Cavanaugh Justice: The Strong Silent Type Part 6

"Have you ever heard of privacy?"

"I have." Was he bent on getting her angry, or didn't he realize how annoying his questions, his quiet tone were? "I've got no intentions of posting my findings on the Internet." She stopped walking, choosing instead to have it out with him in an alcove of the hallway. "Look, in my house, we care about the other person, and if there's something going on, we all pitch in to work it out. My father deliberately held back when I asked him what he was doing here."

Hawk could always see things from the point of view of the loner. And right now, it appeared that for all his gregariousness, Andrew Cavanaugh had a.s.sumed the role of the loner.

"Maybe he had his reasons." He looked at her pointedly. "And whatever they are, they don't include you."

Her temper flared again. "Caring always includes me. That's just how it is."

"He's a big boy." Because standing here in this small, recessed s.p.a.ce in the hall with her was affecting him in a manner he didn't welcome, Hawk backed out, signaling an end to the dialogue. Convincing Cavanaugh of something when she didn't want to hear it was like trying to pour water into a stone. "When he's ready for you to know, he'll tell you. Meanwhile, don't let it eat you up. You want to do some investigating, save it for the job."

Teri watched his back as he walked away from her. She frowned. Hawk was right. She didn't want to give it to him, but he was. If her father was being secretive, it was for a reason. Most likely, he probably thought he was s.h.i.+elding them from something.

For now she'd let the matter go. But not for long.

Wilkins called later to say that none of the DNA evidence that had been collected from the any of the other four invasions matched the DNA of the two men they had in custody.

"d.a.m.n."

It took effort not to slam down the phone. This latest dead end sapped away the last bit of her already-dwindling energy. Dragging a hand through her hair, Teri made up her mind. She knew she wasn't going to be any good to the case unless she got away from it for a while.

Hitting the right combination of keys, she shut off her computer. Her s.h.i.+ft had been over for more than an hour. It was time to go home.

"There's no match."

Not raising his eyes from his work, Hawk said, "I gathered."

"I'm calling it a night." Hawk barely nodded to acknowledge hearing the information. Ready to dash out, Teri lingered for a moment. Everyone else had already checked out for the night. She'd hung around waiting for Wilkins. G.o.d knew why Hawk was hanging around. "I'm stopping at the Shannon, want to come along?"

Hawk looked up from his notes. Cavanaugh had invited him to the local police hangout a number of times and he'd never taken her up on it, preferring his own company and the soothing dim atmosphere of the bar near his studio apartment.

To call Joe's a dingy dive was being charitable. As far as drink or food went, the Shannon undoubtedly had it all over Joe's. Still, the people who frequented Joe's valued their anonymity and respected the same of others. He didn't have to talk if he didn't want to. That had always been a selling feature for him.

"Got my own place to go."

It was a dismissal. But tonight, she didn't feel like being dismissed. Coming around to his desk, she leaned over until she was almost in his face. "I owe you a drink for yesterday."

Because she was far too close into his comfort zone for him to think clearly, he pushed his chair back. Giving himself some breathing s.p.a.ce. "You took my bullet. I'd say it was even."

"d.a.m.n it, Hawk, just come out for a drink with me." Determined, Teri planted herself on his desk, blocking any view he had of the file he'd been studying. "I promise I won't bite."

He looked at her for a long moment, remembering the short, blood-heating interlude in the car yesterday afternoon. Remembering the taste of her lips against his. Remembering, too, other things that had gone on. No, he wouldn't say she didn't bite. Or at the very least, she had a really big kick to her.

Very slowly, what could have pa.s.sed for a smile in some circles rose to his lips, curving them just a hint. "Can I have that in writing?"

She caught his drift immediately. "If you mean yesterday, I wasn't biting. That was called a kiss and you really do need to get out more."

So she'd already said. He had no idea what made him ask the next question. "Why? For lessons?"

"Nope, that is one thing you don't need, Hawkins. Lessons." Even as she spoke, a glimmer of the feeling she'd experienced yesterday came back to her. She knew enough to be able to separate it from the half-drowsy state created by the painkillers she'd taken. His kiss had curled her toes. "I'd even go so far as to say that you were a natural."

He tugged on the folder that was now partially planted beneath her b.u.t.t. "Then I don't need to get out more, do I?"

He'd trapped her with her own words, but she wasn't one to accept defeat easily. Rather than move as he tugged, she took hold of his sleeve and tugged herself.

"Come with me to the Shannon or I'll come into the squad room tomorrow morning and tell everyone that you carried me down five flights of stairs and held my hand while the surgeon st.i.tched me up."

Obviously her perspective had gotten confused. "I didn't hold your hand-you held on to mine. I just didn't relish the idea of having it ripped out of the socket, remember?"

