Page 30 of The Girl He Crowned

Christopher shookhis head. “I just feel empty. I feel… actually, a part of me feels kind ofrelieved, and I hate that. I hate that there’s any part of me that’s glad mymarriage is over. That isn’t right.”

“People feel whatthey feel,” Paige said. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for the way you’re reactingto this.Doyou need to go back to Washington to deal with all of this?”

She couldn’tbelieve that she was offering that, that she was really suggesting thatChristopher might leave an active case to go deal with his personal life. Yetit made a kind of sense. If Christopher was too affected by all this, then himstaying here might make it harder for them to catch a killer, not easier.

Christopherquickly shook his head, though. “I wouldn’t abandon you like that, Paige. Notwhen we have a killer to catch. I can do this; Ineedto do this.”

Paige looked himover, trying to judge if he was actually ok to keep working. The truth was thatit was impossible to tell. PaigewantedChristopher to be able to dothis, because she couldn’t imagine working a case like this without him, butwas he really going to be fine?

“All right,” shesaid with a sigh.

She sawChristopher down the rest of his beer. “Thank you for this, Paige, for talking.”

“Are you going tobe ok?” Paige asked.

Christophershrugged like he didn’t know. “I guess I’ll have to be. Look, I should go sorta few things out, then get some sleep. We still have a killer to catch.”

Paige nodded,letting him go. Emotions roiled in her as she sat there watching him leave. Theguilt she’d felt before still sat there in her heart, because even ifChristopher and his wife had been drifting apart for a while, they’d split now,after Paige had become Christopher’s partner, after Paige had spent time fightingthe attraction she felt at every turn.

She was alsoworried for him. Was he dealing with this well? Would he deal with this in away that was healthy, and would it affect their ability to catch the killer?

Should Paige callAgent Sauer?

That thought cameto her with an unpleasant taste to it. Did her obligations as an agent mean thatshe had to call Sauer to tell him about the situation with Christopher? If therewas any hint that this would make it harder for Christopher to do his job,didn’t she have an obligation to call him?

That was the lastthing Paige wanted to do. Sauer had already made it clear that there would be aperformance review of her and Christopher’s work, and telling him thatChristopher was having personal issues would only add fuel to that fire. The lastthing Paige wanted to do was to mess up Christopher’s career like that.

Besides, sheneeded her partner. She needed his help with this case. It would take both ofthem to catch this killer, and Paige couldn’t jeopardize that.

Paige had justmade up her mind to keep the information to herself when her phone started toring. She jumped at the sound, a part of her assuming that it would be AgentSauer checking up on her and Christopher.

Yet when shelooked at her phone, it was her mother’s name on the screen. Paige picked up,even though after everything with Christopher, she wasn’t sure that she couldmanage friendly family conversation.

“Hi Mom,” Paigesaid.

“Paige, it’s goodto hear your voice again,” her mother said. “Do you have a moment to talk?”

A part of Paigewas too tired from the day, and too emotional from everything that had justhappened with Christopher, to want to have a long talk with her mother. At thesame time, though, she’d spent months rebuilding her relationship with hermother, after the death of her father and the abuse Paige had suffered haddriven a wedge between them. Her mother’s response had always been to ignorethe past in an attempt to move on, while Paige had found herself delving deeperand deeper into the world of serial killers to try to find answers.

Paige wasn’t goingto throw away the progress they’d made now.

“Of course, Mom,are you ok?”

“Well, you knowhow it can be sometimes. I’ve been having one or two health issues after…”

After she’d beentied up by a serial killer who had wanted to make Paige kill her. Even now, itseemed that she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Paige was moreworried about what her motherhadsaid, though.

“What kind ofhealth issues?” Paige asked. “Mom, is it serious?”

“I… I’ve been havingsome trouble sleeping, bad dreams, that kind of thing. They’re saying it’s somekind of PTSD.” She said it as if she barely believed that such a thing existed.Paige knew it did, given the impact her own life still had on her. “Oh, andthere was a little trouble with my heart. An aftereffect of being up there likethat for so long.”

“Your heart?”Paige was getting more worried by the second.

“It’s nothing tooserious. It’s just… all of this has me thinking. I’m kind of alone out here.Oh, I have my friends and my groups and the rest, but ultimately it’s just me.I was thinking… how would you like to move back out to Virginia?”

That took Paigecompletely by surprise; so much so that for a second or two she couldn’t evenspeak.

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