“I think he’s hot. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Gale,” Ford said, his expression painful. “Don’t do that to me.”
“You asked, I answered.”
“You’re just joking, right?”
“Sure, we’ll go with that,” she said, standing up. “Ford. Something isn’t right with this. I feel it in my gut. I’m having all these memories from when I was a kid. Dad and Mom talking with Cooper. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought of it either.”
“I have since you told me about Rory being in town. I’ve done some searching on the quiet.”
“And?”
“And it’s nothing I can tell you right now,” he said. “Unless you are here as his attorney.”
“Jerk,” she said, smiling. She walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “But I still love you. I’m going to call Rory now and see if he can do dinner on Sunday. I’m positive he can.”
“Just watch yourself. Not just with this case, but him. He’s here for a reason and he might not care who gets hurt if he finds the answers he’s after.”
“I don’t believe that any more than you’d do it.”
Ford shook his head, but she left the sheriff’s office, went to her car and hit the button on her steering wheel while she started it to call Rory.
“Hey,” he said. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there fighting for the little guy or doing someone’s will?”
“All those things and more. I’m a jack-of-all-trades.”
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I just talked to Ford. I’m going to call my mother next. How about Sunday dinner at my parents’ house and you can talk to my parents and brother? Off the record.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She should guard her words more carefully, but she really felt as if she could trust Rory. “Make sure you ask for copies of everything. It has to come from you unless I represent you.”
“You found something out, didn’t you?”
“Not necessarily a fact or help,” she said. “But ask. Ford is good. He annoyingly plays by the rules, but he’s fair. He’ll get you what you ask for and he’ll get it faster. I can share this, the detective that had your sister’s case retired six months ago. It’s a cold case now.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes and no. Right now, it’s up to Ford to assign it to someone else, or look into things himself. Depends on how you want to look at it.”
“Does he not trust someone in his own office?”
“I don’t know the answer to that, but what I know is he will do what is right regardless of the person.”
“Okay. I’ll gather what I’ve got and need before Sunday. I’ve got a long way to go to get through it all.”
“You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t take breaks,” she said. “You don’t want to miss anything.”
“I thought of that. There is only so much walking around I can do. I don’t want to make the neighbors nervous.”
“How about we go out to dinner on Friday night? Then you can bounce some things off of me.”
“I really appreciate this, Gale. Don’t you have work to do? I feel as if I should pay you.”
“Don’t insult me. I don’t want you to be my client.”
