Chapter Two

"What's going on with you partner?" Tidwell opened testily.

"She's getting coffee," Charlie deliberately played dumb.

"She's getting coffee," Tidwell parroted in a sing-songy voice, "Okay wise ass, I know that. That's not what I mean."

"Maybe you should say what you mean," the con in Charlie menaced.

He still hadn't taken a seat and his height was an advantage he seldom used, but in this instance looking down at the other man set an unmistakable tone. His posture screamed, "you may be my boss, but you're not in charge."

Tidwell got the message because his next comment was far more respectful and his tone more level. "I know she told you we broke up."

Charlie said nothing to confirm or deny this. Tidwell was his boss, but Dani was his partner. His allegiance was to her.

"She tell you why we broke up?" Tidwell probed.

"Most couples break up over money or someone cheating," Charlie volunteered cheerfully. "Which one was it with you?"

Tidwell's face flushed and Crews watched him try to control his anger. "You need to choose your words carefully Detective," Tidwell glowered.

"After awhile words just aren't enough," Crews continued breezily, "they fail us. There are never enough of them, they aren't the right words and in the end they are just idle sounds if no meaning stands behind them."

"You…" Tidwell shook his head.

"I… what? Piss you off? Perplex you?"

Tidwell however had never moved beyond the reason he ordered Crews into his office to begin with – why – in his opinion, the little dark haired woman left him – Crews. "She loves you," Tidwell shouted in hoarse whisper.

This shocked Charlie, but he was careful not to show it. He said nothing, did nothing, but inside his mind and heart raced. His thoughts ran back to that orange grove six months prior and the look she gave him through a sheet of glass. The look that was one part wonder, one part concern and one part adoration. He'd run as far and as fast from that look as he could and not leave the country. He'd let her go because that was best for her – and yet….

"Did you hear what I said, you stupid bastard?" Tidwell leaned across his desk. His knuckles went white from the pressure. "She loves you," there was defeat in his voice.

Again Charlie said nothing, but he was thinking lots of things, some naughty, some nice, some past, some present, some future.

"Say something," Tidwell demanded.

"Like what?" Charlie wondered.

"Tell me what you think," Tidwell demanded.

"I think I'd like to be somewhere else," Charlie puzzled the man with his words, "but I can't be somewhere else because I am here."

Tidwell sighed in fury and ran his hands through his hair. "Get out," he pointed.

Charlie obeyed meekly and then pushed in his chair at his desk and then set off to find his partner who had yet to profess these imagined feelings to him. He had to consider that when someone leaves a partner, the partner often feels it is for another - even if sometimes it is not.