Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“That makes sense,” she said, lifting her chin from her hands and reaching for her coffee cup.
She did this, but she didn’t take her attention from him.
Rus was realizing as he was talking, and with how she was responding, it felt good for someone to show they were interested in what he was saying, especially about his work.
Jennifer had never asked and didn’t want to know. His kids were too young to tell and would be probably until Rus left this earth.
Though, it felt more than good Lucinda made it so obvious she felt this way.
But this wasn’t the only reason he kept talking.
“Yeah,” he replied. “It took until Saturday for a tech to have the five minutes needed to get into Brittanie’s laptop, and it’s a surprise we didn’t have to wait longer. Not to mention, cops don’t spend all their hours working one case. That’s happening now for me, but that’s extremely rare. At my office, I have more than one open file. I’m not just tracking CK. All cops have several open cases they’re working. They’ll also have superiors telling them what to do, when to do it, and how many resources they can expend. There are only so many hours in a day and only so many tax dollars allocated. Every victim or family wants justice, and they’re pushing for it, not having any idea how fucking hard it is to do this job.”
Lucinda nodded again.
He took a sip of his own coffee.
When he put down his cup, he told her, “I’m used to people thinking I’m John McClane or Seeley Booth. Seriously. This might be my first town council meeting, but it’s not the first time I’ve experienced pressure to provide answers to people who are flipped out. They don’t get it. Even if I explained it, they wouldn’t get it. They want answers and they want to know they’re safe, and they’re depending on me to take care of both.”
“That’s a lot of stress,” she remarked, still following him word for word, but there was concern in her expression now.
He shook his head.
“Not really. It’s the job. You learn what to care about. I care about finding the people who did this to Brittanie and building a solid case so they’ll be punished for it. I care about you and Madden and Keyleigh, and even her dad and brother having answers and closure. I also care about this town not living under a cloud, but that’s low on my priority list. I don’t give it time or headspace. I also don’t answer to anyone but my superiors. If people don’t like I’m spending time with you, fuck ’em. I answered to Pastor Richard for sixteen years, and that wasn’t my choice. I choose who has authority over me and a say in how I spend my time, and I do this in a way that, if I’m done with it, I’m free to quit and move on. What I know right now is, that entity isn’t the townspeople of Misted Pines.”
“So, in short, you’re going to be fine at the meeting.”
He felt his lips twitch. “In short, yeah.”
“If you can come to the club after, I’ll wait to eat, and we can have dinner together.”
“I’m ordering that brown sugar-glazed thing.”
She smiled.
He leaned slightly her way, hand lifted, crooking a forefinger at her.
He saw her eyes flash before she leaned a lot farther his way and offered her mouth.
He took it, just a quick stroke of his tongue because he wanted another taste, but he didn’t have time for more.
“You seem to be okay with the fact there might be a serial killer in Misted Pines,” he noted.
“I’m not,” she returned. “But I have tight security on my club. Also on my house, which is close to the club. And I’m a realist. I’ll be alert to the danger. I’ll have a face-to-face with Kleo to tell her what’s going on, making sure she keeps it confidential, but she heightens things as they need to be. And I’ll look out for myself and my daughter. There’s nothing else I can do, but if there is, I’ll do it.”
“It’s sexy-as-fuck how rational you are.”
He was teasing.
He was also relieved because she was being rational.
“Of course it is,” she replied, cool as always.
That was sexy as fuck too.
That said, a woman had been murdered, and a serial killer was in town.
He and Lucinda were feeling their way. At this point, it was nowhere near his place to make demands.
It was attractive she was rational.
But if this was going to go anywhere, she’d have to understand he was protective.
“How close is your house to the club?” he asked.
“Walking distance, honey,” she said, her voice soft, indicating she understood very well he was protective. “So…very close. We’ll be fine.”
Right.
Then, walking distance from a building that had lots of lights, cameras and great number of people coming and going until the early hours of the morning.