Page 15 of Nothing to Fear

“I’m not married,” he said. “Do you have someone to ease your burden?”

“You. That’s as close as I get.”

“Then it’s important to maintain this link.” Could she do that? “I want you to call. Anytime you need to talk to someone, call me.”

“You don’t owe me anything. It’s not your job to—”

“What I do with Lighting Darkness is important to me. I choose who to work with carefully. I want to make a difference and I’m not always great at maintaining a professional distance.”

“But if you’re a trauma—”

“My clients have various entry avenues; I answer more than one line. You were taken hostage, that’s what you said. That is a trauma and I hope one day you’ll want to tell me more about that experience.”

“There’s something safe about you. Maybe it’s the detachment from real life. It feels safe to talk to you.”

“You are safe.”

“I thought I was safe at work.”

“And you weren’t,” he said. “What follow up was done? What did they charge him with? Did you go to court and—”

“Oh no, they didn’t catch him,” she said, astonished he would suggest otherwise. “He’s still out there… somewhere.” More silence. For a guy who volunteered his time to talk, he could say surprisingly little. “Probably far, far away.”

“They didn’t catch him.”

That was a statement, not a question.

“Happens all the time. Crime is rife. So I’ve heard anyway, it’s not like I go sleuthing around the city at night. Though with the insomnia, I probably could. My boss told me to skip sleep tonight, so at least I have an excuse.”

“Why did she tell you that?”

“It’s a long story. The short version is she doesn’t want me to make an idiot of myself tomorrow the way I did today. If I’m sleep deprived, less chance I’ll trip over my own tongue if I do see this guy again.”

“Does he know you’re following him?”

A joke. Just what she needed.

She exhaled a laugh. “It’s boss driven, believe me. I tried to get out of it.”

“Why? Do you resent the people you work for?”

“Why would I resent them?”

“Your trauma happened at work. Do you blame them for what happened?”

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“And the perp?”

“Sick, I think. Tough to tell without a professional diagnosis.” She smiled. “I should’ve slipped him your number.”

His humor faded to intrigue. “You shy away from it, avoid, don’t confront.”

“Confrontation rarely leads to anything good.”

“Sometimes you have to get emotion out.”

“I find it’s better to bury it and just keep on smiling.”