After having Penny call the rest of her patients for today as well as the rest of the week to reschedule, Holly left the clinic. It had been a gamble showing up in Ty’s office and asking to be a part of this investigation. To be honest, she was a little surprised that Ty had agreed to let her come along with him, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He must have sensed how seriously she needed to be involved.
Every time she had slowed down or stopped moving, she had found herself thinking about Moose and the way his head had nearly been completely cleaved from his body. Closing her eyes, she could still see the wet, red muscles and the creamy white and grayish exsanguinated flesh.
If Ty hadn’t agreed to bring her along, he must have known that she would have been out there in the woods trying to figure out exactly what had happened to Moose. Though Ty seemed to like her, he didn’t seem to like her enough to actually include her, so he must have heard the desperation and resolve in her voice and known what she would have done if he said no. She doubted he was acquiescing to her request out of some act of selflessness. He had probably just thought that letting her have some token role in this would keep her from going rogue. This was probably his attempt to keep her in check.
Regardless of his motivations, she was glad to have a place at the table.
After she had signed the waiver, he had planted her outside his office while he talked to several of the other officers. The assistant who’d shown her to the office was silently crying in the corner and one of her coworkers was sitting with her, whispering.
There was the occasional ring of the phones and clatter of typing, but the office was surprisingly quiet. She wondered if that was because of what had transpired or if this was typical. Her office had been livelier than this place.
She hadn’t known what to expect when she’d arrived, but she had assumed that his active investigation would not include so much desk work or her twiddling her thumbs in a hard plastic seat outside his door. Yet, here she was. Perhaps, she had romanticized this just as much as she had once romanticized him.
Why is reality always so much less exciting than fantasy?
She tried to listen hard to hear Ty’s voice from behind his closed door, however all she could make out was the occasional rumble of his voice.
After a while, the woman who’d brought her back here stopped crying. Puffy-eyed, she’d made her way back out to her workstation and her friend had moved back to her desk. Every few minutes, the friend would look over at her with curiosity. She looked to be in her early thirties, dark-haired and toned. Holly found herself wondering if the woman was the kind Ty would have dated.
No. He’d made it clear in his office that he wasn’t the kind to date coworkers. He also was the kind who had clear feelings on the topic. As much as it annoyed her, she hated to admit that of course she felt the same way. There was just something about him being so judgmental with her that ticked her off.
The woman looked up from her computer and caught Holly looking at her. She stood up from her desk and grabbed a coffee cup that had a picture of a sheriff’s badge emblazoned on it. Then she made her way over to the Keurig near the back wall. She hit the button and then, as the coffee maker kicked on, she walked over toward her. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Holly smiled. “Good. Thanks.”
“I’m Valerie Keller,” the woman said, extending her hand in welcome.
“Holly,” she said, shaking hands.
“Dean. Right?”
Of course, the woman knows my name, she thought, trying to cover her initial surprise at the woman’s recognition of her. She had been at the center of yesterday’s callout.
She nodded.
“I’m glad to see you are up and running today. I heard you’d been hurt.”
Holly waved her off. “Nothing major. Skin glue and butterfly strips were all it needed—I didn’t even bother going in to the hospital after I got a real look at it at home.”
That being said, it was going to leave one heck of a nasty scar.
“We didn’t get a chance to meet, but I was one of the SAR members up there looking for you. My team came in from the bottom of the hill.” She smiled, brightly.
Holly didn’t know exactly what it was, maybe it was the woman’s warmth or the fact that she had tried to rescue her, but she liked her. The woman had a spark, and given the chance, she was sure they could be friends.
“Thank you,” Holly said, returning Valerie’s warm smile. “I’m sorry I had everyone so upset. It was never my intention.”
Valerie shrugged. “Things happen. No one ever wants to be in a situation where they need us, and yet we have jobs for a reason.” She touched her shoulder. “I’m glad we got to you in time.”
