Black Hills

good.”
    “It’s the right investment.”
    “Well. There, she’s off the line. Better get in there before she calls somebody else.”
    “Mary, do you have any problem with me taking Lil off for a couple hours?”
    “Not if it’s somewhere that doesn’t involve work and worry, which is all she’s been doing the last few weeks.”
    “That’s a deal.”
    “Don’t let her say no,” Mary ordered, as he walked to Lil’s office.
    She sat angled toward her monitor, fingers on her keyboard.
    He wondered if she had any idea how pale she was, or how shadowed her eyes.
    “I’ve got a line on a tiger.”
    “Not a sentence you hear every day.”
    “Boris is lonely. Strip joint in Sioux City used a Bengal as part of an act.”
    “Did she strip?”
    “Ha ha. No, they kept her caged, or chained. Finally got shut down for animal abuse. She’s been declawed and drugged, and God knows. We’re going to take her.”
    “Good, go get her.”
    “I’m working on having her brought to us. A lot of red tape to wind through. I’m pushing for donations. She’s made some media outlets, and I can use it to beef things up. I just need to—”
    “Come with me.”
    He watched her tense. “Is something wrong? Something else?”
    “For the next hour or two, no. The tiger can wait. Everything can wait. We’ve got daylight.”
    “Cooper, I’m working. There’s a busload of middle-schoolers in the ed center, a bunch of people roaming around hooking up alarms. Matt just finished sewing up a fawn that got clipped by a car, and I’m working on getting Delilah here by early next week.”
    “I assume Delilah’s the tiger, not one of the dancers. I’ve got work of my own, Lil, and it’ll be here when we get back. Let’s go.”
    “Where? God, Coop, some poor man was killed and dumped in the Spearfish. I can’t think about taking a walk with you and discussing . . . whatever.”
    “We’re not walking. And I guess we do this the hard way.” He came around the desk, pulled her up out of the chair, and boosted her over his shoulder.
    “Oh, for God’s sake.” She gave his back a thump with her fist. “Cut it out. This is ridiculous. Don’t! Don’t you walk out of here with . . .”
    He grabbed her hat on the way. “We’ll be a few hours, Mary.”
    With her eyes laughing, Mary gave them a sober nod. “All right.”
    “You okay to close up if we’re not back?”
    “Not a problem.”
    “Stop it. This is my place. You don’t tell my staff—Don’t you step outside this building. Cooper, you’re embarrassing both of us.”
    “I’m not embarrassed.” He walked outside, continued toward the truck. “But you will be if you don’t sit where I put you, because I’ll just catch you and put you back again.”
    “You’re just making me mad.”
    “I can live with that.” He pulled open the passenger door, dumped her on the seat. “I mean it, Lil, I’ll just haul you back.” He reached across, hooked her seat belt, then dropped her hat in her lap. Ice-blue eyes met molten brown. “Stay where I put you.”
    “Oh, I’ll stay. I’ll stay because we’re not having this out here. I’m not having more of a scene here.”
    “Good enough.” He slammed the door, skirted the hood of the truck, then got behind the wheel. “We’re going riding. We’re not coming back until you’ve got some color back in your cheeks.” He glanced over. “I’m not talking pissed-off color.”
    “Pissed-off is all you’re going to get.”
    “We’ll see.” He headed down the road. “We’ll drive to Rimrock. We could consider that neutral ground.” And miles away from where Tyler’s body had been found.
    “What’s the point of this?”
    “The point is you need a break, and so do I. And Lil, we’ve put this off long enough.”
    “I decide when I need a break. Damn it, Coop, I don’t know why you’d want to make me so mad. I’ve got enough going on without working in a fight with you—and we were fine. Just last night we were fine.”
    “You were too worn-out to get into this last night. I’d rather have you mad than almost in tears with the idea of talking to me.”
    “I’ve been talking to you plenty.” She leaned her head back, shut her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Cooper, a man is dead. Dead. And you’re pushing this? Talking about what? What’s over and done?”
    “That’s right, a man’s dead. And the one who did it has you in the crosshairs. You need help, but you don’t trust me.”
    With sharp,