“I’m sure he appreciated your visit.”
“I’m not so sure.” Reede came around to face her. She nervously swept back her hair, which the strong wind was blowing across her face. “If I’d never come here, never reopened the case—”
“Don’t do that to yourself again, Alex,” he said fiercely. “None of it was your fault. Nobody guessed the extent of Sarah Jo’s insanity, not even Angus, and he was married to her. Junior… Well…” He stopped speaking, his throat working convulsively.
“You’ll miss him.”
“Miss him?” he repeated with phony nonchalance. “The dumb bastard. Running into a burning house about to collapse. Only a goddamn fool would do something that stupid.”
“You know why he did it, Reede. He felt he had to.” The tears shimmering in his eyes made Alex’s throat ache with the need to cry. She stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. “You loved him, Reede. Is that so hard to admit?”
He stared down at the flower-banked grave. “People always talked about how jealous he was of me. Nobody ever guessed how jealous I was of him.”
“You were jealous of Junior?”
He nodded. “Of the advantages he had.” He gave a dry, derisive laugh. “I stayed mad at him most of the time for squandering those advantages.”
“We love people in spite of what they are, not because of what they are. At least, that’s the way it should be.”
She dropped her hand from his arm and, trying to keep her voice light and conversational, said, “Angus told me that he plans to go ahead with the racetrack.”
“Yeah. He’s a stubborn old cuss.”
“Your airfield will prosper.”
“It better. I’ll be out of a job by the end of the year,” he told her. In response to her puzzled expression, he said, “I resigned. I can’t sheriff and make anything out of that airport at the same time. It was time I either tackled it or let it go. I decided to tackle it.”
“Good. I’m glad for you. Angus says you’re considering incorporating with him.”
“We’ll see. I’m going to buy another racehorse with Double Time’s insurance money. I’m thinking about training it myself. Angus wants to help.”
She wasn’t fooled by his casual treatment of the subject, but she didn’t pressure him about it. If she were a gambler, she’d put her money on a future alliance. This time it would be for Angus’s benefit more than Reede’s.
“What about you?” he asked. “When will you be going back to work?”
She dug her hands into her coat pockets and drew her shoulders up. “I’m not sure. In light of my injuries—”
“How are they, by the way?”
“Everything’s healing fine.”
“No pain?”
“Not any longer. Basically, I’m as good as new, but Greg told me not to rush back to work. He knows the strain I’ve been under.” She plowed into the soft earth with the toe of her boot. “I’m not sure I want to go back at all.” Sensing his start of surprise, she smiled up at him. “You’ll find this amusing, Sheriff. I’ve recently realized how much empathy I have for the accused. I might try defense law for a change.”
“Public defender?”
“Possibly.”
“Where?”
She looked deeply into his eyes. “I haven’t decided.”
Reede began to rearrange the freshly turned earth beneath his boots, too. “I, uh, I read your statement in the newspaper. It was decent of you to close the case for lack of evidence,” he said in a low voice.
“It really wouldn’t serve much purpose to quarrel with the original ruling, would it?”
“No, it wouldn’t, especially not now.”