Page 64 of Another Love, Another Time
“Yeah, okay.” She’s letting me off the hook.
“Let me know when you finish changing your passwords. I’m going to finish moving everything on my desk, and then we can start going over all the cases. And River,” I wait until she looks up at me, “don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily.”
~~
When I woke up today, I did not expect to have River back in my life. The rest of the day was uneventful. Still, I can tell she will be good at this job. Growing up, if you had asked either one of us if we would be detectives, we probably would have laughed in your face. We haven’t spoken in five years. How we ended up in the same place is serendipitous.
I don’t think River’s mom knew what she did in the Army, that she went in as a criminal investigator. I’m not sure how she could have kept that from her mom. I guess I could say the same thing about her mom, knowing she is married. Surely they wouldn’t keep something like that from me.
River has already left for the day; I am just finishing up a few things. I was going to schedule a few follow-ups for tomorrow on cases that we worked on today. She had some great ideas on leads we could look into after going through the case files. Sometimes, it’s nice to get fresh eyes on something. We will be in the car most of the day tomorrow, which will give us time to talk more.
My phone starts ringing. I see who is calling, and I let it go to voicemail. In reality, I don’t want to talk right now. I send her another text that I may be a while, that I’m going to have a few beers with the guys.
Mackey walks past my desk, and I ask him if he’d like to grab a beer. He says he’ll meet me at my regular spot. I take a few more minutes to close everything up, grab my keys, and head out tomeet him. We went to school together, but he was a couple of years older than I. I know he’ll always have my back.
~~
I walk into the bar and look around until I find Mackey back by the pool tables. He’s already talking to some people. He holds up a beer, showing me he already got one for me, so I start heading in his direction.
“Thanks, man,” I say as I accept the bottle.
“You look like you need it,” he says, laughing at me.
“You could say that.”
“So, who’s the girl to you? I don’t remember her going to our school. Believe me, I would have remembered someone who looked like that. And the way she about knocked you on your ass? She means something to you.”
“She’s off limits,” I growl at him.
“Yeah, but do you know she’s off limits? Your ‘old lady,’” he puts his hands up to show the quotation marks, “is going to throw a fit. We don’t need any more drama in our department.”
“Shut it. It’s none of her business. It’s my job.”
“You didn’t answer my first question. Who is River to you?”
I sigh and then start, “Our moms are best friends. She didn’t live here, growing up. She lived in southwest Missouri, but our families were close. We spent vacations together, holidays, birthdays. You name it; we did it together.”
“So, what happened? You look like you saw a ghost. How did you not know who would be your partner?”
“Well, she was listed under ‘Baxter.’ I guess she got married.”
His eyes bug out a little. “How did you not know that she was married if your families are so close?”
“I don’t know. The thing is, I don’t think her mom knows either, or I’m sure I would have heard about it. It’s hard for them to keep secrets.”
“So, your families don’t know she’s married?”
“I don’t think so. They would have told me.”
“So, I’ll ask again: who is she to you?”
“She’s my best friend. Or she was. I was so in love with her. I’m still in love with her.”
“What? If you love her, then what the hell are you doing with that psycho you’re with?”
I narrow my eyes at him, but then I go on, “Do you remember the girl who was attacked at prom my senior year?”
“Yeah.”