“Me, too,” Holly said, nodding as she tried to ignore the guilt in her belly. “I’m sorry about Moose.”
“Yes. I appreciate that.” The woman’s smile faded, and she glanced toward the coffee maker. “Do you want a cup of coffee while you wait for Ty? He might be in there for a while. West had a list of things he wanted to talk about today.”
“Did he work all day yesterday, too? You know, before he had the show up on the mountain?” She gave her a sheepish look.
Valerie nodded. “Yeah, but we are used to those kinds of hours. We knew exactly what we signed up for when we chose to join Search and Rescue. If anything, we should thank you for keeping our skills on point. Plus, I must admit that it is fun to get up there on the mountain.”
She was surprised by the woman given how the day had turned out, but she was grateful for Valerie making light of the situation.
The woman walked back to the Keurig and grabbed a couple cups of coffee and handed her one. She took a sip and gave the woman a thankful tip of the head.
“By the way, do you work with Robert Finch?”
Holly nodded. “Why do you ask?”
Valerie shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, he went on a few dates with my sister, Evelyn.”
Of course, he did.
The woman stared at her, like she was looking for answers in her face. Holly tried to remain unreadable. “Are they still together?”
“My sister said things between them were really heating up. Yet, I think Robert was still seeing a couple other women. I don’t know, though. You know how dating is now. I miss the good old days when people dated one person at a time, instead of dating twenty.” She gave an annoyed chuckle.
“Oh, sister, I hear you.” She glanced back at the closed door. “Robert is always dating somebody new, so I feel for your sister.” She didn’t want to tell her about Robert’s incessant calling and texting, or how he had shown up at her house.
“I tried to warn her off him. I had heard about his reputation, but Evelyn swore that she loved him.”
“But she knew Robert was a sleaze?” Holly didn’t get it. She wasn’t the kind of woman to put up with that kind of thing, or Robert for that matter.
Maybe that was why she was usually single.
Valerie shrugged. “I love her and act as her sounding board. Unfortunately, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what I think—it’s her circus, her monkey.”
It didn’t escape her that the woman had compared Robert to a lesser ape. She glanced back over at Ty’s door. While she didn’t necessarily agree with the woman’s condemnation when it came to all men, she had to chuckle. Besides, it wasn’t like women were any better. People were merely people.
Ty’s door cracked open, and the other officer came walking out. He had a stony expression on his face, as though he had just gotten in trouble. Ty stepped out behind him, watching the guy as he walked away. He disappeared back into his office for a moment before reappearing with his jacket thrown over his arm.
He looked over at her. “You ready?” he asked, like he had been the one waiting for her and not the other way around.
Valerie gave her a tip of the head. “Good luck with him. He looks like he’s in a mood,” she whispered. “Watch out...when he’s like this, he bites.”
She could handle the occasional nibble, especially in bed, but she wasn’t about to allow herself to get bitten by him.
She stood up and touched Valerie’s arm appreciatively before turning away and looking to Ty. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
He rushed past her, barely waiting for her in his hurry to leave the office. Based on his coworker’s expression and his behavior, whatever had occurred behind that closed door had been unpleasant.
By the time they made it to his pickup, his gait had slowed from nearly a sprint to a simple march. She made sure to stay three steps behind and safely out of proximity of his teeth.
He opened his department-issued truck’s door for her, and she hesitated to get in with him, but he was staring out into the rest of the parking lot and didn’t seem to notice.
As he closed the door and walked around to the other side of the pickup, she wasn’t sure what she could do or say in order to help him. She also wasn’t sure if she should ask where they were going, or what he planned to do. Then again, it really didn’t matter. She was here legally, as a bystander and nothing more.
While she was happy to at least have some active role in the investigation, she wished there was something more she could do to make a difference besides being a passenger princess to the snarling beast.
As he roared out of the parking lot and onto the main road, she waited for him to say something.
Was he mad at her? Or, was this solely about something that had been said in his meeting?
