[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
I thought this case might be one, he said quietly.
A guy comes down here from San Antonio, and gets
killed. It s eerie, but I had a feeling that he might have
been looking for me. Stupid, I know&
There are dozens of reasons he might have driven
down here, she replied. And he might have been
passing through. The perp might have followed him
and ambushed him.
You re right, of course. He managed a smile. I
keep hoping I ll get lucky one day. The smile faded into
cold steel. I want to know who it was. I want to make
him pay for the past seven miserable years of my life.
She cocked her head, frowning. Nothing will make
up for that, she said quietly. You can t take two lives
out of someone. There s no punishment on earth that
will take away the pain, or the loss. You know that.
Consciously, I do, he said. He drew in a sharp
breath. I worked somebody else s shift as a favor that
night. If I hadn t, I d have been with them&
Stop that! she said in a tone short enough to shock
him. Lives have been destroyed with that one, stupid
134 THE MAVERICK
word. If! Listen to me, Kilraven, you can t appropriate the
power of life and death. You can t control the world.
Sometimes people die in horrible ways. It s not right, but
it s just the way things are.You have to go forward. Living
in regret is only another way the perp scores off you.
He didn t seem to take offense. He was actually lis-
tening.
I hear it from victims families all the time, she
continued. They grieve, they hate, they live for ven-
geance. They can t wait for the case to go to trial so they
can watch the guilty person burn. But, guess what, juries
don t convict, or perps make deals, or sometimes the
case even gets thrown out of court because of a break
in the chain of evidence. And all that anger has no place
to go, except in sound bites for the six-o clock news.
Then the families go home and the hatred grows, and
they end up with empty lives full of nothing. Nothing
at all. Hate takes the place that healing should occupy.
He stared down at her for a long moment. I guess
I ve been there.
For about seven years, she guessed. Are you going
to devote your life to all that hatred? You ll grow old
with nothing to show for those wasted years except
bitter memories.
If my daughter had lived, he said in a harsh tone,
she d be ten years old next week.
She didn t know how to answer him. The anguish he
felt was in every word.
He got away with it, Jones, he said harshly.
No, he didn t, she replied. Someone knows what
happened, and who did it. One day, a telephone will ring
in a detective s office, and a jilted girlfriend or boyfriend
will give up the perp out of hurt or revenge or greed.
DIANA PALMER 135
He relaxed a little. You really think so?
I ve seen it happen. So have you.
I guess I have.
Try to stop living in the past, she counseled gently.
It s a waste of a good man.
He lifted an eyebrow, and the black mood seemed to
drop away. His silver eyes twinkled. Flirting with me?
Don t go there, she warned. I ve seen too many
wives sitting up watching the late show, hoping their
husbands would come home. That s not going to be me.
I m going to marry a cattle rancher and sleep nights.
He grinned. That s no guarantee of sleep. Baby
bulls and cows almost always get born in the wee hours
of the morning.
You d know, she agreed, smiling. You and Jon have
that huge black Angus ranch in Oklahoma, don t you?
He nodded. Pity neither of us wants to sit around
and babysit cattle. We re too career conscious.
When you get older, it might appeal.
It might, he said, but not with any enthusiasm. We
hold on to it because Jon s mother likes to have company
there. He grimaced. She s got a new prospect for Jon.
I heard. Alice chuckled. He had her arrested in his
own office for sexual harassment. I understand Joceline
Perry is still making him suffer for it.
It really was sexual harassment, Kilraven cor-
rected. The woman is a call girl. We both tried to tell
my stepmom, but her best friend is the woman s mother.
She won t believe us. Mom keeps trying to get her to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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I thought this case might be one, he said quietly.
A guy comes down here from San Antonio, and gets
killed. It s eerie, but I had a feeling that he might have
been looking for me. Stupid, I know&
There are dozens of reasons he might have driven
down here, she replied. And he might have been
passing through. The perp might have followed him
and ambushed him.
You re right, of course. He managed a smile. I
keep hoping I ll get lucky one day. The smile faded into
cold steel. I want to know who it was. I want to make
him pay for the past seven miserable years of my life.
She cocked her head, frowning. Nothing will make
up for that, she said quietly. You can t take two lives
out of someone. There s no punishment on earth that
will take away the pain, or the loss. You know that.
Consciously, I do, he said. He drew in a sharp
breath. I worked somebody else s shift as a favor that
night. If I hadn t, I d have been with them&
Stop that! she said in a tone short enough to shock
him. Lives have been destroyed with that one, stupid
134 THE MAVERICK
word. If! Listen to me, Kilraven, you can t appropriate the
power of life and death. You can t control the world.
Sometimes people die in horrible ways. It s not right, but
it s just the way things are.You have to go forward. Living
in regret is only another way the perp scores off you.
He didn t seem to take offense. He was actually lis-
tening.
I hear it from victims families all the time, she
continued. They grieve, they hate, they live for ven-
geance. They can t wait for the case to go to trial so they
can watch the guilty person burn. But, guess what, juries
don t convict, or perps make deals, or sometimes the
case even gets thrown out of court because of a break
in the chain of evidence. And all that anger has no place
to go, except in sound bites for the six-o clock news.
Then the families go home and the hatred grows, and
they end up with empty lives full of nothing. Nothing
at all. Hate takes the place that healing should occupy.
He stared down at her for a long moment. I guess
I ve been there.
For about seven years, she guessed. Are you going
to devote your life to all that hatred? You ll grow old
with nothing to show for those wasted years except
bitter memories.
If my daughter had lived, he said in a harsh tone,
she d be ten years old next week.
She didn t know how to answer him. The anguish he
felt was in every word.
He got away with it, Jones, he said harshly.
No, he didn t, she replied. Someone knows what
happened, and who did it. One day, a telephone will ring
in a detective s office, and a jilted girlfriend or boyfriend
will give up the perp out of hurt or revenge or greed.
DIANA PALMER 135
He relaxed a little. You really think so?
I ve seen it happen. So have you.
I guess I have.
Try to stop living in the past, she counseled gently.
It s a waste of a good man.
He lifted an eyebrow, and the black mood seemed to
drop away. His silver eyes twinkled. Flirting with me?
Don t go there, she warned. I ve seen too many
wives sitting up watching the late show, hoping their
husbands would come home. That s not going to be me.
I m going to marry a cattle rancher and sleep nights.
He grinned. That s no guarantee of sleep. Baby
bulls and cows almost always get born in the wee hours
of the morning.
You d know, she agreed, smiling. You and Jon have
that huge black Angus ranch in Oklahoma, don t you?
He nodded. Pity neither of us wants to sit around
and babysit cattle. We re too career conscious.
When you get older, it might appeal.
It might, he said, but not with any enthusiasm. We
hold on to it because Jon s mother likes to have company
there. He grimaced. She s got a new prospect for Jon.
I heard. Alice chuckled. He had her arrested in his
own office for sexual harassment. I understand Joceline
Perry is still making him suffer for it.
It really was sexual harassment, Kilraven cor-
rected. The woman is a call girl. We both tried to tell
my stepmom, but her best friend is the woman s mother.
She won t believe us. Mom keeps trying to get her to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
