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Horror dawned as her silence brought home the inexcusably sexist remark he'd just made. A political and personal faux pasthat not only brought the blood burning to his face and neck but must have scared the bejesus out of him as well. In such opportunistic and paranoid times, a statement like that could get him dragged into court were it to fall into the wrong ears.
A
He rubbed his face with both hands and for the first time she noticed how tired he looked. With his people gone to fight fire there was a good chance he'd been up late on a call-out chasing poachers or settling visitor disputes.
"Let me start with an apology. That comment surfaced from when I was a dinosaur and didn't know any better. That doesn't excuse it but-"
"Not a problem," A
"I'm your girl," she said.
Ruick laughed. "Why do I doubt that?"
Chapter 9
The remainder of the morning was dedicated to working out the details. It had never seriously crossed the chief ranger's mind that A
Matters settled to his satisfaction, Harry filled A
Rory would be allowed to continue working on the bear DNA project with Joan Rand. A
Nominally A
"Today I want you to interview Rory. I'll take his dad," Harry said. "Something's not kosher with those two but damned if I can figure out what."
Both Van Slykes arrived shortly before three o'clock. A
A
"Mind if I tape this?" A
"Whatever."
A
"You want anything?" she asked as he slumped into Joan's vacated chair and began mindlessly spi
"Nothing. I don't want anything."
A
He stopped his spi
A
"I'm real sorry about your stepmother," she said.
Reluctantly, Rory brought his gaze back into the room. It settled not on A
"Yeah… well… it happens."
A
"People die."
A
"Can't argue with that," she said and Rory's eyes met hers. In the blue depths she saw that spark kids get when adults surprise them by not being unutterably obtuse.
"Who'd want to kill your stepmother?" A
If it jarred him, he didn't show it. His eyes strayed again to the parking lot, unseeing as he searched inside his skull for an answer. A
Rory was nothing if not pragmatic about homicide.
"A few?" A
"Carolyn was a divorce lawyer," Rory said.
"Oh. Right. Anybody specific?"
"Maybe her ex-sister-in-law. Barbara something. She hated Mom."
"Mom" and "Carolyn" were ru
"I guess somebody could have followed her here." Rory sounded hopeful, and why not? He wasn't stupid. He'd know they'd be looking hard at both himself and his dad. Television had done a thorough job of destroying naivete and replacing it, often as not, with misinformation.
"Could be," A