Page 150 of Power of the Mind

“I’ll let you know.”

“It could take a week or so.”

“I need it sooner.”

Doyle chuckled. “That’s not how it works, my friend. I’ll do my best.”

We finished our meal, and Doyle took off while I waited for Vanessa to wrap up Tallus’s lunch. Was I making excuses to go see him? Maybe. But the man needed to eat something other than crackers.

And we had a case to discuss, not that I’d learned anything new.

Fuck it. I was making excuses.

***

Tallus ate ravenously while I updated him on my meeting with Doyle. Kitty wasn’t in, so he was glad to see me, claiming boredom would put him in an early grave. He talked about a closed case he’d read about while filing. He explained how he and Memphis had made up that morning on the phone. He told me about his mother and stepfather’s trip to Punta Cana in the fall.

The endless chatter was typical Tallus, and I listened, taking him in and wondering how I would walk away when our case was over. He’d done something to me, and I couldn’t deny that our parting would hurt.

“Do we need to contact these other people from Hilty’s files? The living. See if they were offered phony echinacea?” he asked,stabbing a wet finger over the remaining crumbs of his cookie and licking them off. I wanted to be that finger.

“Depends on what Doyle discovers. Over the course of about sixteen months, eleven people died. I’m apt to believe the deaths were rare reactions to whatever’s in those pills, and the majority are unaffected.”

“I agree. I get off at five thirty. We could start by—”

“No.”

Tallus paused his cookie crumb collecting. “No? But I thought—”

“I told Doyle we would wait for the results and back down.”

“Back down, but it’s my case.”

I nodded, cutting my gaze to the counter, hating the dejection on Tallus’s face.

“So… we have to wait?”

“Yeah.”

“How long?”

“However long it takes.”

“And in the interim?”

I shrugged. “Nothing more to do.”

He stared dumbstruck for a long time before uttering a quiet, “Oh.”

The following moments were filled with uncomfortable silence, and I had the distinct feeling we were thinking the same thing.

It meant time apart. It meant no more ridiculous leads to chase. No more late nights tossing around absurd theories. No more spontaneous moments of connection. I’d begun to crave those moments more than I cared to admit. It was back to our regularly scheduled programs. I had other cases I’d been ignoring. Tallus had his job. We couldn’t be more than what we were, so it was time to say goodbye and live our lives.

Separately.

I rapped my knuckles on the counter and backed up a step. “I’ll call you when I hear from Doyle.”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting, I guess.” Tallus wore contacts that day. His glasses would need to be repaired. Again. It meant his hazel eyes stood out, and I didn’t miss their silent message.

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