Page 50 of Deadly Target (Rocky Mountain Courage 2)

“It’s not out of nowhere. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since you got the call from the detective. But as you said, we’re here, so we need to focus on what we can find out.”

“Agreed.” She’d pulled up the image of Dad’s crime board on her iPad, then zoomed in to enlarge the image.

“We can look at the details.” She zoomed out. “And then stand back and take in the big picture. Remember, we’re working this backward so we can find the cold case and the connection—the reason your father was shot. Bottom line, we’ll use all the information available.”

Your reasons had better be good, Dad. They’d better be good.

“What’s your take on this, Erin? I mean, you evaluate and assess. I heard what you told the Seattle detective. What do you think about my father’s state of mind, given what I told you?”

The restaurant lights were low and the candle flickered, reflecting in her eyes as light danced across her face. “It takes a lot more than a story told secondhand to evaluate, Nathan. Surely you know that.” She opened her mouth, hesitating, as if she might say more.

Should he push her? He rubbed his jaw. “While I’m sure that’s true, you still have an opinion, and I want to hear it.”

She reached across and pressed her hand over his hand, sending a surge through him—but that surge went much deeper than a physical attraction. Nathan struggled to listen to her soft words above his pounding heart.

“I think your father believed himself to be a confident, take-charge problem-solver who was taking action, risking it all to bring about justice. In the face of this risk, he was under tremendous pressure and wanted to maintain control of his environment, his actions, and his emotions. Unfortunately, he couldn’t control everything. Like what happened at the river.”

Her eyes welled with tears that didn’t spill over, and she withdrew her hand as she stared into the flickering candle. “Cops. They protect the rest of us from the ugliest crimes, the evil we don’t want to know exists. The monsters that creep into the night and take our children. In protecting us, they aren’t allowed to experience the full range of a normal human’s response, because that would mean losing control. People hate them for doing their job. Making those arrests. Controlling the crowd. And yes, sometimes using physical force when necessary. Even deadly force. In all of this, they are underappreciated.”

She lifted her gaze to him then, and he couldn’t speak, his heartbeat pounding in his throat. All of this she had learned from observing and evaluating criminals?

“I believe your father is a good cop because he’s your father, Nathan, and you’re a good cop. Good cops get the bad guys. They win the fight and save the victim—” She dropped her gaze to her hands on the table. “But not every battle is won. All you can do is try.”

And if this battle was lost, who else would be harmed or worse—murdered?