Gideon
Rheaisstillasleepwhen I ease out of bed in the early grey of morning. I leave her there, hair spread across the pillow, looking more peaceful than anyone who's been through what she has in the last week has any right to look, and I set up at the kitchen table with my laptop and every piece of documentation I've assembled on Warren Ingram.
By the time the coffee finishes brewing, the email is drafted. I read it twice, add nothing, remove nothing, and send it.
Then I lean back in my chair and wait for the world to catch up.
It doesn't take long. By ten o’clock, RidgeLine's board has convened an emergency session. I'd anticipated they would want to handle it quietly, and they tried — right up until I made clear that Rhea had no intention of letting them. The forwarding email to the Denver District Attorney's Economic Crime Unit arrives in my inbox forty-seven minutes later. Warren is nolonger employed by RidgeLine Development. And he’ll soon be facing felony indictments.
I'm on the porch, coffee gone cold in my hand, when I hear the door open behind me.
Rhea steps out in her underwear and that low-cut sweater, squinting against the morning light, and I think:there she is.Like something in my chest has been waiting for exactly this sight and is now, finally, satisfied.
"RidgeLine offered me a promotion," she says, coming to stand beside me at the railing.
"Did you respond?"
She smiles. "I submitted my notice instead. Along with a very firm request for a generous severance package."
"Of course you did."
I fold her into my arms, and she settles against me, easy and natural, like she's been doing it for years.
"So, what's next?" I ask.
"I've been thinking about that." She tilts her head back to look at me. "I want to start my own forensic accounting firm. I happen to know a detective who's agreed to bring me on as a consultant and recommend me to his colleagues."
"That detective sounds like a genius."
"He has his moments." She grins. "I'll need an office, though."
"You're welcome to share mine."
She laughs, the sound of it warm in the cold morning air. "We'd never get anything done. Is there anywhere to rent in Pine Hollow?"
"I'll find you something. I'm a reasonably competent investigator."
She's quiet for a moment, looking out at the tree line, the mountains blue and distant beyond it. "I'll also need somewhere to live."
I go still. I want to offer her the same thing I offered her for the office. I want to saystaywithout qualification, without caveats, without giving her an out. But I felt her hesitate at the office suggestion, and I am not a man who ignores evidence.
I reach for her instead, my hand settling at her waist, pulling her close. She fits there without adjustment, as if the space was always meant for her.
"This isn't temporary for me, Rhea. I want you here, in my life, without conditions. So if you want to move in, I would love that. And if you need your own space first, I'll help you find it and I won't take it personally."
She's quiet long enough that I feel it.
"I take my work seriously, so I need my own office." She looks up at me. "But I want to go to sleep next to you every night."
"So, you'll move in?"
"Absolutely."
I kiss her once, slow and deliberate, then rest my forehead against hers.
"Thank God for Warren Ingram," I say.
She pulls back. "I'm sorry?"
