that they might have posted on social media pages, I didn’t mean for you to exhaust all the search engines before you could finally go home.”
Reading, Sierra didn’t immediately look up. “I know,” she answered Ronan. “I just kind of got caught up in it.”
He sat on the edge of her desk but she still didn’t look up. She was busy trying to make sense of something she was reading.
“There’s ‘caught up’ and there’s ‘obsessive,’” Ronan pointed out.
She glanced in his direction for half a minute. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn into one of those people who forgets to shower or change their clothes,” she promised. “It’s just that each thing I check out just feeds into something else.” It astonished her how mindless some people could be, to be proud of hurting people and getting by without doing any work. “These guys were really maniacal, crazy people.” Sierra shook her head.
“Well, at least we agree on something.”
That caught her attention and she looked up. “I’ve got a feeling that we’d probably agree on a lot of things, once you stop thinking of me as the enemy.”
“I don’t think of you as the enemy,” he told her, tamping down his temper.
“No? Try being on my side of this thing,” she told him. “The lieutenant brought me over to your team and you acted like you’d just been given an infestation of body lice.”
“That’s getting a little carried away, don’t you think?”
She raised her eyes to his. “Am I?”
“Go home, Carlyle. Get some sleep. The internet’ll still be here in the morning.”
“I know that,” she answered. “I just wanted to find something to get us a step closer to getting this guy.” She looked up at Ronan as she made her point. “So that you’d see I could be an asset.”
He frowned, debating whether or not to let that go or to say what he knew should be said. It was late, he was tired, and maybe that influenced him into deciding to give her her due.
“You came up with the idea that the victims were given drugs to keep them from fighting back. The rest of us hadn’t thought of that. That puts a gold star under your name. Now go home and get something to eat,” he ordered gruffly.
Arguing was in Sierra’s nature, but she refrained. She paused, then nodded. “I guess I am hungry.” She looked back at her monitor and something occurred to her. “Just five more minutes and I’ll close everything down.”
Ronan watched her for a long moment, knowing that if he left, there was no telling how long she would remain at her desk, going from one site to another. She had to be the most stubborn woman he had ever encountered, and that included his mother and sisters—which was saying a lot.
“Carlyle,” he said sternly, “go home.”
“I will,” she promised, the keys clicking beneath her fingers. “In a minute.”
Ronan got off her desk. Moving behind it, he bent and flipped a switch on the power strip beneath her desk.
“Now,” he ordered, getting up.
Her jaw dropped. “You just shut off my computer,” she complained.
He appeared completely unfazed by the accusation in her voice. “I gave you a direct order and you ignored it.”
She drew herself up, ready to go a few rounds with this annoying man. “You’re lead detective, not my supreme leader,” she informed him hotly.
A hint of a smile played along his lips. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”
With that, he turned away and began to walk out of the squad room.
She raised her voice as she called after him. “I know your mother and I’ll tell her what a hard time you’ve been giving me.”
Ronan turned then and slowly crossed back to her desk. “Did you just threaten me with my mother?” he asked in disbelief. “What are we, twelve?”
She braced herself. “I’m not. But I’m not sure about you.”
“You’re tired. I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. Now go home.”
He might be the lead detective and in charge, but she was not about to be intimidated. “Why are you acting like I’m the invading force?”
“Because you’re the invading force,” he retorted. He’d had no choice in the matter when Carver had brought her over. He had to work with her and he didn’t appreciate not being given a choice.
“Hey, you’re a Cavanaugh,” she reminded him. “Nobody invades you,” she pointed out. “You guys practically are the police department. I’m just trying to do my part. I don’t want the credit,” she stressed. “You can have the credit for solving this thing.”
“This isn’t about credit,” he informed her, annoyed she thought that way.
“Then what is it about?” she demanded, confused. “Why do I get the feeling that you don’t want to be in the same space with me?”
Denial was on his tongue but he never voiced it. Possibly because she’d stumbled onto something. “Because you remind me of someone,” he finally said, struggling to keep from yelling the words at her.
“Who?”
“Someone,” was all he trusted himself to say and then, before she could attempt to grill him any further, he stalked out.
“That’s not an answer!” she countered.
Grabbing her bag, Sierra quickly headed out of the squad room after him.
But when she got to the hallway, Ronan was nowhere to be seen.
He’d probably caught the elevator. For a second she thought of taking the stairs and ambushing him on the ground floor, but she had a feeling that would just lead to more of the same. He wasn’t about to tell her anything. Most likely, he regretted having said as much as he had just now.
The bottom line was that she needed answers and O’Bannon wasn’t about to give them to her.
But she thought she knew someone who just might be able to.
Taking the elevator to the ground floor, she hurried to the parking lot and made her way to her car. Once she got into her vehicle, she put her key in the ignition but she didn’t start the engine.
Instead she took out her cell phone and placed a call.
Once the call connected, she heard a deep, gravely voice answer. “Carlyle.”
“Hi, Dad,” she said with more cheer than she was feeling. “It’s me. Sierra.”
“Sierra?” her father repeated. “Wait, wait, I know that name, just give me a second. Sierra, Sierra—” he
