“You were here, and I appreciate it. Let’s go scare up some coffee.”
“You know, I was thinking that Sherlock and I might as well fly to Paris,” Savich said. “We’ve still got five days.” He laughed. “Doubtless Mr. Lord will be relieved to see us law-enforcement types out of his digs.”
“I still wish we could catch the guy who abused Emma.”
“I’m sure O’Connor isn’t lying to make Molly feel better. No one likes that kind of scum on the loose. We’ll all keep working, but for now, well, we can hope that it’s over.”
22
RAMSEY AND MOLLY were standing in his bedroom, he by the window, she at the door. It was early morning, and the house was still quiet. His suitcase was open on the bed, some of his clothes packed. He looked up to see her standing there.
“You’re leaving, then?”
Ramsey shrugged, looking over at the suitcase on the bed. “Yes, I think so. I couldn’t sleep, decided I might as well start to pack.” He paused. “Did you know I was trying to write a novel? It seems like a million years ago.”
“No, I had no idea.”
“That’s why I was there at that isolated cabin in the Rockies. I took a leave of absence for five months. I had to get away from all the media hype, all the reporters. One guy even stuck his head in my bathroom window one morning when I was shaving. I nearly sliced my own throat. That’s when I decided to leave town for a while. I decided to write the novel I’d thought about for the past year.”
“What’s it about?”
“A courtroom novel, about a judge in the federal court system. It’s a subject I should know well enough, a subject I’d like to say a few things about.”
“I see. So you want to go back to Colorado? To write?”
“Yes, I suppose so.” He fiddled with a loose thread on his pale blue sweater, remembering her kiss on his shoulder. He looked at her. “Actually, I was wondering when you would be going back to Colorado.”
“I hadn’t really thought about it, not yet. All this is still sinking in. I’m willing to accept intellectually that this awful man, Rule Shaker, from Las Vegas, is behind everything that’s happened, but there’s still that monster who abused Emma. I won’t ever forget that. I’ve got lots of money. I think I’ll spend some of it trying to find him myself.”
She looked defensive, as if she expected him to argue with her. He said, “I’d do the same thing. In fact, I’m going to be putting the word out as soon as I get home. Pedophiles have networks; they seem to either know one another or of one another. I’ve got several friends who spend a lot of time on the Internet. I’ll see where that leads.” He drew a deep breath. “Savich will keep the fire lit by alerting all the FBI field offices. He’s not happy about this either.”
She looked down at the soft nap of the carpet beneath her feet. “Well, I guess I should thank you, Ramsey. Emma will miss you.”
He looked up at her, at the dark shadows in her eyes, and that dancing line of freckles across the bridge of her nose. He said, “I told Savich that your hair isn’t at all the same color as Sherlock’s, although most people would just say you’ve both got red hair. I told Savich your hair was the color of a sunset I saw once in Ireland.”
The nap lost her attention. She blinked up at him. “A sunset in Ireland? When were you in Ireland?”
“Two years ago. I was staying in Ballyvaughan. Nearly every day I went to the Cliffs of Moher. You really can’t describe how awesome they are, because you just say something like they’re rugged cliffs with waves crashing and billowing up against the rocks, that they dip and then push right to the very edge of the sea, but that really doesn’t tell you.” He shrugged again. “You see what I mean? You haven’t got a clue really how it actually makes you feel just to be there, to look over the water into the distance where there’s no sign of anything.”