“Come on, you know what I mean.I don’t want to think about that guy when we… Okay, yeah, we’re done.Changing the subject.”He took a deep breath and released it in a heavy sigh.“I’m going to let go of the Sierra investigation.”
Faith was quiet for a long moment.When she spoke again, her voice was soft and almost reverent.“Wow.”
“Yeah.”He ran his hand through his hair.“I know.Kinda don’t know how I feel about it.”
“What happened?”Faith asked.“Everything okay?”
He released a whistling breath.“Hoo boy.You’re probably going to get mad at me.Maybe I should tell you when you get home.”
She sighed.“You ignored me.You left the house and did some digging.”
“Yeah, I did.I’m sorry.”
She sighed again.“Well, it sounds like you finally learned your lesson, at least.Want to tell me what went wrong?”
He gave her the short version of everything that had happened while she was away.To her credit, she didn’t interrupt to shout at him or make him feel bad for the several obvious mistakes he’d made.She didn’t even freak out when she told her about cutting his hair.
Her response when it was all over still cut him to the core.“You shouldn’t have gotten Rogers and Hammerton involved.They’re going to need to watch their backs now.”
He looked down at his feet.Jeff and Greg looked at him from the living room, frowning.He smiled and gave them a thumbs up, then turned around.“Yeah.I know.They kind of… I mean, I’m not blaming them, but they kind of insisted.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.Jessica did too.I still think it’s not right.Actually… I’ve been kind of thinking about things too.”
He frowned.“What do you mean?”
“Well… I almost got into trouble with this case.We had a reporter giving us grief, and Jessica and I handled it wrong.I’ll tell you all the details later, but the point is, I put Jessica in the hot seat with her boss, and… Well, I kind of wonder if maybe I come from an older version of the FBI.”
He raised an eyebrow.“Faith, you’re notthatold.”
“No, I know.I don’t mean…” She sighed.“I don’t know what I mean.I just know that I’m tired of my friends getting into trouble because of me.I don’t know.I’m just exhausted.I’m just saying that I understand why you’re letting go of the Sierra case, and I think you’re doing the right thing.”
His eyes widened in alarm.“I mean, I don’t want to let it go completely.I was hoping that… Well…”
“Oh yeah,we’renot letting it go.Michael, Jessica and I are still going to make sure we find justice for those dogs.Butyouare going to be the world’s best vet.You’re going to do what you’re good at and let us do what we’re good at.”
“Yes,” David said, relaxing.“Exactly.Thank you, Faith.”
“You’re welcome.And when we do finish this… Well, I won’t say that yet.I need to think about it first.”
“About what?”
“Nothing.I love you.I’m going to hang up and help Jessica load the car, okay?We’ll see you soon.Love you.”
“Love you too.Give my love to Turk.”
“I will.And honey?”
“Yeah?”
“Therewillbe hell to pay for cutting your hair.”
David sighed.“Yeah.I know.”
“Okay.See you soon.”
“See you soon.”
He hung up, and Jeff and Greg both called, “Aww!”From the living room.