you had to come all this way,” Kadin said.
Lott stared at him, somber. “It’s okay to be different after what happened to you, Kadin. All the people close to you want is for you to heal. Start a new life. Not forget them, just...move on.”
Kadin just nodded, waiting for him to stop.
After a bit, Lott grinned. “I didn’t just come to give you another lecture. I’m going down to the Green River to do some fishing.”
Lott had frequently come to visit him and his wife and daughter on that excuse. He hadn’t just come to see them, he’d come to fish. But Kadin wasn’t fooled. His mother wasn’t the one who’d put him up to this visit. He’d been talking to his parents ever since Arielle had overdosed, checking in without Kadin knowing.
“Okay.”
“So.” Lott perched on the corner of his desk. “Business is good, huh? How is it that you already got some cases?”
Kadin moved to stand before him. “They called.”
“You’ve gotten a lot of media coverage.”
Kadin recognized the congratulations. His daughter’s disappearance and murder had attracted a lot of attention. When news broke that he was venturing off on his own to fight similar crimes, the media had swarmed him. But that only masked what was really going on.
“I’m fine, Lott.”
“Are you?”
He really hated talking about this. A thousand knife stabs might as well pierce his chest. Then that heavy weight came next, along with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. “Yes.” Just thinking his wife’s name brought that terrible day back. Finding her already dead. After enduring so much tragedy already. He’d nearly gone insane. The only thing that saved him was moving to Rock Springs, Wyoming, a quiet, wildly beautiful place that asked nothing of him other than to breathe.
“I mean it, Kadin. You have to move on, not close yourself off to the world and immerse yourself in cold case murders.”
“I am moving on.” As much as he could. The only way he knew how.
“Shut off from everyone who cares about you. I don’t mean to sound like a sap, but I miss my friend. He disappeared the day his daughter did.”
Kadin didn’t know how to say he’d never be the same man he once was. He just knew. And that man hadn’t gone until the moment he learned Annabelle’s body had been found.
Body...
Her twelve-year-old body. Not Annabelle. Her body. Such powerful, unfathomable grief had racked him, for days, for months, a slicing machete going to work on his insides. Trapped in his lost and desolate mind with no way out, he hadn’t noticed how far Arielle had slipped into oblivion. Then the day had come when he’d found her. All of that emotion had imploded on him. He’d felt it bleed out of him until only empty darkness remained. Everything had become mechanical after that. Until he’d stumbled across some photographs of Annabelle when they’d lived in Wyoming.
“I was a cop before my daughter went missing,” Kadin said. “I’m doing what I’m meant to do.” His talent was being put to good use. And if he could use it to help others who were going through the same thing he had experienced, then that had to be good. That was his only joy. Every time he caught a murderer, he avenged his wife and daughter.
“You’re alone here,” Lott reminded him.
“No, I’m not. I know practically everyone in town. Besides, I’m hardly ever home. Not every cold case is in Sweetwater County.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to bury yourself in these investigations, Kadin. When is it going to be enough?”
Lott, like everyone else, didn’t understand. Home and family had different meanings to him now. Warm and full of optimistic love before the tragedy, starkly realistic after. That was why he’d opened this agency. This agency was for the people who knew life’s darkest reality. People like him.
“Look,” Lott said in his silence. “I know you hate talking about this. I’m worried about you. Your parents worry about you. I stop in every once in a while to check on you. I’ve done my duty. Now, since I’m staying through the weekend, how about we camp and fish this Friday and Saturday?”
“You’re staying that long?” Lott didn’t usually stay longer than a day or two.
“Yeah, I met a girl the last time I was here. You might be seeing me more often.”
Figured, a woman had drawn him here. Women drew him everywhere he went.
“Are you free this weekend?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Lott angled his head, a quiet demand for more information.
“I might take on another case.” He didn’t feel like explaining the Sara Wolfe case.
The front door jingled. He’d left the old bells there so that he’d know when someone arrived. Whoever had entered couldn’t have chosen better timing.
Kadin started toward his office door to go see who’d arrived.
“Don’t forget you have other things in your life besides hunting down killers,” Lott said as Kadin passed. And then as he followed, “Camping. This weekend. No talk about the past, I promise.”
“Another reason I moved here. To get away from old friends.” Lott would know he was kidding. Sort of.
“You couldn’t go far enough to get away from me.” Lott stopped beside Kadin in the lobby, where a woman stood looking around.
Lott whispered a whistle only Kadin could hear.
Few women caught Kadin’s eye anymore, but this one sure did. He had to agree with Lott. On the tall side, pushing five-nine, she had a thick head of wavy auburn hair that would look great spread out on bed sheets, and wide, long-lashed sea-green eyes that would add to the moment.
“Hi. Which one of you is Kadin Tandy?” she asked.
She wore skinny, distressed jeans, with knee-high, spiky-heeled boots and a fancy top with flashy accessories. She wasn’t afraid to be tall and stand out in a crowd. And she must have a creative streak.
“That would be him.” Lott strode to the door. When he was behind the woman, he waved as though the heat were getting to him and mouthed, She’s hot!
“I’ll see you Friday,” Kadin said gruffly.
Lott left, walking backward and pointing both fingers at the woman’s butt and nodding with a mouthed oh yeah.
The woman glanced back and Lott shut his mouth and turned, heading for his Jaguar.
“Friend of yours?” the woman asked.
“One of the best.” Minus the frat house sexual innuendos and constant meddling. “How can
