“We must find Raina first.” Lyra came to a halt again. “We made so much progress tonight. We know we’re dealing with a ring of kidnappers who have been getting away with their crimes for at least a year. We know they’ve broken their pattern. But now we’ve come to a full stop.”
“Every case is like this,” Simon said. “There are times when things move so quickly you can barely keep up and times when you have to wait for more information. You get used to the ebb and flow.”
“I’m not sure I will ever get used to the ebb part.”
“Having second thoughts about becoming a private investigator?” Simon asked.
“I was already reconsidering it after what happened at the Adlington house the other morning.”
“Understandable.”
“When this is over I may decide to pursue another career path. But first we have to find Raina.”
Simon did not respond. Lyra turned her head and saw that he was watching her with his hard-to-read eyes. She studied him intently for a few seconds and then abandoned the effort. She was getting better at reading him, but this time she had no clue to his thoughts.
After a moment he got to his feet and walked deliberately toward her. He stopped directly behind her but he did not touch her.
“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think you would make an excellent investigator. Raina Kirk told Pell that you’ve got a talent for the work. I agree.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes,” he said. “It’s not just that you’re curious by nature. And it’s not that you have an amazing ability to get people to talk to you. There’s something else that makes me think you were doomed to be an investigator.”
“What?”
“You want to help people find answers to the questions that keep them awake at night. I should warn you that this kind of work can be extremely frustrating, because a lot of people won’t thank you for the answers you give them.”
“Because they won’t like those answers?” Lyra asked.
“More often than not, that’s the result. A wife who hires you to find out if her husband is cheating on her won’t like it when you confirm her suspicions. Families who ask you to find a missing relative will be devastated if it turns out the relative is dead or, worse yet, vanished for a very good reason.”
“But they still want answers.”
“Yes. And so do you.”
“Is that what it’s like for you?”
“In a way. I need to use my talent. If I don’t—”
She touched the side of his jaw. “If you don’t use it you’ll feel like you don’t have a purpose. You’ll drift through life.”
“Something like that.”
“Do you want to kiss me again?”
Simon’s eyes heated. “Yes.”
She smiled. “It’s okay by me.”
“Just okay?”
“Better than okay. I’d like you to kiss me.”
He put a warm, strong hand on either side of her waist and drew her closer. “When I drove to Burning Cove to report to Luther Pell, I told myself that I would check in to a nice resort, spend some time by the pool during the day, and drink cocktails at the Paradise at night. I wanted to find a free-spirited, single woman, preferably a divorcée, who was not looking to get married.”
“You wanted a short affair. A vacation fling to take your mind off your last case. No strings attached.”
“That was the plan,” Simon said. “I told myself I would look for a reckless, independent lady who held modern, sophisticated views when it came to relationships.”
