Her mouth tightened with the anger lingering around the edges of the pain. She had a job to do here. Her mother was dead. She deserved to have her death avenged. Adeline did not have the luxury of time for this poor-me crap. She was a major crimes detective. She had a killer to catch.
The urge to run all the way back to Huntsville overwhelmed her for several seconds. She could put all this behind her there. Forget these people ... this place. This insanity.
Once the case was closed, she reiterated. Then, going back would make life a hell of a lot easier.
She didn’t have to look back in this direction ... ever.
Just when she thought she could pull it together, her heart pounded so hard it hurt. The facts she had learned in the past twenty-four hours crashed in on her. How could she not have known any of this? She was a cop, for Christ’s sake. Not once had she suspected that her parents had been less than honest with her. Left out this one huge important detail.
Adeline Cooper wasn’t who she thought she was.
Those moments in her mother’s kitchen when she’d collapsed in Adeline’s arms elbowed their way into her thoughts. She’d been so afraid. The ride to the hospital in that ambulance. Then waiting for word. If her mother had died—Adeline had been absolutely positive she couldn’t have handled that. Cop or no. She was strong, but she wasn’t that damned strong.
I didn’t want you to know that you weren’t my little girl.
The tears escaped, slid down her cheeks.
And then that bastard Jamison had killed her. Now Adeline had no choice but to handle it.
Her mother was dead.
“Goddammit.” She staggered back, collapsed against the wall next to the door and slowly slid to the floor.
She just wanted her mother to be well and at home, where she had always been. Her whole life Adeline had been able to count on coming home to find her there.
Until she had selfishly walked away from everything. No, not walked—run ... she’d run as fast as she could. Why the hell had she let that old bastard send her running? She’d pretended not to give a shit. Had even pretended the decision had been hers and had nothing to do with Cyrus’s edict.
Lies. All of it. She’d lied to herself and everyone she cared about. How could she hold her parents’ decision of nondisclosure against them when she was just as guilty of holding so very much back?
How could she return to her life in Huntsville knowing all that she knew?
But then, what the hell did she do when this was finished?
Go someplace new?
Running would damned sure be a hell of a lot easier than dealing with allthis. Someplace where no one knew her. Where none of this history could find her.
But she wasn’t twenty-one anymore. Shaking off the dust and heading for new territory would change nothing.
Thiswas her life. Who she was.
No matter where she ran, she couldn’t escape herself.
All this time she’d thought she had done just that, but she’d been fooling herself.
More lies . . . more pretending . . .
The runaway cop—sounded like the perfect theme for a movie.
The door opened.
She glanced up as Wyatt crouched down next to her. “Addy.” He searched her face. “You should stay here while we get things started out there. Take a break. Let the rest of us deal with this search.”
Was he out of his mind? She struggled to her feet. “No way in hell. I’m fine. Let’s go.” She straightened her jacket. What was wrong with these people?
“You are not fine.”
She closed her eyes, tried to stop the sound of his voice from reverberating in her ears.