Page 71 of Investigate Away
“That’s actually easy. I’m not the lead detective, and she’s not a reporter.”
“Okay. That’s one aspect. But dig deeper, because it’s more than that. Your old jobs are too superficial and an external conflict that is easily resolved. The two of you are on a different level, and I think it’s more about understanding and knowing what you want out of life. You used to think all that mattered was your record, but now you know that serving your community is what it’s all about. You know that being a police officer isn’t about the impeccable record but about doing right by the people you serve. How is what she’s doing different than being a reporter? What is the purpose of her writing this book?”
Wow. That was a really good question and one that Jag had spent a lot of time pondering, but not one he was willing to ask Callie. Not yet, anyway. “Honestly, I think it’s threefold.”
“Explain,” his father said.
“She’s doing it for Stephanie. To keep her memory alive as well as every other victim. To give them a voice and make sure their stories are heard.”
“That’s a noble cause,” his father said. “What else?”
“To change the direction of her original reporting. Make up for the sensationalism and go back to what made her want to become an investigative reporter to begin with.”
“And could the third aspect of this possibly be to reconnect with you and see where that takes the both of you?” his father asked.
That wasn’t where Jag planned on taking the third part of his thought process, but it made more sense than his theory, which had been… Well, fuck, he didn’t have a third tier.
“It could be,” Jag agreed. “But she’s constantly telling me she’s leaving. Like last night when Mom said we could stay in the same room, Callie made a point of letting me know that it was no big deal if we didn’t share a bed because when the book was done, she was gone.”
“But you two slept together anyway.”
Jag nodded. “Why dirty two sets of sheets for Mom to clean.”
“You are my son.” His father let out a short laugh and quickly cleared his throat. “But it sounds like she might be trying to convince herself that she should leave and perhaps subconsciously wanting you to ask her to stay. But giving her the ring and re-proposing marriage might be a little rushed and could scare her away.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“I take it she doesn’t know you found the ring?” his father asked.
He shook his head.
“Show her that you painstakingly took the time to find it and keep it so that she knows you wanted her to come back to you. Just because you still love each other and are compatible in bed, that doesn’t equal forever.” His father reached across the table and tapped his finger against Jag’s chest. “Letting her see and feel what you’ve been hoping for all this time will let her know that your life has stalled without her in it, and maybe she’ll be able to see that she came back for one reason only.”
Jag waited for a long minute for his father to tell him what that reason was, but his father just sat there and stared at him. Jag let out a long breath. “Are you going to clue me in to why she really came back to Seattle?”
“You really need someone to fill in the blank, son?”
Jag sipped his coffee. His pulse pounded in his head. “I hope you’re right, Dad, because I’m going to lay my heart out on the table for her to destroy.”
“I think she might surprise you.”
“I hope you’re right, because I don’t think I could get over her again.”
“Son, you never got over her the first time.”
* * *
Callie tossed her purse on the kitchen table in Jag’s house. If she’d gotten three hours of sleep last night, it would have been a miracle.
“Are you going to be okay?” Jag asked, smoothing her hair from her face.
She sighed. “I’ll be pacing until I get the yearbooks from Carol Armstrong’s college.” Callie rested her head on Jag’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around his strong frame. “I feel sick to my stomach about digging into Kara’s background, but I’m shocked about how little I know about her.”
“We looked at their relationship, how they interacted with their friends, which was hard since they’d just moved to Seattle from Colorado. Once Kara was cleared, there was no reason to dig any deeper.”
She lifted her head. “Jag, I should know more. She worked with me on this book. Hell, she worked with me on the side during the investigation of the Trinket Killer. I trusted her.”
“So did I,” Jag said.
