Page 39 of Vanishing Point
“Good. I’m glad to hear it,” Laurel said firmly. “Now, I don’t expect you to trust the rest of us point-blank, but Thomas has been a friend of mine for well over a decade. He’s my daughter Sunny’s godfather. He’s a great cop and a greater guy.”
Vi knew all this.
“I haveneverseen him so happy as he’s been the past few months. Or so protective of…anyone, and he’s a pretty protective guy. He talks about your daughter like she hung the moon.”
And even though Viknewthat last little bit, it still had tears welling in her eyes.
“I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to be victimized by your own husband, but…there are people in my life who I loved, who turned out to be the opposite of what I thought they were, and I know what that does. It makes it hard to trust people.”
“I trust Thomas.”
“Good. And I hope somewhere along the line, you learn you can trust the rest of us too. Anyone who’s got Thomas’s back, has yours. I can promise you that. He’ll call me a busybody, but oh well. Maybe I’ll just accept I am one. If you let all of us get to know you, the way Thomas would like us to, then we’d all have your backs because ofyou, not just Thomas. It’s just what we do.”
Vi realized this wasn’t about the case so much anymore. “He told you I don’t want to come to the baby shower.”
“It’s my brother’s baby shower,” Laurel said, a bit ruefully. “So, it’s not like he was spilling state secrets. It was more an RSVP conversation thing. And, because I’m anexcellentdetective, I deduced that wasn’t exactly his preference.”
“No. It wasn’t. But it’s…a private matter.”
Laurel’s rueful smile didn’t change. She didn’t get offended, or at least she didn’t show it if she did. She looked down at her phone. “Thomas is almost here, so I’ll get out of your hair and let you guys talk. You’re probably exhausted.”
Which was when Vi realized Laurel hadn’t brought that up just because she’d seen the opportunity. Or at least, not only. Laurel had brought it up to spend more time here. Time until Thomas got back.
Something about that had Vi saying something more vulnerable than she liked to get with veritable strangers. But, she supposed, if she loved Thomas she had to stop letting everyone he cared about be a stranger.
“It’s hard. To…let people get to know you when you’re still learning not to hate yourself.”
Laurel took a deep, careful breath. Her smile was kind, but a little sad. “Fair enough, Vi. Fair enough.”
Chapter Eleven
“It’s okay.”
Vi said that before Thomas had even managed to get his arms around her. But he hugged her close anyway. Tight, just to assure himself she was here, good, in one piece.
Laurel’s voicemail had explained the situation and assured him everything was fine, but that didn’t mean he’d been fully able to believe it.
“I don’t like the timing, Vi,” he muttered into her hair. Finally able to breathe again. Maybe because he’d spent his night talking to a woman who’d been beaten so badly, he just…wasn’t okay.
“No, I don’t either,” she said, patting his back. “But it’s not like he could have set up you getting called away. I think it’s just a coincidence.”
Thomas nodded. He finally released her, at least a little. Looked back at Laurel. “Thanks for coming.”
“No thanks needed. You know that. I’ve got the text. I’ll add it to our file, write the report. I was thinking we should pass it along to the postal inspector too, just in case it might connect to something.”
Thomas nodded. “Yeah, good idea.”
“I’m going to head into the station, do all that. You get some rest. We’ll talk more later.”
Thomas nodded. He couldn’t bear to let Vi go, and he knew Laurel would give him a hard time if he said thanks again. “I’ll be back in around noon. Copeland and I have a meeting with the prosecutor.”
“Get some sleep in the meantime, huh?” Laurel said, then let herself out.
Thomas hugged Vi close again. He wasn’t sure he’d taken a full breath from the time he listened to Laurel’s voicemail until now. “I want to see the message.”
He felt Vi stiffen. “Okay, but…”
He pulled back so he could read her expression. And too easily he could see those pictures. See the woman in the hospital bed as her instead of his current victim. “But what?”
