You have yourself a very stubborn daughter, Agent Stevens.” Nancy Stevens looked across the bed at her husband. “Girl latches onto an idea and she won’t let go.”
Stevens put down his paperback. Dared to give her a smile. “Takes after her mother,” he said. “Whip smart and stubborn as hell.”
Nancy shook her head. “Got her dad’s brains, that one.”
“Her dad’s looks, you mean.”
“Better take that back,” Nancy said, frowning. “I’ll march you down there to her room and you can apologize right now.”
Stevens laughed. “Fine,” he said. “She got her mother’s looks, too. Beautiful, smart, and stubborn. Lord help the man she ends up with.”
“What, like you have it bad?”
Stevens dog-eared his book and set it on the nightstand. “I have it just fine,” he said. “I need a pretty girl to keep me honest. Keep me in line.”
Nancy frowned. “A policeman,” she said, sighing. “Or an anchor, holding you back. Kirk, that’s not how I want you to see me.”
“I know,” he said. “And I don’t, I swear it.”
It had been a tense homecoming so far. Stevens had walked the dog around Lexington-Hamline, bought milk and a newspaper from the corner store. He’d lobbied his son unsuccessfully for a game of catch, and settled instead for a distracted conversation while JJ slayed dragons on his Xbox. Then Nancy had come home from work, and if she’d been surprised to see Stevens, she didn’t show it.
“How long?” she said, hanging her coat. “When are you gone again?”
She looked worn-out, and Stevens’s heart ached to see her. “I don’t know,” he told her. “It’s up for debate.”
But they hadn’t debated, not really. He’d made his famous chicken Parmesan for dinner and they’d eaten, largely in silence. Andrea was still upset, from the looks of it, and Nancy was exhausted. His attempts to engage either of them in conversation were met mostly with one-word responses. Meanwhile, JJ spent most of the meal feeding scraps to his dog. They’d eaten, cleaned up, and gone to bed with nothing accomplished.
Now, though, they were talking. Nancy’s expression had softened; she looked at Stevens, it seemed to him, with something closer to the old spark. “I don’t want to hold you back, Kirk,” she said. “Not from something you love.”
Stevens snuck an arm around his wife’s shoulders. Pulled her close. She leaned in readily, snuggled against his chest. “I don’t have to go back,” he told her. “Windermere and her partner have the basics covered just fine.”
“What does Lesley say?”
Stevens sighed. He’d talked to his boss earlier in the day. “Lesley says it’s up to me,” he said. “The Pyatts are cleared, as victims and suspects, so there’s no reason for the BCA to stay involved. I can be back in the office working cold cases on Monday, if I want.”
“You don’t want to abandon your case in midstream, do you?”
“I don’t want to abandon you,” he said, squeezing her tighter. “You need me at home more than Windermere does.”
Nancy was silent awhile. Then she twisted in his arms and looked up at him. “Your daughter,” she said. “I don’t know how you got to her before I did, but she’s square on your side.”
“Didn’t seem like it at dinner,” Stevens said.
“Oh, believe me, she’s firmly pro-Dad.” Nancy laughed. “She ambushed me one night. Wednesday. Asked me what I thought would happen if you’d let Carter Tomlin get away with it. Asked me how many people I thought would have died before someone finally stopped him.”
Stevens shook his head. “That’s different,” he said. “Her life was in danger. Of course I was going to chase Tomlin.”
“That was my argument. She was ready for it. Asked me what made her so special, anyway? Why should she get special treatment when I didn’t want you helping anybody else?”
“Jesus,” Stevens said. “You think she’s okay? I mean, after Tomlin . . .”
Nancy sighed. “I don’t know, Kirk. I keep looking for cracks in her armor.”
“She told me I should get back out there and solve the case,” Stevens said. “Before the bad guy came after our family again.”
“The doctor said she might experience flashbacks. PTSD. You think we should take her to see someone?”
“Counseling.” Stevens shook his head. “She seems so damn invincible most of the time,” he said. “Like her mother.”
Nancy snuggled closer. “I’m not invincible. Not by a long shot.” She looked up at him and sighed. “I don’t know, Kirk. Maybe it’s selfish, but I want you around.”
“I miss you,” he said. “God, I miss you when I’m gone.”
“Bull.” She grinned up at him. “You’ve got Windermere to keep you company.”
Stevens leaned down and kissed her, long and slow. When their lips parted, he sighed. “I don’t know what to do, Nance.”
She grinned again, mischievous. “About Windermere?”
“No,” he said. “About you. About us.”
She laid her head on his chest and stared across the room. “I’ll be here, Kirk,” she said. “We’ll be here. Just don’t forget we’re not invincible, either.”