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Her eyes sparkled. “Right back at you, Joe. If I leave and that makes you safe, I’ll do it.”
“Not happening. Not unless the team thinks it’s a good plan, and then we leave together.”
“Which kind of defeats the purpose of me leaving in the first place.”
He grinned, loving her agile brain and straight-forward answers. “Exactly. Let’s not make any decisions until we talk to everyone tonight and get their input.”
“We are surrounded by smart people. Simmen doesn’t stand a chance.”
Which was true. The man couldn’t elude them forever. He wasn’t a hardened criminal who had a gang house where he could find support and disappear.
Lia sighed again and snuggled back into his chest. “I know he’s doing awful things, but I feel sorry for him. He’s lost his wife and he’s striking out because that broke him. I bet he was a normal guy until this happened.”
It was something Joe and Nico had talked about a lot. How powerful emotions could break a person, change their basic personality. Grief, fear, and anger. He and Lia, along with plenty of others on their team, had been able to channel all of that into something positive. Not everyone was able to make that leap.
Could they use another powerful emotion to snap him back into his normal personality before he did something he couldn’t come back from?
Joe hadn’t been able to save Stevie or Sneaks from their consequences. Sure, he’d made sure the judges and the other decision makers knew the extenuating circumstances, but maybe they could stop Simmen from crossing the line in the first place.
Lia’s voice was soft. “Do you think we can stop him before he tries to hurt anyone? If we leave, he might just head back to his normal life. Or maybe we can talk to him somehow. He’s alone and isolated right now. He doesn’t have anyone to ground him. In some ways, he reminds me of Sneaks. So scared and unable to see a way out without doing something dire.”
No wonder he loved this woman. Her compassion was boundless. First with Sneaks, now with a man who’d threatened to kill her.
He kissed her hair. “Sneaks and Gogo are living with Nico’s parents out in Sacramento.”
She leaned back to look him in the eyes. “Really? That’s amazing. You’re amazing.” She reached up and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
His eyebrows shot up. “For what?”
“For being the kind of man who takes the time to see beyond the surface. You went way beyond the definition of your job to make sure those kids have a chance. I know they’re minors and you’re not supposed to tell me details, but thank you for letting me know. From everything you and Tansy have told me, the Riveras will be the perfect people to help those two get on the right path. You’re amazing, Joe.”
Her kiss was full of everything and Joe returned it in kind, pouring all the love he felt for her into it. Now he only had to live up to her expectations with Simmen without putting her at risk.
Lia found the team meeting exhausting. She still hadn’t adjusted to having so many people in one place. Or so many people in her life.
The meeting took place over at the Midnight Security cabin so they could bring in some people virtually and leave the dogs back at the lodge. Moose was getting to know his new housemates and so far, he fit right in. When Moose had flopped in Spike’s favorite sunbeam-catching spot, the smaller dog had howled until Moose sighed dramatically and angled to let the other dog into the beam.
Now, Lia was overwhelmed with the amount of people around the virtual table. Troy and Marcus from town. One of Joe’s coworkers, Ruth Shimizu, and his boss, Kent Jackson, from Sacramento. Nico’s former partner Roman who was another profiler out in Sacramento. The police chief from Ann Arbor, Carl Collins. And Shanice Williams, the lead FBI agent out of Bedford. Her office in New Hampshire was apparently the closest to Midnight Lake and the team had worked with her several times before.
Lia had wanted to shrink away and watch from a distance, but she’d taken a seat at the edge of the table. For the most part, she’d avoided staff meetings at her hospital and she’d never had to worry about large family gatherings.
Before she’d been lucky enough to be placed with Carlotta, she’d spent many of her nights in shelters with her mom. Or alone huddled in the blankets while her mom had been off doing whatever she’d done. Probably drugs or sex for hire. Lia had been too young to wonder or ask.
She’d mostly tried to stay hidden in the crowd, to avoid the people who wanted to steal from her or touch her. Most of the people in the shelters had been harmless. Down on their luck and hungry, but safe. Even before her mom had abandoned her at seven, Lia had learned to find the safe people by watching their eyes and their actions.
All of these people were safe. Their eyes and their actions proved that. But she still wasn’t completely comfortable.
Crowds were difficult for Tansy as well, and she noticed that neither Joe nor Sam acted as if it was odd. Instead, they did their best to minimize the feel of the crowd. Both men had taken seats near the edge so that Tansy and Lia could sit without anyone on their other side.
Whenever she tensed because the attention was directed at her, Joe laced his fingers with hers or nudged her foot with his. Tiny gestures to remind her she wasn’t alone, she was part of a group. And part of a pair.
The entire team had been determined to not only capture Isaac Simmen, but to stop him before he did something that meant he’d spend the rest of his life in jail.
She’d never put much thought into the personalities of people in law enforcement before, but she hadn’t expected the compassion that was evident from every person in the group.
Everyone understood the power of grief. They would do everything they could to take Simmen into custody before he hurt someone and then get him the help he needed.
It was powerful and humbling. Somehow a kid who’d grown up homeless and abandoned had lucked into this group of amazing people.
