Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(75)

Mel really wanted to go see Brie, but she felt she had to stay at the clinic while Mike interviewed her patient. David had been napping in the reception area in his playpen and she heard him start to rouse. Before long he sent up an alarm and she had to go pick him up, change him, cuddle him quiet. Over an hour passed before Mike walked Sophie out of the kitchen. He had a hand on her back, solicitously escorting her, thanking her in soft tones for helping him so much.

By the moony eyes Sophie turned up to Mike’s face, not only had he won her over, she adored him. Trusted him completely.

When Sophie had gone, Mike looked at Mel and gave her a somber nod.

“We have a bad one on the loose, don’t we?” she asked.

He nodded. “Or ones. Now I have names. Now I can talk to some other youngsters, one of whom I suspect is one of your other girls—because the name didn’t come from you.”

“What’ll you do?”

“Interview. Right away. And I’m going to have to round up some support for Sophie—she’s going to need to talk to a professional.”

“Family Planning might help with that. And the county has a sexual assault response team.”

He shook his head almost sadly. “When I took this job, this is the last thing I expected to be up against.”

“Brie is barely here,” Mel said sympathetically.

“She’ll understand, Mel. In fact, I’m going to have to talk to her about this.”

“I never tell Jack….”

He gave a nod. “I’ll ask her to be sensitive to that, but after what Brie’s been through, I have to be up front about this. She’s been lied to—things have been withheld from her. I can’t keep something like this back from her. It’s real important. We’ve barely begun….”

Mel held up a hand. “You know what you can and can’t do—and you know we can’t have these teenagers exposed.” He nodded. “I want to see her. Brie. When can I see her?” she asked, jostling David.

“I think as soon as ten minutes. Give me a head start?”

“Sure. At least.”

Something wonderful happened to Mike’s heart when his hand touched the door to his RV, just knowing she was there. Everything about that felt right. When he stepped inside, there she was, waiting. Brie had tidied up the place, put away their clothes and made up the bed. She was sitting at the small table with a tablet in front of her, writing, and looked up at him with those soft, glowing eyes.

He couldn’t help himself—the first thing he did was go to her, lean down and kiss her. “What are you doing?” he asked, sitting opposite her.

“Writing my resignation to the prosecutor’s office,” she said. “And making a list. I’m going to start looking for an office. If I’m going to stay here, I’m going to work. And I’m going to stay here.”

“An office?”

“Uh-huh. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m a lawyer. I can’t work out of this space because I’ll need my things. My computer, books, et cetera.”

“I love hearing this. Are we sure we want to make Virgin River home?”

“I can do it, although I don’t think I’m going to find an office in this little town. In fact, who knows where I’ll find work? I might have to commute to one of the larger towns, or maybe I’ll be taking whatever work there is in some of these small towns. But, Mike—do you want to leave Virgin River? Because I think you know—I’ll go anywhere with you.”

He reached for her hands and held them. “I love it here. The best part of my life has come to me here. I have a suggestion. Instead of looking for an office, think about looking for a house. One large enough for an office at home, or one with the space to build on. You could work out of our home.”

“You think?”

“If we’re going to go with nature, something tells me the need for more space will present itself before long. How do you feel about that?”

She smiled at him. “Like going forward with you.”

“Am I getting ahead of you?” he asked her. “This is quick. Your brother, your father, your sisters—they’re going to point out how fast we’re moving. People are going to say we’re crazy.”

“I don’t care,” she said, shaking her head. “I haven’t felt this good in well over a year. I’m due a little crazy happiness. When do you think we’ll come down to earth?”

“Sooner than you think. I have some work I have to do. Police work. It’s going to tie me up a little bit, but it’s very important.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“I want to talk to you about it, but it’s very sensitive. It could be upsetting.”

“Okay. I’m good with sensitive. And I’ll try to look upsetting in the face.”

“Mel doesn’t share things like this with anyone, even Jack. She hopes I might help investigate. I told her I was going to talk to you for a lot of reasons, but you’ll have to be discreet with your brother. No question—he can be completely trusted, but this is an arrangement they have and I don’t want to get in the way of that.”

“Okay,” she said.

“Mel has had some young patients she suspects have encountered a date raper. From what she describes, I believe she’s right. I finally have some names—I’m going to do some interviews. See if I can get a fix on what’s happened and who this could be. Then I’m going to get him. Or them.”