"Not in the least, not today."
"I can't help but wonder if there've been any sightings of her… what her whereabouts might be… any new developments we should be paying attention to… that sort of thing, you know."
"Lucas, listen to yourself. No wonder you're so tightly wound."
"Whataya mean?"
"You left the scene of a grisly murder maybe ten, eleven hours ago, one in which you were relieved of command by your superior-remember that?"
"Yeah, yeah, but-"
"But nothing! You as much as told Lincoln to cram it."
"I did? I don't remember telling him to-"
"You told him he could rely on Jana North to assist the FBI, implying you wouldn't be available for such duty, and he took you up on it, Lucas."
"All right…I remember… but you know as well as I do that we're both too much a part of this case to simply step off."
"Lauralie has seen to that, and up to this point, she's been pulling all the strings, pal, but not anymore…at least not my strings. I'm more highly invested in this case than anyone, Lucas, but I'm not playing her game any longer. I am stepping off this lunatic's merry-go-round."
"Bravo! I think that's excellent advice you're giving yourself, Mere. Go for it."
"I intend to. Maybe Patterson and Lincoln are right, Lucas. Maybe you and I should have turned over the investigation from the moment we realized the killer's mania was focused on me and you."
"Well, now you've got your wish. Removed from the case, way out here in a place where she can't get at you…it's the right thing to do. Mere, absolutely."
"You make it sound as if I'm washing my hands of any responsibility."
"No, not at all. I don't mean to suggest anything of the sort."
"What's the alternative? Go on the offensive? Attack this crazy young woman where she lives? I might like the plan except for the fact we don't know where the fuck she is or where the fuck she will be in an hour, a day, a week. And you, Lucas 'Wolf Clansman' Stonecoat, what do you do given an opportunity to wash your hands of it? You fight it tooth and nail!"
"All I'm suggesting is we answer the cell phone, Mere."
The ringing from upstairs stopped.
"Bullshit. At least be honest with me, Lucas."
"What?"
"My restless Cherokee detective. You want to leap back into the chase with both feet. You're chomping at the bit like Says who and Yesyado when Jeff jingles their reins. You are that anxious to get back to tracking that bitch."
"All right, I admit that I'm a little eager to know what, if anything, has come to light since we put out the APB on the car."
"Do you have to be a cop twenty-four-seven?"
"What about you, Doctor? Heal thyself. Do you have to be a shrink twenty-four-seven?" he countered.
"Touche, mon amour. I guess we both know each other better than most couples, hey, Lucas?"
"That's usually a good thing, isn't it?"
"Dr. Phil would say so, but sometimes there's such a thing as too much honesty."
"Really? And when is that?"
"When the truth is clearly that two people are incompatible."
"You think that's the case with us?" he asked.
"Do you?"
"What kind of word games are we playing here, Mere?
What's more important than the truth that… that I love you?"
This silenced her for a moment. She raised her lips to his, kissing him. "I love you too, Lucas, truly."
The noise of birds skimming over the lake at the bottom of the lawn rose up to them. "Then we have no problem we can't overcome."
"You buy into that? That love can overcome any problem, any obstacle?" she asked.
"In my culture, aside from God, it is the most powerful force in the cosmos."
"Once you loved Tsali, and once she loved you, but what happened to your powerful force then?"
He dropped his gaze and sipped at his lukewarm coffee. She saw that she had hurt him, her words stinging. "That was young love. Our love, Meredyth, makes us feel young, but it's more solid, grounded. We have much more in common than you had with Byron and I had with Tsali, and we learn from each other each day."
She wrapped her arms around him. "So much evil is done in the name of love, like this love-starved, love- seeking Blodgett girl, searching for the attention of the world because she couldn't get it from her own mother."
"Every beat cop and detective on the force knows that love kills," he replied, holding her tight. "If it's not a prostitute murder, it's a stalking-ex murder, and if not that, the father who kills his family, why? Because 'I loved them too much.'"
"So many deaths all balled up with love and its many permutations. And yet so many beautiful and wondrous outcomes have resulted from pure, genuine love."
"Let's don't ever take our love for granted, Mere."
"Agreed. Let's celebrate it often."
"Right you are. All the same, sweetheart, I am curious to know if anything's come of our APB."
"Christ, Lucas, it's not our APB anymore. Ahhh," she mock-screamed. "I give up. Make the call. No! Wait a minute. Hold on!" She had pushed him away from her and stepped back. "If you love me, you'll get it off your mind for a while."
"Celebration time, you mean?" he asked, holding his arms out for her to return to him.
She fell into his arms. "I'm not referring to sex. I'm talking about having some fun-F-U-N!"
He held her at arm's length, staring into her sea-green eyes. "Hell, you're right. I've forgotten how to spell it. As for the Ripper business, it's not even my case anymore. Let them deal with it."
She pulled away and went to the porch swing, pulling herself into a ball there. "I really don't want to hear another word about the fucking case, Lucas." She pulled her feet up and under her. The swing swayed only slightly, unhappily.
"Isn't that what I just said? Am I missing something here?" Lucas watched her sulk, and then he stared down at the movement around the stables. Men who worked the horses and saw to their needs had already begun to exercise some of the animals. "Let's go for a ride, shall we?" he suggested.
She remained balled up, but her eyes found his. After regarding him for a moment, she smiled. "Now your're talking."
"Walk you to the stables?"
"You're on." Meredyth's smile broadened, lighting up her features.
"Is this how you intend to always get your way with me?" he asked.
"Whatever are you talking about?" She pushed open the porch screen door and skipped down the stairs. "I have no modus operandi that you don't know about."
He followed her down the steps and along the gravel drive to the path leading to the stables. "I meant the way you had me come to the deduction you wanted."
"Are you suggesting that I would stoop to some sort of Aristotelian third degree to bring you around to the conclusion you'd already logically deduced, Detective, in the subterranean depths of that big head of yours?"
"Aristotelian…is that a shot?" He grabbed her and began tickling. She ran ahead of him with Lucas giving chase. Their laughter joined with the robins and the sparrows nipping at one another, flitting in and out of the trees. Their laughter echoed in the quiet and rumbled down to the workmen at the stables, who looked in their direction, and the laughter traveled across the lake.
Now, arms entwined, they sauntered the rest of the way down the path toward the stables, hibiscus bushes and a thicket of trees lining their way. "Kind of like Oz for grown-ups here," Lucas confided. "I really like this place, Mere."
"Good…I'm glad you do. Strange thing is, Lucas, it's always been special for me and my parents, but now, having you here to share it…well… it's positively dreamlike."
"I know what you mean…the sharing of it, like we shared the desert that night-that's what makes it doubly special."
A tractor down at the stables roared into animation. Behind them, just out of earshot, Lucas's police-band radio crackled into life as well, and Stan Kelton's voice came over, asking, "Lucas? Lieutenant Stonecoat? If you can hear me, please respond."