Free A Silent Fury by Lynette Eason Page A

You go see about your mother and I’ll take care of the case—and Alonso. Call me as soon as you know something.”
    She hesitated, stared up at him like she wanted to say something.
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œThank you, Joseph.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œJust…” She shrugged. “Thanks.”
    Five minutes later, he pulled up beside her car and placeda hand on her arm. “I know you need to go, but…be thinking about what you want, Catelyn, okay? When all this is over, could we please sit down and have a major talk?” Intense brown eyes held her captive.
    What she wanted? Have a major talk?
    â€œWhat do you mean, Joseph? I want to solve this case. I want to find Kelly Franklin, I want…”
    His finger covered her lips and she froze. “I mean—” his throat bobbed, betraying his cool, seemingly unaffected attitude “—is there a possibility for there to be an ‘us’ again? Could you possibly want to explore these feelings that are still there between us?”
    Catelyn shut her mind against the instant rush of wonderful memories with this man, and instead, focused on the reason they’d split up.
    â€œYou’re a cop.”
    His brown eyes glinted. She hadn’t denied she still had feelings for him and he’d picked up on that. “I’ll agree with that.”
    â€œWell, so am I. And I’m not giving that up.”
    â€œDid I ask you to?” Confusion flickered as he sat back to stare at her.
    â€œYes, Joseph, you did.”
    The stunned look on his face floored her. Did he not realize? “I told you about my father and you started acting just like him.”
    Stunned, he countered, “How did you come up with that? You said he wanted your mother to stay home and be mom and a wife. What’s wrong with that?”
    â€œEverything!”
    How could anyone so smart be so dense?
    She hopped out of his car and into hers, cranked the engine and sped off.
    Â 
    Women.
    Joseph drove back to his parents’ home with the vain hope that Alonso had come to his senses and returned there. The dogs would be here shortly to pick up the scent. Joseph would let them do their job while he did his.
    Parking in the drive, he shook his head, opened the door and dashed through the rain into the house. Having grown up in a household full of women, you’d think I would understand them by now, but I don’t, God, especially not Catelyn. What did I say that was so wrong? So I would prefer that she think about staying home instead of working. Is that so wrong?
    Guilt gnawed at him as he thought about the conversations that seemed to come in spurts. He’d never asked her to quit being cop.
    Not in so many words.
    But what did his actions say? Was he not saying something that he should put into words?
    But what? How could he reassure her that they could work everything out? What did she need to hear to put her fears to rest?
    Lost in thought, he intended to make his way to the back bedroom, the one across from his parents’ master bedroom, but his mother stepped out of the kitchen cutting off his path. “Is everything all right?” she signed.
    Not wanting to worry her, he signed back, “I think it will be. Nothing for you to be anxious about, okay?”
    She waved aside his words then planted her hands on ample hips before lifting them one more time to sign. “I may not be a big bad FBI agent, but I’m still a mother and I know when something’s wrong.” Narrowing her eyes, she signed, “If you don’t want to tell me, fine, but don’t try to tell me everything’sall right when your face, the tension in your shoulders and your heavy footsteps tell me another story.”
    â€œMom, I’m sorry.” He tamped down his impatience to get moving. “No, everything’s not all right, but I don’t want to say anything right now. There, is that