Callie nodded. “That sounds like Uncle Dan. He’s got such a good heart. All he wanted to do was help someone, and now it looks like his good intentions may have put him in danger.” She was silent for a moment. “I can’t believe Uncle Dan never told me about this case.”
“It became a very personal cause with Dan to return her to her family. He knows you have issues over your father’s death and his involvement in law enforcement. He wanted to distance you from the things in his life that haunted him so you could be happy in the life you’d chosen. He tried to do everything he could to make that happen.”
“I know.” She unclasped her hands and rose to her feet. “And yet all that time he was trying to make my life better, he was obsessed with returning this woman to her family. I wish I had known so I could have made it easier for him.”
Seth stood and faced her. “Don’t blame yourself, Callie. This is the way he wanted it. But now that things have turned dangerous, you need to know what’s at stake. I only hope if he has found out something, he’ll be able to tell me what it was. I’d like to bring closure to the case that Dan has never been able to walk away from—and I’d like to see whoever did this to Dan brought to justice.”
She nodded. “I hope you can. What happens if he dies? Will anyone else take the case?”
“I work in the Cold Case Unit now with two partners, and we’ll keep it on our radar. After all, that’s our job, working cold cases.”
She bit down on her lip and thought for a moment before she spoke again. “You’re right. That’s what you do. But it’s not what he does anymore.”
Seth regarded her with a questioning gaze and frowned. “What do you mean?”
She balled her hands into fists and clenched them at her side. “Uncle Dan hasn’t been a policeman in over twenty years. He shouldn’t have put himself in danger like this.”
Tears flowed down her face, and Seth rose to his feet. “What are you saying, Callie?”
“I’m saying if he lives I’m going to insist on some changes. First of all, I’m sure there will be a long recuperation time. I think it would be best if I took him back to Virginia with me. I can see that he gets all the help he needs, and I’ll be there to take care of him. Maybe there he can put this case behind him.”
Seth shook his head. “As long as there’s breath in Dan’s body, I don’t think he’ll be able to put this case out of his mind.”
“You don’t understand!” she cried out. “I lost my father when he tried to stop a guy on drugs from robbing a convenience store. Now it’s possible this murder that happened twenty-five years ago is the reason my uncle is fighting for his life. I can’t lose him, too, like I lost...”
She stopped, and a look of panic crossed her face. Seth nodded. “Were you going to add me to that list, too? Were you going to say like you lost me because you couldn’t bring yourself to marry a policeman?”
Callie jumped to her feet and clenched her fists at her sides. “This is no time for us to discuss our past, Seth. My uncle’s survival is the most important thing now.”
After a moment, he nodded. “You’re right, Callie. Whatever we once had died two years ago, but I don’t think Dan will give up on this case as easily as you did on us.”
She glared at him before she dropped back in her chair, propped her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Seth stared at her and then glanced up at the clock. Eight-thirty. He sighed. It was going to be a long night.