For about the tenth time, Jeannie looked up from her plate, trying to swallow a smile and chuckling to herself quietly before quickly letting her eyes drop again.
Mike's head came up slowly and he stared at the top of her head through narrowed eyes as he chewed, trying to scowl. "What?"
Stabbing a roast potato with her fork, she cleared her throat unnecessarily and looked up again. "I'm just glad you finally shaved it off," she grinned, glancing at Steve, who was studiously using his knife to slather a piece of roast with gravy.
Mike grunted. "Yeah, I gathered that… after the thirtieth time you've looked at me and laughed in the past five minutes." He was trying to sound annoyed but not doing a very good job at it. Both younger people snorted a laugh.
"But listen, ah," Mike continued, his tone turning serious, "I guess I was too tired to notice last night, but, ah, where are all the boxes we had in the living room? I don't remember seeing them last night… or just now, actually, when I walked through the living room…" He sounded more than a little puzzled, and concerned.
Jeannie looked at Steve and raised her eyebrows, trying not to smirk. "Wow, you guys must really've been out of it last night… Great detectives you are…" She chuckled then nodded over her shoulder. "They're still there. I put everything back in the boxes and stacked them against the wall beside the fireplace."
Now even Steve was looking at her peevishly. "It was kinda dark last night when we got home, if you remember correctly," he admonished, glancing at his partner and receiving an encouraging nod in return.
Jeannie made a face. "Well, it isn't dark now, and you've been walking back and forth through the living room all day. So what's your excuse?"
Steve pursed his lips, turning to Mike for help. The older man raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "I've only been through there once," Mike said pedantically, raising his fork in lieu of his index finger.
The younger man looked back at his plate and inhaled deeply. "I've had other things on my mind," he said quietly as he speared another piece of roast and dragged it through the gravy.
Both father and daughter chuckled softly and affectionately then Mike's eyebrows knit and he glared at Jeannie. "You put everything back in the boxes?" He had visions of all their hard work sorting the material into deliberate piles going up in smoke.
She looked at him almost priggishly. "Really, Mike, do you actually think I just dumped everything into boxes helter skelter? Give me some credit, please – I'm a cop's daughter, after all." She rolled her eyes. "I took one of those yellow legal pads you had and I tore sheets off it and put them between the separate piles…" She punctuated her statement with an 'I-told-you-so' face.
Mike stared at her without expression for a long second then smiled affectionately and looked at his partner, exhaling with relief. Steve laughed quietly, glancing at Jeannie and nodding.
Getting back to his dinner, Mike said matter-of-factly, "We'll separate those files again and I'll start calling the different departments –"
"Tomorrow," Jeannie interrupted him and he stopped talking and looked at her, frowning. "Tomorrow," she repeated firmly, glancing at Steve, who was also staring at her, his fork halfway to his mouth. "You both promised me you'd stay in bed for 36 hours, which means tomorrow morning… remember?"
After an immobile beat, they both nodded. Mike glanced at his partner before looking at his plate again, "Ah, tomorrow morning… And then we can get rid of all those boxes."
Satisfied, Jeannie returned to her meal. Then she heard her father's voice change tone.
"I, ah, I want to call Jerry too… tell him what happened… tell him –"
The phone rang. Mike looked at Steve, and Jeannie glanced at them both. "I'll get it," she said, getting up quickly and reaching for the phone on the wall. "Hello." She listened for a second. "Yes, Uncle Rudy, he's right here."
With a worried glance at his partner, Mike got up and started towards the door. "I'll take it in the living room," he said as he disappeared.
Jeannie waited till she heard him pick up the extension then hung up and returned to the table. She looked at Steve but neither said anything. They could hear the low murmur of Mike's voice but couldn't make out anything specific. After a couple of minutes he returned to the kitchen and sat, picking up his fork. A few seconds he looked at Steve.
"It seems the Siskiyou County District Attorney has relinquished jurisdiction over the Carlyle case… he's agreed to allow our D.A. to go after the Lonsdales for aiding and abetting. They've been arrested and they're in custody, and they're gonna be transferred down here tomorrow."
Steve was nodding slowly; this was not an unexpected development. "Do they want us…?" he began slowly and Mike shook his head.
"No, ah, no, Rudy's already talked to Gerry about that. Ferdon wants their own investigators to take it from here." He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "So, ah, once you and I are off the DL, we're back to our regular jobs…" He picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of roast beef, but he didn't pick it up. He stared at the plate blankly.
Steve looked at Jeannie and a soft smile of understanding crossed his lips. He knew his partner was struggling with conflicting emotions, wanting the chance to pursue the Lonsdale case to the bitter end yet knowing his time, talent and experience were needed elsewhere. "They've got good investigators in the D.A.s office," he offered quietly and the older man nodded.
"Yeah…" Mike let the fork drop onto the plate then sat back, smiling almost perfunctorily at his daughter. "That was great, sweetheart, but I've had enough." He started to push himself away from the table. "I think I'll just go back to bed."
Trying not to frown, Jeannie glanced at Steve. "Ah, what about dessert? I made an apple pie and I've got some vanilla ice cream."