She waited, going down the swirling funnel of self-deprecating and questioning thoughts. Finally, just as they were about to get on the snowy road that led toward Bozeman he spoke up. “Are you hungry?”
Of all the things she thought he would say to reestablish communications between them, that had been near the bottom of the list. Or, maybe he was hangry and that was what was really bothering him.
“No, but I can always go for a cup of coffee or something, if you are.”
He grumbled something under his breath.
“Look, if you are going to act like a feral animal the entire time we are together, you need to let me ride in the back of the pickup or something.”
He opened his mouth like he was about to argue with her, but then clamped his mouth shut for a second. The tension sat in the air between them like a ticking time bomb. “Sorry,” he clipped.
“No, you’re not.” She was poking the bear, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want false platitudes—what she wanted was honesty.
“You’re right. I’m not sorry. I’m furious. I don’t know why you couldn’t just tell me the truth.”
What? How could he be mad at me?
“What did I do?” she asked, completely bewildered that she was the cause of his problematic behavior.
“I heard all about your relationship with Robert. I thought you said you weren’t dating him, and he wasn’t your boyfriend.” He stared over at her like he was tempted to stop the truck and make her get out.
She was tempted to, as it was. “I didn’t have a relationship with Robert. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that. And I sure as hell don’t know where you heard such outrageous lies.”
“My buddy back there,” he said, jabbing his thumb in the direction they’d come from, “said he is good friends with your friend Robert. He let me know Robert had been...what’d he call it?” He sneered. “Bagging you for at least the last six months.”
Oh, for the love of all... Is he kidding me?
She nearly growled. “Robert has a big mouth.”
Ty slowed the truck down, but only slightly. “So, you did sleep with him?”
“That’s not even remotely close to what I said. Robert makes moves on any woman who even pays attention to him. If I had to guess, he is probably clinically a sex addict. I told you before, and I wish you’d respect me enough to believe me, but I wouldn’t have a relationship with that man if he was the last person on earth.”
“Has anything physical ever transpired between the two of you?” He pressed one more time.
“Detective Terrell, I do not require interrogation and I stand by my previous statement. If you continue to interrogate me, I will work on Moose’s death investigation by myself.” She reached down and put her hand on the door handle like she was tempted to tuck and roll out of the moving vehicle.
Ty sighed. “Okay. Okay.” He ran his hand over his face like he was trying to wipe his mind clear of the thoughts about her.
She hadn’t lied, but she certainly wasn’t about to tell him that Robert had drunkenly kissed her at last year’s Halloween costume party, or anything else. It was none of Ty’s business and it held no bearing on their time together.
“Why is it so important to know about my past? What does Robert have to do with the investigation we’re conducting?” she countered, meeting fire with fire once again.
This, this hard-headedness and refusal to back down, was why they could never be together. That, and a myriad of other reasons.
Ty sighed again. “It doesn’t... I just...” He gripped the wheel tight. “West only brought it up because he saw you outside my office. He recognized you. Apparently, Robert had been showing him pictures of the two of you together. I shouldn’t have let it get under my skin.”
“First, I don’t know why there would have been pictures, unless they are ones for our practice. Second, what else did West tell you? I’ll be more than happy to clear things up with Robert as soon as I see him. He has no right to talk about me or spread malicious lies about things that never occurred. In fact—” she paused, realizing that now she was the one snarling “—I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure that he doesn’t have a job.”
That seemed to temper Ty’s rage. Though, she was still at a loss as to why he would have been so upset. Even if she had been sleeping with Robert, it didn’t have any bearing on what she and Ty were doing, and he had no reason to be covetous of her.
“I know that I have no right to have a say in who you choose or have chosen to date. But I think you can do better than Robert.”
She wanted to ask if he had someone better in mind, but she held her tongue. “In that, you won’t find an argument with me.”
Especially when the man she really wanted was the one at her side.