he’d talked to Maude and the Pembroke police chief and the SBI. His office had been giving him updates by the minute. But it was over. For now, at least, it could just be over.
He said quietly, “I still can’t get over Judge Stockton. I don’t think I ever will.”
She looked at him with sympathy and with a gentle wisdom beyond her years. “The things that a man—or a woman—will do for love don’t have to make sense. In fact, they shouldn’t.”
Buck cast her a sharp and argumentative look, but she stopped him with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t Maude he did it for,” she said. “That’s what you’ve got to understand. It was his wife, and Raine. Those were the great loves of his life, and even from beyond the grave he tried to protect them. I hope someone takes the trouble to explain it to Raine that way.”
After a moment, he smiled at her. “I’ll make sure somebody does.”
She sipped her beer. “You know,” she said, gazing at the sunset, “Roe was there when it happened. If he’d asked the right questions all those years ago, all of this might have been prevented. But he didn’t.” She looked across at Buck. “You did. You figured it out.”
He lifted his beer bottle in a toast to her. “I had a little help.”
She inclined her head in acknowledgment and shared the toast to herself. “Damn straight.”
He just watched her, smiling. “Which reminds me, I have something for you. A couple of things, actually.”
He reached into his pocket and brought out a folded sheaf of papers. She took them curiously and her face lit up with relief as she read the first one. “Your filing papers. You’ve decided to run for reelection.” She pressed the papers to her heart for one brief, passionate moment, like a hug. “You’re doing the right thing, Buck. The only thing, for you, this county, everyone. I’m so proud of you!” She leaned forward to kiss him, but he held up a staying hand.
“There’s a condition,” he said. “Look at the next one.”
She shuffled the papers until she came to the next set. She murmured aloud, without looking up, “Application for employment, Hanover County Sheriff’s Department.”
Buck said, “I have a feeling you’ll get the job.”
She looked up at him with a gathering storm of mixed emotions in her eyes, but he spoke over her. “I need you, Wyn,” he said firmly. “The department needs you. The county needs you. Hell, the biggest mistake I made when I took over was accepting your resignation. Come back. Let’s do what we do best together.”
Her brow knitted, a dozen conflicting emotions skewed her face. She dropped her eyes to the papers and lifted them again, helplessly, to Buck. “I don’t know,” she said. “I want to, of course, but politically… Buck, this could be suicide. Everyone knows about us. And if you hire me back, it would be like slapping them in the face with it. All you need is one right-wing bigmouth, not to mention the whole issue of nepotism, and not to mention how it would complicate our personal lives…”
He nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. And if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s complications.”
He reached again into his pocket and felt two objects there. One was a house key, and the other was a ring. Slowly, and with deliberation, he hooked his pinky around the ring. “So I was wondering,” he said, and he brought out the ring, “what you’d think about getting married?”
* * *
The police kept everyone in the pavilion, compiling a witness list and taking statements, until close to dark. When they finally told us we could go, there was an odd kind of reluctance to leave, for even though we were bound by tragedy, we were all nonetheless bound. Cisco said good-bye to Brinkley, and I hugged Sarah even though I couldn’t quite bring myself to meet her eyes. I was glad, for their sakes, that Ginny and Aggie had left with Gunny and the border collies before the drama began, but I felt a real pang of sorrow that I might never see them again. In only a matter of hours these people, and dogs, had come to mean so much to me. At the same time, I knew the pain of seeing them again and remembering what had happened here wasn’t something I ever wanted to experience.
Miles packed up Cisco’s crate and supplies in the back of my SUV