Justice Overdue by Lisa Childs

Author:Lisa Childs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-09-21T11:31:27+00:00

* * *

“You look exhausted,” her father remarked.

Eve glanced up from her plate to find him intently studying her face. She was aware that she probably had dark circles under her eyes from her sleepless nights. While she could take care of herself, and had for many years, she was grateful her father had decided to stay in Cold Creek. She suspected she would sleep a little easier knowing that he’d taken the room next to hers...unless that put him in danger, as well.

“Are you sure you can stay? The inmates need you—”

“You need me,” he said. “And there is another person working with them now, helping me out.”

And she had only him. He knew that she had cut everyone else out of her life. “But are you sure that you should stay?” she asked.

He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I would leave,” he said. “If I thought I could talk you into leaving, but I know what these cold cases mean to you.”

She lowered her voice to a whisper and murmured, “To us.”

He shook his head. “I made my peace years ago, Evie. Whatever you discover, it will be justice for the victims. Not for me.”

Of course he would think that, as he was always so selfless, so forgiving. If only she could find the peace that he had...

Maybe she would—once the killer was caught. Maybe then she could forgive...everyone...

“We talked to the victims’ families today,” she shared, her heart clenching with the pain she remembered on their faces, in their voices—pain the sheriff had echoed as if he’d felt every bit of it himself.

“That must have been difficult,” her father said. “I wish I could have been there, could have offered some comfort.” Like he offered the prisoners...

She nodded. “I wish you could have, too, but the sheriff did—no matter how rough some of those people were on him. He was very patient, very understanding...” Her voice cracked.

“He’s very empathetic then,” her father remarked.

She shrugged. “I guess or...” It was almost as if he’d been one of the survivors himself. Maybe he was...since he’d lost his father. Maybe all the years of investigating those cold cases had claimed his father’s life as much as the cancer had.

“What?” her father prodded her.

And she told him everything she’d learned about Sheriff Hogan Moore and his dad. No matter that he was a small-town lawman and she was a big-city scientist, they shared a bond with their love for their fathers and their faith.

“That explains it,” her dad murmured.

“What?” she asked.

“I got the impression that Sheriff Moore was a man who’d experienced a lot of pain,” he explained. “And perhaps not just his own, as empathetic as he is.”

She released a shaky breath. “I guess I should be relieved that I don’t feel things that deeply,” she said.

Her father smiled. “You do,” he said. “You just try to ignore your feelings. You try to hide from them.”

She sighed. “I wasn’t talking about my feelings,” she said. “I don’t feel other people’s feelings.

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