AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She laughed again and said, “I know. That’s why I’m going to get you books.”
He sighed. “I still feel like you’re teasing me, but I can’t tell how.”
“Good.”
He chuckled. “Asshole. But you understand my point, right?”
She sighed. “I do, but this isn’t me eliminating the impossible. This is me grasping at straws. I just feel bad because I feel like I’m not one hundred percent.”
“I already know what you’re going to say,” David said, “but I feel a need to point this out anyway. You were just attacked by a serial killer who has tried to kill you multiple times, not to mention me and Turk. You’re allowed to be a little off your game.”
“No, I’m not. Not this game. If I’m off my game, people die.”
“I knew you were going to say that,” he replied, “and I know what you’re going to say when I tell you the next thing. But it would be perfectly fine for you to take some time off.”
She sighed again. “I know. But I’m here now. I can’t just run home and let someone else do my job. I can’t leave Michael alone.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know there’s no point in arguing any further about that,” he said. “Instead, I’m just going to tell you that you’ve called me feeling this way several times before.”
“Not about me being the reason for it.”
“The specifics are different, but the general idea is the same. You want to solve these cases before anyone else gets hurt, and you take it personally when you can’t do that. That drive to help people is what makes you a great detective.”
“I don’t feel like a great detective.”
“Then stop focusing on yourself.”
Faith blinked. She had called David to feel better about herself. Having her bluntly tell her that she needed to stop thinking about herself at all was not the direction she anticipated this conversation going. “I get that it’s not all about me,” she replied. “I just… I don’t know. I feel bad. I messed up.”
“I know. It sucks. I mess up sometimes too. But when I mess up, I can’t just feel bad about my screwup. If I mope around about the mistakes I make, I make more mistakes and my patients die.
“I don’t know your job, Faith. I don’t know what you deal with, and I can only guess as to what making a mistake will feel like for you. But I feel pretty confident in saying that you have to find a way to get over those mistakes and keep moving forward. So, since you won’t come home and take a break like a normal person, you need to put your personal feelings aside and leave your mistakes in the past. Dwelling on them won’t help your victims. It won’t catch your killer.”
She pressed her lips together. “You’re right. I’m being selfish. I need to just refocus and do my job and not think about my mistakes up to this point.”
“And you need to remember that you have caught every single killer you’ve ever gone after. Even Trammell and West. Sure you had help with both of them, and you had help with a lot of the others too, but you found them. All of them. You brought them to justice. You made sure they couldn’t hurt anyone else ever again. Every time. You'll get this guy, too. Or girl. Are any of them girls?”
“Not many,” Faith said, “but some.”
“Then you’ll get this bitch.”
Faith giggled and David said. “See? You’re feeling better already. You’re Faith motherfucking Bold. Killers have nightmares about you. There’s a reason the FBI has your picture on the home page of their website.”
“They don’t have my picture on the home page.”
“Well, they should. What the hell’s going on with the brass down there? I’ll make some calls. You should have an entourage, for God’s sake. You’re a superhero.”
She giggled again and said, “Well, I don’t know about that. But it’s nice to hear anyway. Thank you, David.”
“Anytime, my love.”
No disappointment on Earth was enough to dim the glow in Faith’s heart right now. She loved him so much. Not only had he made her feel better, but he’d also snapped her out of her self-focus and reminded her that she needed to move past her mistakes, not dwell on them.
“I miss you,” she said softly. “I wish you were here right now.”
“Me too. Maybe I could help catch dog criminals using my keen understanding of the canine mind.”
She giggled. “Yeah, that would be fun. You could be the dog whisperer. Oh wait, they already have that.”
