It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
-Voltaire
LISA
"Hey," I say, relaxing when Roseanne answers the phone.
I don't blame her for bailing on the madness that followed the sheriff's unprovoked attack, but I've been worried since she hasn't answered her phone for the past few hours.
The sheriff and his deputies are cooling down back at their station. Johnson won the war on the arrests, but he's running out of juice. This is one more strike against him in the file Collins is currently preparing.
"Hey," she says softly, her voice like a soothing balm.
"Where are you?"
I look around the cabin, finding no sign that she's been back.
"I went for a run. I was getting...annoyed. I don't like being annoyed," she says sadly. "I hope you're okay. I didn't want to call until I knew for sure you weren't around any of them."
"I'm fine, Roseanne," I say with a smirk. "Trust me, I can handle a few backwoods cops and an outdated agent with superiority complexes."
"Don't underestimate them."
Her voice comes from behind me, and I toss my phone to the bed when I see her standing in the doorway, her chest rising and falling rapidly as a small sheen of sweat beads at her forehead.
"A body drops from the tower, and you go for a run," I say on a sigh, not realizing how tense I was until this moment.
"They were attacking you. I knew if I said anything, I'd just make it worse," she says as she pulls off her jacket and steps farther into the room. "And I suck at biting my tongue."
My grin etches up as I move in closer, tugging her to me by her waist.
"I can handle my own battles, so you can use your tongue for better things," I murmur against her ear, feeling her smile even though I can't see it.
I start kissing a trail down her neck, and she presses her body to me.
"I've needed this," she says, her arms tightening around me in an embrace.
As much as I'd love to do something more than hug, I realize it's sort of what I need in this moment too. Mostly because she's fucking ridiculously brave enough to wander around a town where a man was just skinned alive. Why can't she be normal and lock herself inside this cabin?
I'm getting an ulcer over her.
"We're getting away as soon as this case is over. Just you and me and a beach far, far away."
"I know you said a week but...maybe longer than a week?" she asks, leaning her head back. "My treat?"
"I can't take more than a week at a time, given our current work load. But maybe soon. And I'll pay for it."
She rolls her eyes before her head finds my chest, and she continues holding onto me.
"I love you," I say softly.
Her arms squeeze me tighter as the chatter outside the window grows restless, everyone waiting on me.
"I love you too," she says on a long sigh. "I take it you have somewhere to be?"
"Sort of have to find the guy who just skinned a grown man alive."
She nods and steps back, wiping something away from her eye. "Right. Sorry."
