwing the word over her shoulder on her way to the elevators. “We need to keep moving.”
“Yeah, but…” Nate sighed, breaking into a light jog to catch up with her just as she stepped inside the elevator and turned to face the hall. “Wait, just for a second. Are you up for this?”
“Am I up for what?” Laura asked, blinking. “Doing my job?”
The doors closed, leaving them in privacy at least for the moment. “Yes,” Nate said, ducking his head to look her in the face on her level. “After last night – are you sure you want to take this on right away? I’m guessing you didn’t speak to Rondelle about starting therapy, given he didn’t mention it.”
“Neither did you,” Laura said. Not an accusation or a question. More of an assessment.
“I thought you should have the chance to do it yourself,” he said. “But, honestly, I still think you need to do it. And I’m more than happy to do this one solo, or take someone else. Jones, maybe. He hasn’t done a lot of out of state cases since his partner retired. I’m sure he’d jump at the chance.”
“Nate, I’m fine,” Laura said. She passed a hand across her brow, then looked up at him. “You know what? What you said… It got through to me. I started thinking. A lot. That’s why I took today off. To process everything.”
“And?” Nate said, expectantly.
“You’re right. I haven’t been in the right frame of mind,” Laura said. “I’ve been letting the pressure get to me, the stress. But that’s not a problem anymore. Amy Fallow is settled somewhere safe. I’ve got custody of Lacey back, if only partially. I mean, I get to actually see my daughter again. And I’m sober. And staying that way. These crazy ideas I’ve been holding onto… I don’t need that crutch anymore. I’ve been lying to myself, trying to find a way to keep going. But now – I actually have something to keep going for. It’s all going to be fine. No more stupid stuff. I can see clearly now.”
Nate studied her carefully. The doors slid open on the parking lot. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said, offering him a tired smile. “I am. I just hope we get this case done quick. It’s Tuesday now, and I’ve got Lacey’s first court-mandated visit this weekend. I don’t want to risk missing it.”
Nate blinked, following her towards their parked cars as she strode out. “Are you sure, then?” he said. “You don’t want to sit this one out? There will be other cases.”
“But I’m fine,” Laura said, looking at him with a smile as she reached for her car door. “I really am fine, now. And I love my job. I still want to keep doing it. Lacey coming around – it’s every weekend, now. So, I’d better get used to this new normal.”
Nate nodded slowly. “Alright,” he said, looking her over one more time. “Meet you at the airport?”
Laura smiled, a full smile, the kind that would set off a dimple in one side of her cheek. “Race you there.”
It was only after he’d peeled out of the parking lot, and she followed him before diverging onto a different road, that she allowed herself to relax. Privately, she thought she’d just performed some of the best acting in her life. It was a shame that no one else was ever going to appreciate it.
Nate had made it clear that he wasn’t going to believe her. That was fine. She couldn’t keep trying to get him to. Not with something like this. At least she had tried it once, tried to tell him the truth. What more could she be expected to do now?
It was too damaging, too difficult. Humiliating, even, to keep trying to convince him of something that even she would have admitted sounded absurd in any other circumstance.
If this was how it had to be in order to get him to work with her again, to trust her and not push things anymore, then this was how it could be. Laura could live with that.
They had people to save. A case to solve. A killer to catch.
And Laura was going to keep her head down this w
eek, get it done, and be back in time for her weekend with Lacey in three days.
As far as she was concerned, there were no other options.
