Tuesday Tales: From the Word WATER

Welcom to this week’s Tuesday Tales. The weather is cooperating for a change and I’ looking forward to walking outside and sitting in the sun today. Our word prompt this week is WATER. I’m continuing with And Justice for All, my romance suspense. Enjoy!

With sirens blaring and lights flashing, the SUV ate up the highway as it returned to the scene of this morning’s crime. Harry’s focus was on the road ahead, but she doubted he saw anything through those chocolate eyes of his. He was driving on instinct, his mind processing everything that had happened. Here and there, puddles of water dotted the sides of the highway, a reminder that the rain hadn’t ended all that long ago.

“A penny for your thoughts.”

His words made her jump.

She shifted her gaze and examined his chiselled profile. There was no denying that the last eight years had been kind to him. Sure, there was a touch more gray in his hair and his beard, and the character lines at his eyes might be deeper, but he was still a man who could smile despite everything the world had thrown at him. She didn’t doubt he was as physically fit as ever, although, he would have a scar just as she did, a reminder that someone didn’t want either of them to be alive.

“I doubt my thoughts are worth a penny even if we still had that coin. I was just thinking about how different this day has turned out. When I went into the office this morning, I went through my usual actions, mired in self-pity at finding nothing new, more or less the way I have been for the last few months … and then Lieutenant Morris called me into his office. The next thing I know, I’m gone without even the time to say goodbye to anyone, and here I am now. I can honestly say, this is the very last place I ever expected to be. What happened to me, to Cliff, to you, was horrible, but what happened on that river this morning is a thousand times worse. So the only thing eating at me is this … why am I on this task force, Harry? You have all kinds of experts at your disposal. What do I bring to the team? I’m not a forensic expert, not a techie, and certainly not a body retrieval diver. I’m a small-town cop.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re smart and you’re observant. People confide in you, the way Kelly did. You learned more about one of our victims as a person than I did examining all the evidence. Now that Daniels called with the information about what he found on the island, something we might’ve missed if the weather had persisted, what you learned could make all the difference.”

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.