Page 55 of Twin Threats In Austin
“You’re an amazing person and a skilled detective,” he said as he navigated them onto the highway. “I’d work with you any day of the week.”
Still quiet.
“None of us make the right calls all the time,” he continued. “At best, we hope to make the right call eighty percent of the time. A great detective probably hits around the sixty-to-seventy-percent mark.”
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but I’m the one who asked for the conversation a little while ago,” she said. Another trait of a great law-enforcement officer was taking every case personally. Except it was also the downfall, and the reason many ended up burned out and walking away from the badge at some point.
“Do you think I was irresponsible for agreeing to step away?”
“No,” she said without hesitation. “Of course not.”
“Then, you don’t get to blame yourself either,” he said.
She sat there for a few minutes contemplating those words. “It’s hard not to take it personally. Every misstep. Every wrong decision.”
“I know,” he said.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“What?”
She studied the patch of road in front of them. “Detach?”
“I’m probably a little too good at compartmentalizing my emotions,” he admitted, realizing for the first time that he’d become a master.
“I guess it can be a hard balance to get right,” she said. “We have to pull back because emotions, too often, blur logic.”
“Especially when it comes to family.” Camden had mastered detachment in too many areas of his life, including allowing himself to get close to anyone else. Being with Rochelle was different. She made him want to open up and spill his secrets. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about meeting with my mother.”
“And?” She didn’t seem caught off guard by the pivot.
They had a little more time to kill on the road and there wasn’t anything else they could do with the investigation, so he figured he could bounce his decision off Rochelle. “I’m going to tell my brother and sister to include me.”
“That’s amazing, Camden.” She reached over and touched his arm. Contact sent fire bolts of electricity rocketing through him even through his clothing.
“You think so?”
“I do,” she said without hesitating. “If it goes badly, you’ll know. You’ll be able to put the past behind you and move on.”
“I’ve been fine,” he said.
“Are you sure about that?”
Rochelle had a way of cutting right to the truth. The ability caught him off guard. She was also one of the most honest people he’d ever met.
“I’m doing alright,” he countered, hearing the defensiveness in his own tone.
“Okay,” she said, putting up her hands, palms out, in the surrender position. “You don’t have to convince me.”
Camden exhaled a slow breath. “How is that we barely know each other and yet you have an ability to see right through me? You call me out on my—”
“I don’t know,” she said. “There’s something about you. Something different. Something familiar.” She shrugged. “I’m doing a terrible job of explaining it.”
“Some things don’t have the right words.” He felt the same way. She was different than anyone he’d ever met before but familiar to him. “But I think you did a better job than you realize.”
“No,” she said. “I believe you just get me.”
Those words hit him in the center of his chest, causing a knot to form. Because he wanted to know her beyond this case.
