The Negotiation

Her thoughts turned to Lonnie. If she was having a hard time coping with what had happened, then she had to believe Lonnie might be struggling, too. Playing it tough in the schoolyard or in the hallways was one thing. He might have held it together at the school and in the department before his uncle had picked him up, but now that it had had time to settle?

Rachel tightened her grip around the coffee cup. She kept her gaze on the creek. There it was, apathetic to how rapidly her thoughts jumped from fear to worry and then to anger.

Yesterday had felt like one long dance between her and Dane, both trying to move around each other without getting too close. She knew why she’d done it. Anger and frustration. But him? He’d pawned her off on a stranger once she needed to leave the department. The old Dane? Her friend? He wouldn’t have left her.

But he had.

Yet, even after years of no contact, when danger had found its way to her, Rachel’s first instinct had been to call him.

Because you still trust him.

“Hush it,” she responded into her coffee.

The coffee complied.

Something moved against her hip, earning a knee-jerk reaction of nearly jumping out of her skin. Her coffee sloshed over the edge of the mug. “Sweet crickets!”

Even with the coffee and the soothing creek in the distance, she couldn’t deny that she was still on edge.

Rachel finagled the vibrating phone from her pocket and shook some of the coffee off her other hand. The Caller ID showed Dane again.

“To be fair, I called to try and not scare you.”

Rachel looked from the phone to the patio stairs. On the path that led from around the house to the front porch stood Dane. Trying to look apologetic.

Rachel put her hand to her chest and took a deep breath.

“I guess I’m a little jumpy this morning,” she admitted. Dane nodded but kept to the bottom of the stairs. He was still wearing his button-down and jeans, but now there were bags beneath his eyes, too. He hadn’t slept. “Is everything okay?”

“Detective Foster thinks he found a potential lead. He and Billy are looking into it.”

“Good.” The faster the men were caught, the better.

Dane ran a hand across his jaw and nodded. “No suspicious activity was reported at Lonnie’s by Deputy Ward and no one other than your friend came or went last night.”

“Also good.”

He nodded again. It was off. Like the motion was on reflex. Like he wasn’t actually listening to himself. Rachel tilted her head slightly to the side, trying to figure out his thoughts. But, while she’d been good friends with the man years ago, it felt like a lifetime had passed between them. She could no sooner tell what he was thinking than she could tell what he was feeling.

“We’ll keep someone on both today, but I need to go relieve Henry from Lonnie’s until another deputy can step in,” he continued. “His kid has the flu and his wife woke up with it, so he needs to hustle home.”

Rachel felt herself perk up. “So you’re going to Lonnie’s right now?”

She already was turning with her coffee cup in hand.

“Yeah, just long enough until someone comes and relieves me.”

“Can I come with you?” Rachel was positive it was exactly what she needed to feel better. She could either sit around worrying about the boy, or check on him herself. Maybe even talk to his uncle and learn a little bit more about his home life, too. Maybe set some of the rumors straight when it came to the teachers at Darby Middle. “I mean, I can take my own car if you’d like,” she added. “I just—I’d like to see how Lonnie’s doing.”

Dane surprised her with a small smile.

“If you don’t mind me stopping by somewhere that has coffee, I’m fine with you riding along.”

It was Rachel’s turn to smile. “I can do you one better.”

* * *

THEY SET OUT from the house a few minutes later with two cups of homemade coffee, a Tupperware container filled with cookies, and too many things left unsaid between them. Dane had already known that Rachel asking to come along was a possibility, but until she’d asked, he hadn’t known what he was going to say in response. He’d planned his day around sticking close to her while working the case from a stationary spot—which he’d gotten good at over his career as captain—so if she wanted to leave, coming along with him definitely made things easier.

Or, at least, the work side of things.

Their personal issues weren’t as easy to work around.

So Dane decided not to address them at all. He was going to treat Rachel like just another civilian. There was a bigger picture. One he’d hopefully see when the men were caught.

He didn’t need to, nor had the time to, get lost in the past.

“I’m surprised that Marnie girl didn’t stay the night,” he said once they were on the county road. “She seemed ready to fight by your side. Never seen a lady brandish a lamp before.”

He kept his eyes on the road but heard the smile in her voice when she answered.

“You’ve seen a man brandish a lamp?”

Dane felt his smile pull up the corner of his lips. “Actually, I have.”

And so Dane ate up the time between the outskirts of Darby to the other side of town by relaying the story about Marty Wallace, drunk as a skunk, coming into a restaurant to confront his cheating girlfriend. Who’d just happened to be on a date one table over. Dane had barely saved the new beau from receiving a whack upside the head by a fancy lamp when he restrained the cursing-like-a-sailor Marty.

“Want to know the kicker? After he got out of jail, he went back to the restaurant and picked a fight with the owner.”

Rachel let out a small gasp. “Why did he do that?”

“The lamp that he broke cost five hundred dollars. Marty didn’t want to pay it.”

“Five hundred dollars?” She whistled. “I don’t blame him. I might have started a fight with the owner, too. Did he end up paying it or did he get arrested again?”

“Billy ended up feeling so bad for him that he talked the owner out of pressing charges.” Dane couldn’t help chuckling. “Then Billy managed to convince the man that the lamp was too ugly to be worth that much, so the owner went out and got a new one anyways.”

Rachel laughed a good laugh. Dane hadn’t realized how much he had missed the sound.

“That’s our sheriff for you,” he added. “A fearless leader with a bleeding heart when it comes to overpaying for lamps. I don’t know what Riker County would do without him.”

This time Rachel didn’t laugh. He glanced over. Denim blue. Staring straight ahead.

“You know, I always thought you’d run for sheriff.” Her voice sounded different. Off. Distant. “Wasn’t that a part of your five-year plan?”

There it was.

One of those unsaid things. Dane fought the urge to tense up.