Hooked

time for food and sleep.”
    “How is he?”
    She told him what she knew, biting back the tears. “Tell him something for me, will you?”
    “Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
    Tawny glimpsed Harry through the glass doors. He saw her, scowled, then turned away. “Tell him I…tell him thanks. He saved my life and I’ll be forever grateful. For everything.” She started to walk away when Dennis grabbed her arm.
    “I’m sure he’d want to hear that from you in person.”
    “I’ll be back,” she said, knowing she wouldn’t. She hailed a cab and went home.

Epilogue
    Six Months Later

    “H iya, Walsh.”
    Linc placed a briefcase in the passenger seat of his parked car before he looked her way. Dressed casually, no suit and tie under his open parka, hair a little longer than the length he wore it six months before. Still a handsome picture. He hadn’t seen her sitting on the side steps of his house when he came out the front door. She’d arrived early, bundled up against the frigid February weather.
    “Tawny,” he said, surprised. “What…what are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe .”
    “No ‘Good to see you, Tawny? How are you? You’re looking good?’ Just ‘What are you doing here?’”
    “You caught me off guard. I figured you were gone for good. I didn’t expect to see you sitting on the steps of my house.”
    “That was the point.”
    “I guess I’m not cool enough to act blasé.”
    “You? Not cool? Don’t be ridiculous.” That got a smile out of him. She was on a roll, if one smile was a roll.
    “How’d you know where I lived?”
    “You’re not the only detective, you know.” She grinned. “First I called your office and asked for you. I would have called Harry, but I don’t think he likes me very much.” She paused, noticed the frown on Walsh’s face. “They told me you’d resigned. I left a message for your partner. He called me back and told me where you lived. I taxied over.”
    “My ex-partner, you mean.”
    “Why’d you leave, Walsh? You were their golden boy, had it made. Hero and everything. Dennis said you still have problems with your shoulder, and you have some numbness in your arm and hand. Is that why?”
    Walsh grimaced. “It was a good excuse, but no, that’s not the reason. I still have some mobility problems, still doing therapy, but it’s getting better every day. Should be back to normal in a couple of months. The numbness is pretty much gone.” He wriggled his hand, settled his beautiful dark eyes on her. “Guess I lost my taste for it all.”
    “Have anything to do with Harry?”
    He avoided her eyes. “Why’d you ask that?”
    “A guess. I heard he retired too.”
    “Had a lot to do with him. But there were other factors.”
    He turned back to her. This time his gaze penetrated with such intensity she felt naked and exposed. “Me?” she asked.
    Walsh shrugged. “Dennis gave me your message when I woke up in the hospital. Then the nurse told me she got a call from a woman every day while I was there, asking about my condition. I knew it had to be you. I called you, but you never answered. Was that on purpose?”
    She nodded.
    “Why?”
    “A million reasons―and none.”
    “Not a very satisfying answer.”
    He was still staring at her, but satisfying or not, it was the best answer she could come up with right then. She didn’t add anything to it.
    “When I got out, I went to your loft to thank you for sitting vigil and for caring, but you were gone. To Europe , Tony said. Even gave him your plants. You left without telling me in person, not even goodbye.” He closed the door of his car and wrapped his arms across his chest. “What made you come back? The feds kept their part of the bargain and cleared your name. You had nothing hanging over you.”
    “Yup, I paid them all their money. I guess almost dying gave me some credibility.”
    “Why?” he persisted.
    “Oh,” she said in a long breath, “ Europe wasn’t as much fun as I thought it’d be. Times had changed; nothing was as I remembered. I love museums, but in my state of mind I found them claustrophobic. I needed to get out and do something. I minored in archeology in college, so I went to Israel, worked on a dig for a while. Then I realized I was homesick. Can you believe that? There I was, amid all that history, padding my résumé to expand to more than my specialties, and I was homesick.”
    “For what?”
    Though bundled up in a warm coat, the