Undercover Hunter(109)

                He cussed quietly. “I don’t guess you felt very well protected.”

                “No.” She’d become a nut about studying self-defense of every kind. It had helped her as an MP, but it had never erased her original cowardice.

                “I don’t think you were a coward. I think self-preservation is an overwhelming force in all of us. You did what you felt you had to in order to survive. I’m glad you did. My life would have been a lot poorer if I’d never met you.”

                Her mood shifted a little, bringing a smidgen of amusement. “You’d never have known if you never met me.”

                “Don’t go all logical on me. Some things just aren’t logical.” But his tone, too, sounded faintly amused.

                She smiled.

                “So,” he said, “you got over being raped, as much as anyone can, but you never got over what you think was cowardice?”

                “It still bothers me.” Not often, but from time to time it haunted her.

                “That explains a lot, including throwing your career away over one case. So let me be clear here. You have nothing to prove, certainly nothing that requires you to walk into a trap alone. Understood?”

                “God. Can no one drop that?”

                “I haven’t heard any promises, and that worries me.” He caught her chin with his hand and tipped her face up. “This is something you don’t have to face without backup. If your instincts are really pointing at Sweet, then I suggest we make ourselves available for another approach from him. Note that I said we.”

                “Noted. But he might not make the invitation again if you’re always around.”

                “Then so be it. We’ll find another way to catch this guy. We’ve put Gage onto a number of things, like whether Sweet gave talks at the school, things like that. I assume he’s got someone poring over the phone logs at the crisis center to see if any of the missing boys ever called there, and if so who took the calls. If he’s not, I’m going to insist on it.”

                “That could take forever.”

                “A lot of things could take forever. But we’ve got to try everything.”

                “And so we come back to our obsession.”

                He laughed. “Inevitably. Told you I was a workaholic. But after this is over, I’m buying you the best dinner ever and we’re going to find out if we’ve got more than a case to keep us together. Fair enough?”

                It was fair enough, she thought. She straightened so Cade could pull out his cell and call Gage. He explained that the boys might have called the crisis center, listened a moment, then said, “Great.” When he disconnected, he looked at her.

                “He’s already on it. You apparently pushed him into hyperdrive yesterday. He pulled the call logs, claiming they needed to provide data for funding, and he put Sarah Ironheart on it. She’s working her way back. As for whether Calvin ever spoke to classes, no.”

                “So it had to be the hotline.” Assuming it was him, of course. But now she believed it more than ever. “Think what a tool that crisis line could be for him.”

                “I am, and it’s making me sick.” He rubbed a hand over his face.

                It made her feel the same, to think of youngsters in some kind of trouble, reaching out to a stranger on the phone only to fall into a sticky spiderweb.