Page 37 of Buried Too Deep

Phin’s lips curved. “I know. I got all your texts. Joy said she was going to make me cut my own switch when I came back, because I was scaring her by staying gone.”

Burke laughed. “She still might make you do that.”

Phin closed his eyes, the memory of her bloody body on the floor coming back to assault his fragile peace. “But then I heard the gunshots, Burke. I had to come inside. To make sure she was okay.”

“And you probably saved her life.” Burke squeezed Phin’s forearm briefly before pulling his hand away. “You ran toward the danger, Phin. You’re no coward, and you’re no failure. I talked to Joy on my way over here.”

Phin’s head shot up, adrenaline surging. “She’s awake?”

“She is. Demanding to go home. But she also demanded to see you. She could hear you, begging her to hold on. Her kids say that if you don’t come, they’ll march over here and drag you to the ICU.”

Phin’s mouth stretched wide in a grin that felt odd. Like it belonged on someone else’s face. He hadn’t grinned like that in a long time. “I will.”

Burke smiled back. “Are we okay?”

Phin nodded once. “Yeah. It hurt this morning, I’m not gonna lie. But you’ve been good to me, Burke. I owe you too much.”

Burke frowned. “I don’t want us to be okay because you feel like you owe me.”

Phin exhaled. “I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that you’ve proven your support time and again. One little slip doesn’t wipe all that away. I still want to catch the bastard who hurt Joy, though. I may not owe you, but I do owe her. If I’d been there, he never would have hurt her.”

“You don’t know that. Antoine was asleep in his office and didn’t hear the scuffle until it was too late.” Burke held up a hand when Phin started to disagree. “Don’t distract me. Why did you come back now?”

Trust Burke to realize that Phin hadn’t adequately answered his question. “It’s the holidays. I want to see my family. I’d set Christmas as my deadline for getting my shit together. But I couldn’t face them until I’d faced you all. I’m sorry, Burke. I’m sorry I ran and I’m sorry I didn’t come back till now.”

“You came back, Phin. That’s all that matters. The rest will take time. I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I might run again if I spiral.”

Burke met his gaze directly. “I know. As long as you come back. And let us know you’re okay while you’re gone.” He nodded briskly, the conversation now over.

Thank God.

“Did you read Cora’s letters?” Phin asked.

“I did. I can’t figure out what’s so important about them that someone would risk invading our office during the daytime. While Joy and Antoine were there. They’re letters that a father would write to a daughter he hasn’t seen in too long. Asking how she’s liking school. Telling her that he’ll always love her. But some of the items are things that shouldn’t have been obvious unless he’d been here, watching her. Like…” Burke pulled out his phone and opened a file. “Here’s one of the letters. I scanned them in so I wasn’t carrying them around. I put the copies she gave me in my safe at home.” He gave Phin his phone. “Read what I highlighted. This was in the very first Christmas letter she received.”

“ ‘You looked so pretty in your new green dress. Like a Christmas angel,’ ” Phin read. He frowned at Burke. “He—or she—knew what her dress looked like.”

“Exactly. There are several small things like that over the years. There was also a four-year gap,” Burke said. “There were no letters from about six years ago to two years ago, then they start back up again. I want to ask her why that is.”

“Her grandmother died two years ago,” Phin said. “And her brother was sick then. He died a year ago.” He sucked in a breath as a thought occurred. “She said her brother needed a bone marrow transplant, but they couldn’t find a matching donor. She said she looked for her father, hoping he’d be a match, but could never find him. That might have been two years ago. Whoever sent the letters didn’t want her to think he was dead, because she was looking for him.”

Burke nodded his approval. “You could be right. The letters that started back up had a different tone. More hands-off. He said he was happy where he was living and that he had a new family. He hoped she was okay. Said he’d love to come back and see her sometime, if she was willing. But there was no return address. No way for her to know how to answer him either way.”

Fury started to boil in Phin’s gut. “Someone’s been manipulating her for years.”

“And we’re going to find out who,” Burke promised. “I need to bring Antoine in on this. He’s been waiting for us to finish.” He waved at the man, who took off his headphones.

“Is the talk, talk, talk done?” Antoine asked hopefully.

“It is,” Burke confirmed. “How many bugs total did you find?”

Antoine’s expression became grim. “Twelve. Whoever was listening to her was not fucking around. No cameras at least.”

“What about her phone and her computer upstairs?” Phin asked. “That is one nice setup she’s got in her home office.”

Antoine nodded. “I know, right? I was hoping she’d be awake to tell me the password. That’s why I came back, to run a check of her system.”

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