Page 60 of Mile High Mystery

“It’s real,” she said, tightening her arms around him.

She was thinner than he remembered, her hair longer and a little darker. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you,” she said. “I had to wait until you were settled in your new identity, and then it took some detective work to find you.”

“My name is Mike now,” he said. “Mike Claude.”

“I know.” She smiled, and he felt as if he’d stepped out of heavy metal armor that had been binding him for nine months.

“How did you find me?” he asked. “No one is supposed to be able to do that.”

“I had help,” she said. “Do you remember me talking about Phil?”

“Phil?” He shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

“The marshal Camille was in love with.”

“The man who was ordered away and didn’t come back?” He didn’t have a lot of good thoughts about that man.

“He always regretted choosing his job over Camille. He agreed to help me find you, but he had to be careful. It took a while.”

She caressed the side of his face. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”

She leaned in as if to kiss him, but he turned his head to the side. “What happened? Why didn’t I see you again the night we captured Janelle?”

“My boss wasn’t happy about our relationship. He told me you were going into witness security and I would never see you again. Then he ordered me on a plane back to Houston. I started to refuse, but knew that would mean quitting my job and losing my best chance of finding you again.”

He looked into her eyes, hers still glistening with tears.

“I was determined to see you again. I’m just sorry you had to wait so long.”

“Are you still with the FBI?”

“No.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. But I’ll find a job. Somewhere close. That is, if you still want us to be together.” Her arms around him loosened. “A lot can happen in nine months. Maybe you’ve changed your mind.”

He pulled her against him once more. “I haven’t changed my mind. I thought about looking for you, too, but I didn’t know where to start. I looked online, but couldn’t find anything.”

“It’s not a great idea for an FBI agent to have an online presence,” she said. “And my address and phone number are confidential, too.”

“I thought I’d lost you.” His voice broke on the last word.

“You never lost me. And I’m here now.”

He had always said he didn’t believe in fate or destiny or anything like that. Too much of what happened to people in life happened by accident. Camille always said she was at the pub the night Judge Hennessey was killed because she was meant to bring the Chalk brothers to justice. But that hadn’t happened. She had merely been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that hadn’t worked out well for any of them. Their family had lost everything, even their names.

But he had found Shelby. Or rather, she had found him. He looked into her eyes. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too. It’s a little scary sometimes, how much. I think I fell in love with you listening to all the stories Camille told about you. I fell in love with the idea of you, then when we met, the reality was even better than the fantasy. How could I not love you?”

“I fell in love with you the night you brought over pizza,” he said. “I was more than halfway there before then, but that night sealed the deal.”

“Because of that kiss?” she asked.

“Because you put mushrooms on the pizza.”

She looked puzzled. “But you don’t like mushrooms.”

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