Taking

“You didn’t kill anybody, Harry. You’re not responsible for that. It’s not your fault. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

Harry heaved a long, bitter sigh, then said to Jake and Riley, “Well, I was a cop long enough to know that. We never solve them all. But I was also out there long enough to recognize when my cop’s instinct is likely to be right. This thing, this latest murder, is really ringing some alarms for me.”

He put his unfinished sandwich back on the plate and pushed it away.

“I’m glad you two came out here to check things out,” he continued. “That makes me feel a whole lot better. Finish your sandwiches and I’ll drive you to Tunsboro.”

Jillian poked him in the arm and said almost in a whisper, “Wait a minute, Harry. You’re not driving anyone anywhere. We’ve got to get back to the campground.”

Harry gave his wife a pleading look.

“Come on, honey,” he whispered back. “We’re not in that much of a hurry. And Tunsboro’s just a short drive.”

“They can rent a car,” Jillian said. “Remember, we’ve got a deal.”

Harry looked embarrassed. Riley wondered what was going on between them. She saw that Crivaro seemed uncertain about what to say next.

Finally Jillian looked sternly at Jake and said …

“Harry’s not getting mixed up in this—this—whatever it is. He’s retired. We’re on vacation. I don’t want him getting all worked up about the Erin Gibney killing again. He was a guilty wreck about that for months. I thought we’d put all that behind us.”

Harry nodded reluctantly and said to Riley and Crivaro with a weak smile. “Well, you heard what the missus said. She’s got me on a tight leash. I wish I could work with you, but there it is. We’ve got an itinerary. We’re headed south to the Coronado National Forest today. We’ve got a reservation at the Riggs Flat campground.”

“And we’re not canceling,” Jillian added sharply. “No matter what.”

Harry squeezed her hand and said, “Of course not, honey. But we’ve got enough time to drive these two to the police station in Tunsboro. Then we can get back to the campground and check out there. It’s the least we can do for them, after they went to all this time and trouble.”

Jillian stared hard at Harry. “OK—as long as you promise not to change your mind along the way.”

Harry awkwardly raised his right hand.

“I promise,” he said and gave her a quick kiss.

Jillian smiled and looked reassured. She wagged her finger at Crivaro and said …

“And don’t you go trying to persuade him otherwise!”

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Crivaro said with a chuckle.

The couple seemed a lot more relaxed now. Harry even picked up his sandwich again and as they all kept eating, he regaled Riley and Crivaro with small talk. Now and then, Jillian added details or corrected him.

Harry and Jillian had recently become first-time grandparents, and their youngest daughter was getting married. As usual at this time of year, the weather in Colorado was too cold for their liking. So as they almost always did during the winter, the couple had packed up their camper and driven into the warmer Southwest, where they were hopping from one campground to another.

Harry proudly showed Riley and Crivaro a picture of their camping rig—a fair-sized trailer towed by a white truck. Harry called the getup “our home away from home.”

As the small talk continued, Riley noticed a wistful expression on Crivaro’s face.

She wondered …

Does Crivaro envy them?

Again she noticed that Crivaro and Harry looked close to the same age. She hadn’t given any thought to Crivaro retiring. Did he ever think about that?

Would he see any point in it?

Although there was a lot Riley didn’t know about her mentor, she did know that he was divorced and had an estranged son.

Crivaro’s life wasn’t anything like Harry and Jillian’s, with their close and happy family. If he had grandchildren, he’d never mentioned them to Riley. He’d told her that his ex-wife was happily remarried, and his son had gone into real estate, and …

“They’re perfectly normal, just like regular folks.”

With a self-deprecating laugh, he’d added …

“Maybe I just can’t do normal.”

Not for the first time, it occurred to Riley that Crivaro must be a very lonely man.

If his work was the only thing that gave his life meaning, if he felt that he’d missed out on something, then naturally this perfectly normal, happily retired couple could stir up melancholy feelings in him.

Was loneliness one reason he’d brought her along on this peculiar trip?

There had been moments when Riley had felt that Crivaro was more like a real father to her than that bitter ex-Marine who lived alone in the mountains. At least he sometimes praised her for doing something well, which was more than her actual father ever did.

She wondered …

Does he ever think of me as a daughter?

The group finished eating and headed on out to the parking lot. Riley was relieved that the weather was actually very pleasant. Warm, but not hot or humid. Maybe the clothes she had with her would serve after all.

She’d expected to see the whole camping rig from the photos, but they were just headed toward a truck.

“Where’s the camper?” Crivaro asked.

“That’s the beauty of our rig,” Jillian replied. “We can disconnect the house and leave it in the campground while we drive around in our … um … extended car. Not as fancy as some, but it’s very practical.”

Crivaro and Harry climbed into the front seats, and Riley and Jillian got into the wide back seat.

As Harry drove out of the airport, he started to regale Crivaro with more small talk—what routes they had taken coming south from Colorado, where they intended to go next, what places they visited every winter, even where they’d found good restaurants along the way. It seemed to Riley that he had an endless supply of trivial things to talk about, but Crivaro appeared to be listening contentedly, apparently not bored at all.

Riley tuned that conversation out. She was grateful that Jillian, sitting beside her, didn’t seem inclined to indulge in similar meaningless chatter.

But then, Riley wondered, should she be saying something like that to Jillian, if only to be polite?

As Harry pulled onto the freeway and headed north, Jillian spoke up. “I see that you’re engaged.”

Riley was startled by the remark, but quickly realized that Jillian was looking at her engagement ring.

She smiled and said, “Yes, I am.”