Page 27 of Unforgotten

“I don’t mind,” he said in a firm, soft tone.

“All right. But I think we should talk about this.”

“Okay, we’ll talk about it tonight. We’ll have a couple of hours together, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

There was a smile in her voice now, which made him smile. “Okay then. Text me your address and I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

Relieved that he’d gotten his way, he finished up. “Good. See you then.”

“Wait!”

He gripped his phone tighter. “Yeah?”

“I ... well, I just wanted to tell you thanks.”

“No problem.” He barely stopped himself from addinghoneyto the end of that.

Alex, another officer, stopped at his desk after he’d ended the call. “Everything good?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason. Other than I heard you talking about schedules. I’m guessing that was Candace Evans?”

“It was.”

“How often do you plan to drive that girl around?”

“She’s not exactly a girl. And as often as I’m supposed to.”

“You don’t seem too put off by that, though.” His eyes narrowed. “Is there something going on between you?”

“Definitely not.”

“Good, because if there was, that would be a conflict of interest.” Alex was in his midforties, a little on the portly side, and a bit of a busybody. “Chief Foster isn’t going to be pleased if you overstep yourself.”

He knew the other man was trying to be helpful, but his condescending tone was beginning to grate on him. “I came from Connecticut, not the moon. We did things by the book there. I’m not going to do anything inappropriate.”

“Good.” He exhaled. “Sorry, but I couldn’t not say anything.”

“Say whatever you want. I’m going to explain myself if I need to, though.”

After staring at him hard, Alex lifted his chin. “Understood.”

When Alex walked away, Ryan directed his attention back to his paperwork and tried to calm down. He didn’t like anyone insinuating that he wasn’t acting appropriately. He wasn’t that kind of guy.

Still, he knew it probably wasn’t a bad idea to keep better tabs on himself. As much as he could say that Candace was nothing more than a citizen of Crittenden County and therefore had every right to police protection, Ryanknew that if things were different, he’d want to ask her out.

An hour later, he pulled up in front of Candace’s house. Glad that she wasn’t standing on the front lawn waiting for him, he walked to the door and knocked.

Her father answered but didn’t move from the doorway. “You must be Officer Mulaney.”

“I am, but please call me Ryan.” He held out his hand as Mr. Evans stepped onto the stoop.

Mr. Evans shook it, but instead of warming to him, he narrowed his eyes. “Candace told me that you said she could call you by your first name.”

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