Page 99 of Ruthless Cross

"If it was a setup, the note would not have mentioned a specific place known only to you and your father."

"Damn. You're right." He sat down on the couch. "I was not expecting this."

She sat next to him, putting her hand on his leg. "I'll go with you, Flynn."

"No. I can't put you in danger again, Callie."

"Your father isn't a danger to me."

"You don't know that. You don't know anything about him, what he's done, what he's capable of." He pressed his hands against his temples. "I have thought about seeing him a million times. For years, I tried like hell to find him. I used every resource I had to do that, and I never succeeded. Now, he somehow finds a way to break into my home and leave me this note. Why?"

"He said he wants to help you."

"Why would he want to do that? He has ignored me for seventeen years."

"Maybe he hasn't been as far away as you might think."

He looked into her eyes. "You think he's been watching me?"

"He knows where you live. He knows the case you're investigating."

"Because that case is in his world."

"But you've investigated cases in his world before. You said you did it for two years. But this case is about you. You've almost been killed twice."

"I've been in danger many times, almost killed many times."

She frowned. "I really don't like to think about that, but maybe it's also the Arthur connection. Could Arthur have been in touch with your father?"

"At this point, I have no idea. Maybe. Victoria said Arthur had mentioned his name to her."

"What are you going to do?"

"I shouldn't meet him alone. I should set up the meet with at least a few members of my team. I should arrest him, bring him in."

She stared back at him with no judgment but a lot of doubt.

"To do otherwise would be going against everything I stand for," he added.

"Which is why I should go—not with you, by myself," she suggested.

"No way."

"Think about it. I could meet him. I could find out what he has, what he wants. If he came here, he probably knows we're together. You don't think he came in while we were…"

"Who knows? I was more than a little caught up in you, Callie."

"Likewise."

"But he also could have entered earlier, when we were at the museum. I didn't look around this room when we came home. I checked for intruders, not for envelopes sitting on my coffee table."

"He probably came in earlier. I could do this for you, Flynn. I want to do it. I want to help you. This way, you're not put into an impossible position. You don't have to make a moral choice. You just have to tell me where to go."

"I can't let you do that, Callie," he said, incredibly touched by her offer. She had a very big heart and a generous spirit. "It's too much."

"I care about you, Flynn. I think you might know that."

"I care about you, too. That's why you're not going. I'll do it. I'll meet him. There was never really a decision to make. I have to see him. I have to face him. I just don't know who he'll be—the dad I remember from when I was a kid, or the man who packed his bag in the middle of the night and thought no one would see him leave."

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