After twenty-four hours, you'd think he would have come up with a better excuse than that, she thought. He'd stayed because he'd wanted to stay, pure and simple. If he hadn't, no power on earth would have made him.

Just like now. Teri scooted off the desk and crossed to the door. "Your whole reputation as a tough guy is on the line here," she warned, her hand on the doork.n.o.b.

"No one would believe you." He was already going back to his work.

Teri c.o.c.ked her head, looking at him. Waiting. "You want to take that chance?"

He wasn't going to get anywhere further tonight. His brain felt tired and he needed a respite. Looking up, he saw her still standing there. Hawk frowned. "Just one drink?"

She raised her right hand as if she was about to take a solemn oath. "Just one drink. Unless, of course, you want more."

Maybe, a small voice whispered within him. Annoyed, he blocked it out. "I want less," he informed her.

"Then one it is." The bar, run by two brothers who were both former policemen, was located several blocks away from the police precinct. "C'mon, we'll take my car. I'll drive."

Hawk rose to his feet. "We'll take both cars and we'll both drive."

He didn't trust her further than he could throw her. Less, he amended. If he gave her an inch, she'd take a mile. And he might just let her. That would lead to places neither one of them could afford to go.

It didn't take a clairvoyant to know what he was thinking. She smiled at him. "Looking to make a quick getaway?"

Slipping on his jacket, he gave her a dark look. "I don't appreciate you constantly second-guessing what's on my mind. Stop it."

"Yes, sir." She'd won the round, she could afford to be generous. And then she added with a grin, "You never know when that might come in handy someday."

He didn't see how that was possible.

The wall of noise within the Shannon died down several decibels the moment he walked in behind Teri. His first inclination was just to back out, get back into his car and go to Joe's. He hadn't wanted to come anyway. It wasn't as if he didn't see enough of the others, especially Cavanaugh, during regular hours.

But he'd never backed away from anything and this little venture fell under the heading of a challenge, no matter how small.

So he kept on walking, his eyes fixed on the long, sleek bar that ran the length of the rear wall. How long could it take to drink one beer?

Chapter Six.

H awk frowned. It was taking far too long to down this one beer. Every time he bent his elbow, about to drink some more of the deep amber liquid, someone else would come up to bend his ear instead.

If he didn't know any better, he would have said that the whole establishment had been packed with people who belonged to T.A.-Teris Anonymous, there to try to purge as many words out of their system as was humanly possible without imploding.

It was his idea of a living h.e.l.l, being surrounded by an endless supply of people who did nothing but talk. And talk. And talk.

Even people he thought kept mostly their own council, like his partner's older brother, Shaw, couldn't seem to pa.s.s up the opportunity to stop by and say something to him tonight.

In Shaw's case, it was advice. The tall, muscular detective took a chair next to him at the small table Teri had staked out for them while her older sister, Callie, flanked him on the other side. He was getting a triple dose of Cavanaughs, the only saving grace being that the older two didn't talk nearly as much as his partner did.

Straddling his chair cowboy fas.h.i.+on, Shaw took a healthy swig from his mug before saying, "You've got my sincere pity, Hawk."

With a lead-in like that, Hawk supposed he was expected to bite, so to save time, he did. "And why's that?"

"Being partnered with Teri." He nodded toward his middle sister, who had temporarily gotten up to say something to one of the other detectives. "She's relentless. I'm pretty convinced that she could get Satan to do her bidding if she kept after him long enough."

Hawk couldn't help wondering if the other detective was somehow making a comparison here, equating him to the prince of darkness. The thought amused him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been thought to walk on the dark side.

Which was fine with him. The less people knew about him, the better. He didn't particularly like the idea of his life being up for public viewing. He was an honest cop-that was all anyone needed to know about him. Anything else was no one's business but his.

"Good to know," Hawk murmured. He took the momentarily lull to finally drain the last of his beer. It was way past time to go.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Teri on her way back. For a moment, he watched as her hips gently swayed with every step she took. And then he realized she was motioning to the bartender to send over one more beer, pointing to him as the recipient.

Hawk set his mug firmly on the table. "You said one," he told her as she rejoined them.

Callie looked from her sister to Teri's partner. "One doesn't really mean one."

Was this one going to be as irritating as her sister? Hawk wondered. "It does in my book."

Looking at Callie, Teri shrugged. "He follows a straight and narrow path." With a wave of her hand to the bartender, she canceled the new order.

She was disappointed, but a deal was a deal, even if it hadn't turned out the way she'd wanted. She'd hoped that since he'd finally joined her for a sociable drink, she could get Hawk to come around, to open up-at least just a tiny bit.

Although he seemed to get along well enough with Shaw and Callie, as always, Hawk seemed to prefer to sit back and listen. Or least give the appearance of listening. With Hawk, you could never tell if he was taking everything in or if he was off somewhere else entirely in his head.

