Page 41 of Final Approach

“Wow.”

“I’ll be looking into that after this mess is all over. Wherever I am.”

“What do you mean wherever you are?”

He shrugged. “Just thinking out loud. All that aside, I did some more investigating into the hijacking. Asked a few questions and all that.”

“Is that what tipped them off?”

“No, I don’t think so. But can’t say for sure. We had it playing on the news. I couldn’t ask about the tat since that isn’t public knowledge, but everyone else seemed to be as surprised as I was about the incident.”

“Hmm.” Andrew rubbed his chin. “Did you find anything else out?”

“Nothing concrete. But I have to say, I don’t think your guy was a member of the SN. No one had heard of him.”

Andrew frowned. “That’s so weird. I don’t get it. Why would the person who hired him force him to get that tattoo?”

“To throw shade on the gang? Maybe it’s someone who has a beef with the gang? Or a beef with Brown?”

“Any of the above is possible.”

A lull fell between them, and Andrew thought Hank might be drifting back off. But the man roused and eyed him. “How have you been since ... you know.”

Andrew suppressed a flinch. Yeah, he knew. “I’ve been fi—” No, he wouldn’t lie. “It’s been hard. I dream about it sometimes. Not every night, but enough that I can’t seem to move on.”

“You shut me out. Even after the civil suit and everything.”

The mild accusation stung, but he couldn’t refute it. “Yeah, I did. I didn’t do it on purpose, I just had to deal with that in my own way.” He looked down at his hands. “You were a great partner and a phenomenal friend. I regret how I pushed you away and I’ve wanted the chance to apologize.”

“No need for all that. You were grieving.”

“True, but that was the time I needed my friends and family most, and I should have leaned into that instead of running away from it.”

“Why did you?”

Andrew swallowed hard. “I suppose because I was ... am ... ashamed.”

Hank raised his right brow. “Ashamed of what?”

“An innocent man died partly because of me, and I still don’t know how to wrap my head around it. I wake up a lot of nights in a cold sweat because I’m trying to save him and he’s ... just gone. He literally disappears in my dreams. As though to mock me and my failure.”

“Come on, man, you weren’t to blame.”

“That civil suit was rough. I honestly wasn’t sure it was going to go the way it did. A man died while in our custody. I was there and I—”

“—was not responsible.”

“I know, but his family was devastated. I still see his mother’s eyes glaring at me, blaming me. His brother too.”

“You know as well as I do that when something like that happens, people need to place blame. Whether it’s deserved or not.”

He did know that, but it didn’t help much.

Kristine chose that moment to join them, and Andrew snappedhis lips shut on the response he’d been about to make. Hewasto blame and no one would convince him otherwise. And someone like Kristine deserved so much better than him. He swallowed and tried to ignore her loveliness but found it impossible.

She’d dried her hair and pulled it back into her signature ponytail. She’d also found a pair of plaid sleep pants that stopped mid-calf and an oversized sweatshirt. She carried her wet clothes into the laundry room off the kitchen. Andrew grabbed his and tossed them in with Kristine’s. “You feeling okay?” he asked her.

“Yep. Just concerned about your friend.”