Free Road Less Traveled by Cris Ramsay

that flashed across Fargo’s face.
    â€œA little more speed then and you’d have caught him in the first place,” Fargo muttered in response, then shrank back as Jo turned on him, fists clenched. “Hey!”
    â€œEnough!” Carter reprimanded them both. He felt like he was dealing with two squabbling children. “Do I have to separate the two of you?”
    â€œYes!” Jo replied immediately.
    He just shook his head.
    â€œKeep looking,” he instructed instead. “And try to get along, okay? The sooner we find this thief and retrieve the egg, the sooner Fargo can go back to GD and we can get back to whatever other problems have cropped up in the meantime.”
    â€œWhat’re you going to do?” Jo called out as Carter headed for his Jeep.
    â€œMe?” he answered, pulling open the door. “I’m going to get something to eat.”
    She was still glaring at him as he drove away.

CHAPTER 7
    â€œHey.”
    Carter waited, but Dr. Russell didn’t respond. She had her back to him, though, head down on her crossed arms on the desk, so perhaps she hadn’t heard him. He stepped all the way into her lab and tried again.
    â€œDr. Russell?”
    â€œHm?” This time she turned slightly, and favored him with a wan smile. It was pale echo of the warm look she’d given him this morning. “Oh, hello, Sheriff.”
    â€œHey, are you okay?” He walked across to the desk and leaned against it, not too close to invade her space but close enough to talk easily. From there he could see that she’d probably continued crying for some time after he’d left, even with Allison’s attempts to suggest positive sides to the experiment’s failure. What little makeup she’d been wearing had long since run and then dried, leaving faint streaks of mascara down her cheeks. She was still just as striking, however.
    â€œI don’t know,” she admitted quietly. “I’ve been working on this project for the past two years. I thought we’d worked out all the variables, answered any possible problems, closed off any risk of course deviation. But still—” She waved her hand at the screen. It still showed the same image of downtown Eureka.
    â€œDidn’t you say something this morning about the inputs being misaligned?” he asked her softly. But she shook her head.
    â€œIt was a possibility, but we checked them again, and then again. They’re exactly as they should be.” She straightened up and tossed her hair back—it was a bit tousled now, though the look suited her. “Basically I just need to face the fact that I screwed up somewhere.”
    â€œI’m really sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say.
    â€œNot your fault.” She gave him another weak smile. “Nobody’s, really. Just my own.” She looked like she might start crying again.
    â€œDo you want me to leave you alone?” Carter asked. He’d noticed that the techs weren’t around—he’d been heading down to check on the GD security logs and had decided to swing past her lab, and the door had been open.
    â€œI’m sorry, I’m afraid I’m not very good company right now,” Dr. Russell answered.
    â€œNo problem.” He hopped down off the desk. “If you do need anything, though, just let me know. Okay?” She nodded, but he wasn’t sure she’d really registered what he’d said. That was all right.
    He backed up, but paused at the top of the steps to look at the monitor again. The image really was very cool, despite it not being what she’d wanted. He could watch all of downtown from there, see everybody—there went Taggart, in fact, and two of the Bakers, and he recognized David Boyd. And he could make out the edge of his office from this vantage point, and if he looked down along the street, he could see—
    Huh.
    That was odd.
    He blinked and