She wondered why he was content to be alone. She wouldn't have been able to stand it. There was so much you missed that way.

Teri looked at the empty mug, knowing he was about to leave. "Doesn't seem like nearly enough to say thanks," she told him.

He hadn't come here so that she could say thanks. He'd come because...well, he wasn't really sure why he'd come now that he thought about it. Maybe it had been his attempt at shutting her up so that he wouldn't have to hear her invite him here anymore.

Even as he formed the thought, he knew it was a lie. Nothing could shut Cavanaugh up for long, and after nine months, he'd be the first to testify to that.

He shrugged noncommittally. "Like I said, one canceled out the other."

Teri studied him for a moment, temporarily ignoring the fact that they weren't alone, that there was more than a score of ears within hearing distance. "Then why did you come?"

He gave her the excuse that came up most readily. "Because you wouldn't stop pus.h.i.+ng until I gave in. Now you'll stop."

Shaw laughed, shaking his head. "You don't know her very well yet, do you? You gave in to her. Refueled by her triumph, she'll just push more. It's the nature of the beast." Teri swatted at Shaw. He ducked a beat too late. Her fingertips made contact with the back of his head. "Emphasis on beast," Shaw added, ducking before she could make contact this time around. He pretended to eye his middle sister. "Dangerous thing, the department giving her a gun. But then, if they gave one to Rayne, I guess they'd issue a weapon to just about anyone."

"Hair-trigger temper?" Hawk asked mildly, not even knowing why he was bothering. What these people did or didn't do or have, he told himself, made no difference to him as long as they didn't interfere with his life.

"Reformed hair-trigger temper," Teri corrected, coming to her younger sister's defense. "Apparently," she added, looking at Hawk significantly, "there's hope for everyone."

Really time for him to go, Hawk thought. "As long as you don't raise the bar too high." He rose from the small table that barely accommodated the four of them. He looked at Teri. "Thanks for the drink. I'll see you tomorrow."

Before she could say anything further, he was on his way to the front door. With a sigh, Teri lifted her mug again.

"Talkative devil," Callie commented, watching Hawk disappear into the crowd.

"I'm sure that he'd tell you Teri makes up for it." Shaw grinned at his middle sister.

Callie downed the last of her own beer, setting the mug on the table. "Reminds me of Patrick before his epiphany." She rose. "Time for me to call it a day, too." She stretched a little like someone coming out of a confining s.p.a.ce. "A long one."

Nodding, Teri got up, as well. Shaw was already on his feet. She wanted to ask her question before they left. She'd been waiting to get them alone, not wanting to have to hear Hawk make another comment about privacy. "Do either one of you have any idea what Dad might be dropping off at the criminal lab?"

Callie, looking mildly interested, hesitated as if waiting for a punch line. "No, why?"

"I b.u.mped into him earlier today and he didn't say a word about it, but Mulrooney told me he saw Dad with Claude Wilkins. According to Mulrooney, Dad was giving him a spoon and a book."

"Maybe it was a gift," Shaw suggested.

That would have been her take on it, if Wilkins hadn't seemed so reticent to disclose any information. "When I asked Wilkins about it, he said he wasn't comfortable discussing the matter."

Callie looked unfazed. "If Dad wants us to know, he'll tell us. He's never kept secrets from us," she reminded her.

"Maybe it has to do with Mom." The thought had lingered on Teri's mind all afternoon and now the words came blurting out. The others looked at her. "You know how he gets."

Shaw exchanged looks with Callie. It was a gray area they talked about less and less. "All the more reason not to ask him for details. He needs to let go and he will in his own time. The rest of us have."

Had they? Teri wondered several minutes later as she walked to the far end of the open parking lot and her car. She knew they all said they had accepted what everyone felt was the inevitable, but in their hearts, had they? Had they really extinguished all hope that maybe, just maybe, against all odds, their mother was still out there?

Teri knew there were times, in the dead of night, when the loneliness would come creeping in like a deadly cancer and she'd wanted to cling to the belief that her mother would come home.

But then daylight would come, pus.h.i.+ng away the somber thoughts, the unrealistic scenarios, and she would take up the rest of her life, knowing her mother was gone.

"Stop it, Teri," she upbraided herself sharply as she turned on the engine, "you've got a case to solve. Don't go thinking about things that have no solution." There was never going to be a final answer as to what became of their mother. The most likely scenario was one she didn't want to entertain. Her mother was gone. That was the bottom line and she had to make her peace with that. Again.

But then, she was always tilting at windmills, always taking up challenges that no one else wanted.

Like bringing Hawk out of his armored sh.e.l.l.

The evening hadn't exactly gone swimmingly, but he had come out. He had accompanied her to the Shannon, she reminded herself. That had been a first and she shouldn't be minimizing it.

One small step for Hawk, one giant leap for me.