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Lane kept sitting at the table.
Lark slowly crossed to his side.She extended her hand.Touched his shoulder.
He flinched.
“Do you like it here or something?”Oliver asked deliberately.“Because some people will do anything to escape.”
Lane’s lashes flickered.
“You’re free,” Oliver told him again.
Lane erupted from the chair.He grabbed his sister and hauled her close.Lark laughed and cried and held him just as tightly as he held her.
***
“Done.”Oliver dropped his badge on Colby’s desk.
Colby looked at the badge, then at him.“You can’t be serious.”
Dead serious.“You’ve had all your press conferences.Just as promised, you were the star, and I was the agent who put the wrong man in jail.I’m officially falling on my sword.”
“Bullshit.”Colby stood, and his chair rolled back with a squeak.“You don’t fall on jack.You’re the man who killed the rogue FBI agent.Who saved the fiancé who’d gone mad with grief.You exonerated the innocent brother.”His chin lifted.“The Deputy Director wants you staying.We all know it’s just a matter of time until another serial comes out of the dark.”
There would always be another one waiting.“‘Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.’”
“What?”
“Nietzsche said that.”
“Well, fucking la-di-da for Nietzsche.”
Oliver’s lips quirked.“I have something important to do.”
“Uh, like stopping a killerisn’timportant?”
“I’ll still be consulting with the Feds.I’ll make sure the Deputy Director knows I’ll be available when he needs me.And there are plenty of good agents in the Bureau.Just because we had—”
“We had one twisted sonofabitch of a killer right beneath our noses?”
Yeah.“You do have a way with words.No wonder you enjoy the press conferences so much.Yes, just because we had him, it doesn’t mean the whole Bureau is rotten.Good people work here.People like Theo Tutweiler.Give him a chance to lead a team.He’s ready.”Oliver thought the guy was more than ready.
Colby’s eyes narrowed.“You made a mistake, so now you’re scared to hunt again?We were all fooled, not just you.”
Wow.Was the guy trying to comfort him?Almost sounded like it.“I did make a mistake,” Oliver agreed.“One I can’t afford to make again.”But he wasn’t talking about profiling or working with the Bureau.He was talking about the most important person in his life.“Wish me luck?”He turned for the door.
“Hell, no, I’m not wishing you luck.I wish you’d get your ass back here and be sensible about this.The Bureau needs you.We need—”
He looked over his shoulder.“But I need her.”
Understanding flashed on Colby’s face.
Oliver’s gaze dropped to the wedding ring on Colby’s hand.The ring Colby wore every single day.“She’s dead, but you can’t let her go.”
Colby’s fingers trembled.
“You had ten years with her.Do you regret them?”
“No.”Hoarse.“Best ten years of my life.”
