“I’m fine,” she said. “That grave was shallow. I saw it. It was fresh. She’d been moved. What do we know about that?” Tamsyn wasn’t sure if she was asking for herself or for Noir.
He still hadn’t said a single word, and she loved him even more for that. He knew what she needed and when. He was there to be a beating heart and he did it well.
“We’re not having that conversation right now.” Fred lowered his chin. “I want you to take a couple of weeks off.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll go crazy. I need to work and I’m gonna want access.”
“I told you that you can be present in anything related to your mom’s case,” Fred said. “You need to take time for yourself.”
“Fred’s right.” Noir’s hot breath rolled across her body like a warm blanket.
Only, she wanted to rip it off and toss it back.
This was the last thing she needed. If she wasn’t working, she wasn’t close to the case and Noir should understand that.
“And if you need something to do, we can always use a hand at the winery.” Noir kissed her temple.
Well, shit. She hadn’t thought about that.
“If I take time off, you’re not going to shut me down? I can come in here and look at my mother’s files? I can go with Eddy when he’s interviewing someone or checking on a lead?”
“Yes,” Fred said. “Unless there’s a really huge conflict.” Fred shifted his gaze. “No offense, young man, but if you ever need to be interviewed, Tamsyn won’t be there.”
“None taken, sir,” Noir said.
“Okay. I’ll take the time. But I want to see the forensics report that State sent.” An intense jab to her gut hit like a ton of bricks.
Her mother was dead.
Really dead.
She’d been moved to a shallow grave. Her bones tossed in there like yesterday’s trash.
Why?
Who would do that?
Tamsyn’s eyes watered. No. She wouldn’t cry. Not in this office. She sucked in a deep breath, reining in her emotions.
“You can read it in the car while we drive over to the winery,” Fred said. “Tamsyn, you ride with me. Noir, you follow. You’ll get your phone after we get there.”
She stood. “Let’s roll.”
Tamsyn didn’t want many things in life. She wanted what most people did.
A career she enjoyed.
A man to love.
She had those things. She valued them. Appreciated them. They made her happy.
But not whole.
The only thing that would do that would be finding out who her biological father was and putting away whoever did this to her mother.
She wouldn’t rest until those two things completed her puzzle of life.
12
