Page 60 of Final Inning

She’d expected he’d be the first one back.

Cold cases didn’t often turn violent. Sometimes…most times, actually, the players in the cases were either already dead, or they were just apprehended without fuss or fanfare.

Very rarely did cases end like this.

But when they did—it almost always seemed to involve Miranda. Her friend had seriously bad luck with drawing the darkness lately.

“You’re back.”

“I caught an early flight. Wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight.” He had a quieter demeanor than she was used to. But she got it—she did.

Miranda brushed up against evil with this one. Dani would never forget how that felt. “Did they come with you?”

He shook his head. “She wanted to stay, find out about Lindhour’s condition today. They are transferring Lindhour to the trauma unit in Texas.”

“And Knight?”

Somehow, the idea he’d just leave Miranda behind…no. Dani knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“He’s with her. Hovering, but won’t admit it. They’ll be coming home soon.”

“Good.”

What else was there to say? She rolled out the door. Ian flipped out the lights and pulled the door shut until it locked audibly.

He walked her out to her van. And watched her drive away.

Chapter 51

Knight found her in the diner. No surprise. Ian had told him he’d dropped her off there at her request half an hour earlier. She’d wanted something positive to remember about this little town. Hell, he half suspected she’d hit the county visitor’s center, if there was one, to grab pamphlets or something. Her fascination with small towns was rather obsessive in some ways. He had to wonder if she realized what it told him.

Miranda missed home. Ached for it. The place she really belonged.

Everyone wanted somewhere to belong. Those who hadn’t had it—well, you either resented the desire for it, or you just learned to not give a damn.

He counted himself in the latter group. But…for her…

Home was where her heart really was.

There had only ever been one place he’d even felt half that sense of belonging. He would never forget.

She stood out. Even in the far back booth. The waitress looked at him, suspicion on her face.

The entire diner went quiet when he walked in.

No doubt the entire county was talking about what had happened with that moron Johnson. Especially in Buckbert.

In a town this small, homicide changed the very fabric of who the town was.

Ted Johnson was a serial killer. He fit the definition, and then some.

He’d killed four people.

He had just had abnormally long cooling off periods between his kills. It didn’t change what he was, or that his so-called motivation had been to protect that damned blond grocery clerk of his. He had killed.

Yet the only thing he had asked for was that girl. To make sure she was taken care of. It disgusted Knight to even think about it.

She had turned violent—people were dead because of her. Hagan Lindhour had a long road to recovery. He just couldn’t help wondering what would have become of Valeria Braun if Ted Johnson hadn’t been in her life?