Carson found Captain Holloway in his office, reviewing reports. The older man looked up when Carson knocked.
“Welcome back. Come in. Close the door.”
Never a good sign.
Carson sat, waiting.
“How are you?” Holloway asked. “Really?”
“Good. Better. The time away helped.”
“And Ms. Bell?”
“Nora’s good too. She’s starting her own consulting business. Moving on with her life.”
“Good. That’s good.” Holloway set down his pen. “I wanted to talk to you about your nextassignment. You’ve been on leave for two weeks. Before that, you were on protective detail. Before that, you were running yourself ragged on the Eugene case. You need to ease back in.”
“I’m fine to take a full caseload.”
“I’m sure you are. But I’m giving you light duty for the first week. Desk work. Cold cases. Nothing active. Nothing dangerous.”
Carson wanted to argue. But he understood. Holloway was protecting him. Making sure he didn’t jump back in too fast and burn out.
“Okay,” Carson agreed. “Light duty. For a week.”
“Good.” Holloway pulled out a file box. “These are cold cases from the past decade. Missing persons, unsolved burglaries, a few assault cases that went nowhere. Pick a few. See if fresh eyes find anything.”
Carson took the box. “Anything specific you want me to focus on?”
“Whatever interests you. Just...take your time. Don’t rush.” Holloway’s expression softened. “You’ve been through a lot these past few weeks, Carson. It’s okay to acknowledge that. To give yourself time to process.”
“I’ve processed.”
“Have you? Because from where I’m sitting, you went from hunting a dangerous stalker to nearly dying in a standoff to falling in love, all in the span of a month. That’s a lot of change.”
“I’m handling it.”
“I know you are. But handling it doesn’t mean you’re okay. It just means you’re functional.” Holloway leaned forward. “I’m not saying you’re broken. I’m saying you’re human. And humans need time to adjust after trauma.”
The words hit harder than Carson expected. Because Holloway was right. He’d been so focused on making sure Nora was okay, he hadn’t thought about his own processing.
“I’ll take it easy this week,” Carson said finally. “Review cold cases. Ease back in.”
“Thank you.” Holloway stood. “And, Carson? I’m glad you found someone. Glad you’re letting yourself be happy. You deserve that.”
Carson left the office feeling oddly emotional. He settled at his desk with the cold case box and started pulling files.
Missing teenager from 2018. Unsolved burglary from 2019. Assault case from 2020 that went cold when the victim refused to cooperate.
Routine work. The kind he could do on autopilot.
Except one case caught his attention.
A home invasion from three years ago. Victim reported someone breaking in, moving things around, but taking nothing. Evidence was collected but the case went cold when the suspect couldn’t be identified.
The victim’s name: Avery Shone.
The same Avery Shone who’d lived in Nora’s building. Who’d reported feeling watched by Eugene.
