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"Here, let me help you"

Reilly braced her stance between two boulders the size of wing chairs, and then bent down and reached her hand out

Veck looked up at her for a moment "Thanks"

Their pal all her weight into the lift Even with the ballast, he was like pulling a car up out of a ditch, and she had the very clear sense that if he hadn&039;t juone nowhere

As he joined her on the plateau, they looked around They&039;d been working the quarry&039;s long slope for a nuhts into shallow caves and outcroppings of rocks The search and rescue officers were tackling the steep side and the other CPDers were far over on the left or going around the rily, the sheer expanse of what there was to cover overwhel her

And the undercurrents with Veck, the things unsaid, didn&039;t help

God, she hated this whole thing Especially the fact that they were trying to find the body of a young girl

"There&039;s another cave over here," she said, juround

The terrain had looked rough from the rim of the quarry Up close, it was an obstacle course, the kind of landscape you wanted to wear hiking boots to tackle - so good thing extra outerwear and backup evidence kits weren&039;t the only gear and supplies she kept in her trunk Good thing also that the rain froht before had stopped or this would have been beyond grueling As it was, the tops of the rocks had already dried fro; the puddles and h

"You ever been here before?" Veck asked after he landed next to her As usual, he didn&039;t have enough clothes on -

Hold up, let&039;s rephrase that, she thought: As usual, he wasn&039;t dressed warh, and his footas more office-bound than Outward Bound Not that he seeh his shoes were no doubt ruined, and his black windbreaker had all the insulation of a sheet of paper against the cool breeze, he was soldiering on, sure as if he were perfectly co up a sweat

Wait, as the question?

"Like lanced up to the ri ripped a giant pot out of the earth"

"Big solaciers"

"Either that or God was a golfer and the pin he was aihed a little "Personally, I&039;ll put my money on prehistoric ice In fact, this is just called "the quarry" - it&039;s never been one, just looks like one"

They surain, and pressed onward toward the darkfor looked larger than the others they&039;d been to already, and up close, its entrance seeh there was no way Veck&039;s shoulders were going to fit unless he turned sideways

Shining her light in, there was nothing but a whole lot of rock wall and dirt floor, and God, the stink Dank, musty They all smelled the same, as if the place had one and only one kind of body odor

"Nothing," she said "But I can&039;t see the end of it"

"Let o in further"

Noould have been the perfect time to modern-woman it and hit him with a Hell, no, I&039;ll take care of this But heaven only kneas in there, and she was not a huge fan of bats Bears Snakes Spiders

The great outdoors was the one area where she skewed solidly chick

After she stepped aside, Veck pivoted and squeezed into the thin space The fact that even his chest was a tight fit reminded her of just howaway, she tried to find the next target Desperately

"Nothing," Veck ed and made a red X with spray paint on the stone

"Wait, you have - " She rose up on her toes and brushed the cobweb from his hair "There, ed her hand as she went to turn away

When she jerked in surprise and then looked around quickly, he said, "Don&039;t worry, no one can see us"

Guess that was true: They were down in between three ood news, because privacy was not what they needed Spotlights A stage Bullhorns strapped to their faces, was more like it -

"Look, I know this isn&039;t appropriate," he murmured in a voice that made her heart pound even harder "But that shit that Kroner said - about knowing me?"

Reilly exhaled in relief Thank God it wasn&039;t about them "Yes?"

Veck released his hold, and paced in a little circle Then he took out a cigarette, lit it, and blew the smoke away from her "I think on some level, that&039;s what scareslike a fool for freaking out, she eased back on the sun-warmed flank of a boulder "What do you mean?"

Veck stared up at the sky, the shadow of his strong chin falling on his chest and giving the appearance of a dark arch cut out of his torso "Like recognizes like "

"You really think you&039;d tried to kill hi to sound crazybut it feels like my father is alith ht at that black shadow "It&039;s thisthing, that&039;s a part of me, but notto get out - " He cut himself off with a curse "Oh, Christ, listen to this bullshit - "

"It is not bullshit" When he looked over, she stared right back at himents No other audience, ever Provided you haven&039;t broken the law"

Histhat can get h I really wondered if I had with Kroner in those woods"

"Well, if you have a fear that you&039;re like your father, and there&039;s a bloodbath in front of you, and you can&039;t re - of course you would"

"I don&039;t want to be like him Ever"

"You aren&039;t"

"You don&039;t know h her, in spite of the fact that her feet were dry and toasty, and she earing a parka and gloves And he was so sure of being a stranger to her, that she wondered why the truisain, sex and sexual attraction had a way ofyou feel close, when in fact it was just about two bodies rubbing together

How much did she really know about him? Not much other than as in his HR file at work

She was certain of one thing, however: He had not, in fact, hurt that man

"You need to talk to someone who&039;s a professional," she said Because of course there had to be psychological repercussions to having a father like that "Get this burden off of you"

"But that&039;s the proble about the tone he used made that chill return - tenfold Except now she was just thinking crazy "And I&039; you, you need to talk it out"

He resu white streaks of cloud

After a moment, he said, "I was relieved when you left so quickly last night"

Well, wasn&039;t that a slap in the face to bring her back to her senses "I&039;e