Chapter 37

“I realize I ended our relationship suddenly, and I’ve often wondered if you understood why,” she said as she spread the antiseptic cream gently into the wound.

“I think, maybe, this isn’t the time to talk about that,” I said. I was already far too personally involved in this case, and getting more personally involved, if that was possible, would make it difficult for me to do my job.

“Why…why not?” Lyca asked, sounding a bit hurt. She got a small dressing and some adhesive tape out of the first aid kit and taped the dressing on the wound.

After she finished, I turned to her. “I’ve never understood why you didn’t want to see me any more, and I do want to know,” I said. “But I want the time to be right when you tell me, and I’m not sure it is right now.”

“But you saved my life,” she said, looking puzzled.

“I got lucky,” I said. “If that asshole had fired a second earlier, I’d be standing over your body, explaining to the cops why I let you get kille