cold and sunny after the snowstorm the night before. Mike had spent all day yesterday at the station catching up on endless paperwork, which was still piled high on his desk, and he’d met with the tech guy to go over the potential computerization of files. Last night he’d spent at Ethan’s playing poker with guys they’d gone to school with, where Mike had won a decent amount of cash and caught up with old friends. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night, short of seeing Cara and spending the night in her bed.
He hadn’t seen her much since their return from Vegas, their schedules keeping them apart. He’d been busy, but he thought about her often. Although he was getting used to it, stranger still was that he missed having her around—in his bathroom, sharing drawers, and in his space. There was never a time when being apart from a woman bothered him. He’d even invited her to the family dinner tonight, but she’d begged off, claiming she was exhausted. Considering he’d woken her when he called this morning at eleven, he didn’t doubt it.
At his parents’, Mike handled chores his father used to do himself, like shoveling the walk clear of snow and de-icing the driveway. Sam and Erin pitched in to do their parts as well. Between the three of them, Mike hoped they kept Ella and Simon’s lives running as smoothly as possible until this nightmare ended.
No wonder people whispered the word cancer. The damned disease took a toll on everyone within loving distance of the person afflicted. But Simon appeared stronger today and hadn’t been napping when Mike arrived.
Mike kicked the snow off his boots and left them along with his coat and gloves in the laundry room to dry. Dinner was their normal affair, joking with each other, and for the first time in ages, even Simon participated, leaving Mike with a feeling of warmth about his family he hadn’t experienced in too long—if ever. Maybe meeting Rex had given him a newfound appreciation for all he had here in Serendipity.
“Where’s Cara tonight?” Mike’s mother asked over dessert.
Mike paused, his spoon full of his mother’s delicious bread pudding midway to his mouth. “Home. She said she’s exhausted and asked me to send her apologies.”
“Which of course you forgot to do,” Erin teased him. “I don’t blame her for being tired after last night’s excitement.”
“Excitement?” Suddenly uneasy, Mike laid his spoon down on his plate.
“Someone hasn’t checked the blotter today,” his father said, laughing as he glanced at Mike. “I can relate. There were Sundays I didn’t want to know what was happening in town. I figured if the world was falling apart, someone would let me know. That’s what deputy chiefs are for.”
“I was the assistant D.A. on call last night,” Erin said.
Mike’s mouth grew dry. “What happened?” he asked his brother, who he knew had been on duty.
“Cara didn’t tell you?” Sam asked.
Mike shook his head.
“Shit,” Sam muttered. “I thought you knew or I would’ve said something sooner.”
“Tell me now,” Mike said.
Sam cleared his throat. “We got a call about a disturbance at the McDonald’s off Route 80. Manager said a drunk guy was threatening one of her workers. Ted Shaeffer was with me. We arrived to find the perp with his arm around his girlfriend’s throat and Cara holding a gun on him.”
Mike’s stomach churned, his gut firing on all cylinders. Cara wasn’t on duty last night, but if she was involved in something, there was only one other person who could’ve been there too.
“Was the woman’s name Daniella?” Mike asked.
Sam nodded. “Cara was off duty when she got a call. She met Daniella at McDonald’s and her boyfriend showed up. Abusive asshole,” Sam added, and Ella didn’t reprimand him for his choice of words. “We defused the situation without bloodshed.”
Mike nodded, not surprised. He hadn’t been worried about Cara handling herself or being in a difficult situation. Hell, he’d trust her to have his back any time. What did shock him was the fact that she’d heard from Daniella and yet she hadn’t called him last night and she hadn’t mentioned it this morning.
“Who is this Daniella?” Simon asked.
“A young woman who Cara took under her wing at Havensbridge. She left a couple of weeks ago and nobody’s heard from her since. I knew how worried Cara was, so I spent some time calling a couple of neighboring area hospitals. Just in case,” Mike said. Yet Cara hadn’t let