“I have to believe there are more of us than them.”
“I’m not so sure anymore.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Find the fuckers who did this and make them pay.”
“We’re on it.Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.I don’t know.”
“Call me if you need me?Promise?”
“I will.”
“I’ll check on you in a bit and will keep you posted.”
“Thanks for calling, Sam.”
“I’m so sorry I had to tell you this.”
“I know.”
“You won’t do anything crazy, will you?”
“No, but I’d like to.”
“That won’t help anything.You know that.”
“I get it.I need to check on Harlowe.”
“Okay, talk to you soon.”
The call ended, and Sam closed her phone with a deep feeling of apprehension overtaking her as she hoped Archie kept his promise to stand down and let the Feds apprehend the colleague who’d attacked the woman he cared about.
Archie placedhis phone on the counter and stood there, staring out the window, in complete shock that the investigation into Harlowe’s kidnapping and assault had led straight back to him.He remembered that day during the sniper investigation when Sam had asked him to track Offenbach’s phone.He’d told her he needed a damned good reason to investigate a fellow officer, and a hunch wasn’t enough.
She’d taken him to the morgue to see the body of the six-year-old girl who’d been struck down by a sniper’s bullet.
“She’s my damned good reason,” Sam had said.“Track the fucking phone.”
He’d done it because he trusted Sam more than just about any other detective he worked with—and he worked with all of them.It’d been the right thing to rule out a possible inside job, but Offenbach had been severely punished by the department with demotion in rank and pay and by his wife, who’d filed for divorce and full custody of their children.
“Archie?”
He spun around to face Harlowe, crushed by what’d been done to her to exact revenge on him for doing his fucking job.
She studied him intently, her brow furrowing with concern.“What’s wrong?”
If he told her, she’d leave.If she left, he’d never get over losing her.
Nothing said he had to tell her the truth, but how would they go forward with a lie of that magnitude standing between them?He wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
All those thoughts cycled through his mind in a matter of seconds as she stood there looking at him, as if seeing a ghost or a stranger.
“You’re scaring me.”
“I just heard something.From work.It upset me.”
