Page 14 of Final Inning

Miranda was silent for a long moment. “I just…Bentley was really struggling with me leaving yesterday. Again. I spoke with him a few minutes ago, and he’s…still not happy right now.”

“I’m sorry.” There really weren’t any other words to say. “It’ll get better, eventually. And he knows he has people who love him now. No matter what.”

Including her. Dani would do whatever she could to help him get through right now. What that kid had endured—no kid should ever have had to go through those hells. But he had Miranda now. And he had Max and Jac and Dani and his family in Wyoming—they would be there for him as long as it took.

“Anyway…back to business. Where are the rest of our fearless crew? Anyone back yet?”

“Tag and Lyndon are stuck in the desert somewhere this morning. And things are heating up…literally. Lyndon said she burned her hand on the hood of the car an hour ago. Tag is apparently hovering over her now. You know how he can be.” Well, no. Taggart Walker did not hover. He was almost as reserved with their newest teammate Lyndon Moncrief as Knight was with Miranda. Interesting. She would have to observe later. To profile…she had learned from the best, after all. “Jac is flying back in tonight after giving her testimony. She said she expects it’ll wrap up quickly, at least. There is another consult waiting on you all in the conference room—whoever gets back first gets it.”

“And Ian? Where is the Wonderful Ian Ward?”

“He is…around. I saw him in the hallway earlier.” When he had just watched her out of those ridiculously intense blue eyes of his. Something about that man—grrr. It was like every nerve she had went on red alert just thinking about him. Danger signals, for sure. “He might already be on that consult. I’ll confirm in a bit, if you need me to.”

She was really going to have to figure out why he made her feel so raw someday. She was just…a little afraid of the answer really.

“I’ll text him if I need him. Why are you ready to annihilate the lab tech from hell again today?”

“We don’t have that kind of time, we just don’t. The list of grievances is just too long. I’m just going to let Cam and Evan have that honor when those boys get back home where they belong. So…what can I do for you today, for real? You still got the hot and dangerous Dr. Knight following behind you?” Dani couldn’t see him specifically, but there was a suspicious Knight-sized shadow near the left of the screen. That was often where she’d find him lurking over Miranda.

Those two and the avoidance thing they had going on was so darned cute. When they finally figured it out—well, it was bound to be fun to watch. Never had she seen a pair of peoples so perfect for each other as those two. It was shocking that they hadn’t already seen it themselves.

Then again, maybe they had. And were just fighting it? They could both be incredibly hard-headed at times…

“Knight is lurking over me now, protecting me from rabid dust monster bunnies. I was exposed yesterday. My allergies—totally haywire after five minutes in the sheriff’s post. This room is much better, just small—we’re in Buckbert, not Helery Springs now, but thankfully it is spotless. The main office over in Helery Springs is…nowhere near spotless. I am afraid of what would happen if we had to leave Knight there for too long. And there is an air filter running in the corner of this place. Deputy Lindhour runs a very tight, very small, little ship here in Buckbert. We need you to go over everything you can find regarding a previous case in Burkbert. It’s about thirty miles north of Helery Springs, Helery County. A coach was killed on the same ball field, almost eleven years ago.”

“Gotcha. I’ll see what I can find.”

“Knew we could count on you.”

Of course they could. Dani was good at what she did. No matter what Moron Michael had to say. “What are you doing today?”

“Parents of the victim.”

Miranda’s tone was grim. Dani got it—the families, those were the worst part.

They just hurt the most. And always would.

Chapter 9

In this job, Knight had met more victims’ families than he would have ever imagined. When he’d first joined the Bureau, he’d assumed he’d not be dealing with those most directly affected by the cases. He’d figured that would be the domain of those who were more like Miss Not-so-Sunny beside him. He had been wrong.

Somehow, as time had gone on and he’d advanced up the hierarchy, Knight had ended up dealing with those who had lost everything more than others on his team. It was never easy. For anyone.

If it was…well, they had no business in this business then.

Hell, he’d gotten into this job with the intent of helping those who needed it. To stop assholes who hurt others who couldn’t defend themselves. Now, he just felt…it was routine. He was good at what he did, but no matter how many predators he got off the streets, there were always more coming up to take their place.

Disheartening, no denying that. If just to himself.

But when it was someone’s dead child, no matter how old, those were the ones that stabbed right through him. The parents.

Seeing how much they’d loved the children lost. Children they’d actually wanted, unlike Knight himself, who hadn’t been wanted at all.

Hell, he even admitted to himself, he didn’t understand why the parents bothered him so strongly. Knight didn’t remember his own parents. He didn’t know if they’d been together when he’d been born, or if his mother even knew his father’s last name. No one had ever told him. He’d never even seen a photo of either of them—all he had was vague memories of a tall dark-haired woman just driving away from him when he’d been around four.

He didn’t even know where Knight had come from. It wasn’t the name listed for his mother on the birth certificate social services had provided him over twenty years ago. Knight had never been curious enough to dig into his own past. He just didn’t care. His parents hadn’t wanted him. He’d learned that lesson long, long ago.

Fifteen years a ward of the state had made that very clear. No parents, no grandparents, aunts or uncles—not even a fourth cousin two times removed—none of them had wanted the little boy he had been.