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RED

H e got her in his truck and when he was settled, he sat quietly. She was looking out the windshield, without seeing anything. “Acushla, you did great in there,” he started quietly.

“Are they right?” she replied and then turned her head to look at him.

“Ba—“

“Yes.” The cab of the truck was deathly silent. “Can you take me to my place, please.”

“Ashe—“

Once again, her hand went up and she slowly shook her head, “I’m not yelling. This isn’t getting crazy. If you don’t take me, I’ll just get out.” Her gaze was out the windshield again, her hand reaching for the door handle.

Red growled as he put the vehicle in reverse.

Ashe started to slide out of the truck when Red pulled up to the sidewalk in front of her apartment. He made a clumsy grab, catching her shirt at the ribs. She looked at him. “I didn’t know until it was too late.”

Ashe nodded, “I believe you.” Red exhaled loudly in relief. “Cause I can’t for the life of me figure out why you’d do it on purpose.” She slipped out of his grasp and shut the door, heading for the entrance to the apartment. Red staring at her, like he’d just been slapped.

He threw the vehicle in Park and took off after her. He came up behind her as she stood paralyzed at the threshold of her apartment. The police tape was down but the cleaning hadn’t taken place yet. The place was wrecked and smelt of blood.

“Ashe?” He wedged into the door frame looking around Ashe, into the kitchen/bedroom area. His left hand was braced against the doorframe next to Ashe’s head. Her head leaned back into his forearm. She stepped forward, away from him, as he shifted to pull her closer to him. He grit his teeth, punching the doorframe as he followed her into the room.

“Baker came because of you,” Ashe almost questioned, without turning to look at him, her eyes glued to the island.

“Yes. He would’ve handled it,” Red stayed behind her, out of sight.

“He was late.”

“He’ll never forgive himself.”

“I’m supposed to help people,” Ashe looked at the space between the island and kitchen sink.

“Ashe,” he paused, watching the back of her head, not moving. “I’m so sorry.”

Ashe turned to face Red. “I can’t help people like this.” She looked so overwhelmed; it crushed him.

“I don’t know how to fix this. I’d do anything I can.”

“I don’t know either. You can’t be everywhere. You won’t give up your work. I suppose this doesn’t happen in your work often.”

Red hesitated as he thought about his answer. “It’s never happened on the team before,” he replied honestly.

“What did happen?”

“Sylvie, Rave’s woman. But it was a guy she worked with that caused a problem. We showed up and tried to help him.”