“We just wrapped up on our side. The criminals are all in custody in Minneapolis. So it’s over to that branch now. I left half an hour ago, and thought you might need some food and drink.”
“But where’s Brandon?”
Kerry smiled. “He had to fly out to a meeting this afternoon. That’s why we did breakfast. It was literally the only time available. And I thought I’d stay here tonight, rather than waking up the folks. I can sleep on your couch?”
“Okay,” May said. That was fine with her. “I do have a spare bedroom.”
“Let’s go in. You must be freezing. Shall I get the fire going?”
May unlocked the front door and Kerry bustled in, whirling around the living room as she piled wood into the fireplace.
“That was an excellent case. What a raid! Getting those lowlifes under lock and key was one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve had, and the women were so grateful to be rescued. All of them thanked you. I told them it was your doing that they were now going to be safe. You handled this like a pro.”
With the fire now crackling, she handed May a beer, put the takeout bag on the coffee table, sat down, and patted the couch beside her.
“Your sheriff told me you actually had to wrestle with the killer in a runaway truck heading for the lake. May, that sounds like something out of the movies!”
“I guess it was,” May said.
“Tell me about it!” Kerry’s eyes were shining.
For a brief, surprised moment, May saw actual admiration in them.
A weird thought occurred to her.
Thanks to the way her mother had always pitted the children against each other, was it possible that Kerry was jealous of her?
There was no reason to be. Kerry had been the golden child in every way. But thinking about it, May thought that it would explain some of her behavior.
Perhaps this case had allowed them to work on an equal footing, and taken away some of the perceived unfairness that each one felt about the other, however illogical it might be.
“Well, I woke up in the truck. It was roaring along, and my hands were tied behind my back, and the driver was accelerating along the back roads, wearing a Joker mask,” May began.
“No way!” Kerry enthused, leaning forward.
May knew, with a happy feeling inside, that Kerry would listen to this entire story without any interruption or criticism. She would drink in every detail of May’s thrilling experience. And then May wanted to hear a blow by blow account of the fascinating raid, with no details or omissions.
It was amazing to feel in harmony with her older sister.
But she couldn’t help feeling a flash of regret that all three of them could not be sitting together on this balmy night.
Even though her relationship with Kerry felt as if it was starting to stabilize, the absence of Lauren would always leave a hole in her heart. She hoped that the permission to reopen the case would arrive soon.