On his feet, Mike smiled warmly. "Maybe later, okay?" He turned and shuffled out of the room.
Waiting until she heard her father climb the stairs, she was frowning when she turned her worried eyes on Steve. "I'm not sure if it's his health or just this case…" she said quietly with a helpless shrug.
Steve raised his eyebrows, putting his fork on his plate and sitting back. He sighed softly. "I think it's a bit of both. He's really been pushing himself since the accident, but this is a really important case to him…" He smiled slightly. "I've told you before that when we get a case that involves someone your age… especially a young woman… he had a tendency to take it personally."
She nodded knowingly, biting her bottom lip, her throat constricting.
His smile got a little wider and a little sadder. "And I think this was the first one, the first time he was involved with a case of a young person being murdered. And even though it was before you were even born, and he was just a newly-minted patrolman and his only real involvement was being one of the first on the scene, it obviously stayed with him all these years." He looked down, his eyes unfocusing. "I think I understand what that feels like, I really do…"
He looked up at her and smiled self-consciously. "I mean, I don't have any open cases that I think'll haunt me yet, but I still have a long way to go… so who knows?"
She snorted softly with a warm smile and put her hand over his on the table. "Well, here's hoping it doesn't happen to you… right?" Her gaze slid away and she stared into space for several long seconds. He watched and waited, knowing she was grappling with something. Eventually her eyes found their way back to him but her focus was far away and her voice was barely a whisper. "I understand what you're saying, I really do… but I think there's something else going on with Mike."
Steve cocked his head slightly, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly.
Still preoccupied, she increased the pressure of her hand over his, slowly shaking her head. "I'm not sure… but there's something… I can feel it." Her focus suddenly sharpened on him. "Is there something you're not telling me, something that happened in the last couple of weeks that Mike didn't want me to know?"
She was still holding his hand, as if pinning him to the table, putting him on the spot. He stared at her for a couple of seconds then shook his head. "No, Jeannie, no… believe me…" He shrugged helplessly. "Ah, we may not have told you everything about the accident, but he's fine, we're both fine, you know that," he assured quickly, knowing she would pick up on it instantly.
And she did. The pressure of her hand over his increased noticeably. "What do you mean you didn't tell me everything about the accident?" she asked almost coldly, trying to control the fear in her voice.
He fidgeted, knowing he'd made a mistake and also knowing he had to correct it and correct it now. "Jeannie…" he began placatingly and she squeezed his hand so hard he jumped. "All right! All right…" He exhaled loudly and pointedly, meeting her eyes evenly. "Your father was unconscious for several hours after the accident. And I know we told you that he broke a few ribs… but we didn't tell you his lung collapsed and they had to put a chest tube in at the scene and then they gave him drugs to keep him out because the pain would've been too severe…" He sighed apologetically as her eyes continued to bore into him. He shook his head slightly. "That's all, I swear…"
Her grip on his hand relaxed and she almost smiled. "I'm not surprised," she said quietly and he frowned. She looked at him affectionately, knowing he was trying to shield her from the truth out of love and not guilt. "I've learned over the years that Mike only tells me what he wants me to hear and there's usually a lot more he never tells me. I'm okay with that. And he's home, he's going to be fine, I know that… so him not telling me what happened at the accident… well, I was kind of expecting that too…"
Confused, Steve shrugged a question and she shook her head. "It's not about the accident… it's something else. Something I can't put my finger on right now… but something's bothering him…" She smiled and squeezed his hand, lovingly this time. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out. Like I said, I'm not a cop's daughter for nothing you know…" With a soft laugh, she released his hand and stood, picking up a couple of dirty plates and starting for the counter.
He watched her with appreciative awe.
# # # # #
There was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in!"
It was pushed open then there was a beat before a beaming Jeannie came into the room with a tray. "Sorry, had to put this on the floor before I could open the door," she chuckled as she moved to the chair and put it down. She quickly closed the door then returned to the chair. "Dessert is served!" she announced with a giggle as she picked up a plate and fork and handed it to her father, who was sitting up on the bed, supported by the pillows piled against the headboard.
He looked at the steaming apple pie, with the rapidly melting scoop of vanilla ice cream, then back up at his daughter who, with her own plate in her hand, was settling down onto the bed beside him. He inhaled deeply, briefly closing his eyes. "This smells wonderful!" He put it on his lap and picked up the fork.
"It tastes wonderful," she crowed, cutting off a piece and popping it into her mouth.
He did the same, beaming.
Smiling, she watched him eat the first bite. When he started to cut off another piece, she asked quietly, "So what's going on, Mike?"
He froze slightly and looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What do you mean?" He was just about to bring the forkful of pie to his mouth when she put her hand on his forearm and stopped him. Her smile disappeared.
"What's going on, Daddy? Something's bothering you and it has nothing to do with the case." She stared at him without blinking. "I know you… and I know when you're hiding something from me. And it's more than just this case… I know it is…" She tightened her fingers around his forearm, feeling his muscles tighten.
He stared back for several long seconds, then he looked down and slowly put the fork on the plate. Eventually he said softly, "You're right… there is something." He looked at her sadly. "And it's something I should have told you a long time ago…"