Don't Die Under the Apple Tree
Page 22
“Sure. I’ve invested too much time clearing your name to let you run afoul of the law again.”
“Run afoul of the law? And say, what do you mean you cleared my name? I wasn’t exactly wringing my hands in despair waiting to be rescued from the gallows.”
“No, you weren’t,” Riordan agreed, with more than a hint of admiration in his voice.
“If anything, I single-handedly solved the case,” she half-jokingly said.
“Single-handedly?”
“That’s right.”
“Uh-huh ... I could argue that I pitched in a little, but since I’m a gentleman and already in a considerable amount of pain, let’s just call it a draw, shall we?”
“Agreed,” Rosie said with a sparkle in her eye.
“Besides”—Riordan’s face grew somber—“now that we know what’s really going on, the question isn’t ‘Who solved the case?’ or ‘Who saved you from Delaney? ’ It’s ‘Who’s going to save the waterfront from Costello?’”
Rosie shook her head slowly and frowned. “Who’s going to save any of us, Lieutenant Riordan? The Nazis are taking over Europe and Africa, mobsters are taking over New York, profiteers are taking over the war effort, and our government nods its head and cries ‘Victory’ in spite of it all. What hope is left?”
Riordan reached into the white bag and handed Rosie a cruller. “You,” he replied. “You and other people who aren’t satisfied with just making do, Mrs. Keefe.”
Rosie bit her lip in thought. “Well, I guess my being at Pushey made a little bit of a difference, didn’t it? At least to the women there.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you—well, you make a difference every day.”
“Not every day, but I try.”
“Yeah, but if you and I can do it, we all can do it.”
“Exactly.” Riordan raised his cruller and “clinked” it against hers. “To you, Mrs. Keefe.”
She giggled. “To you, Lieutenant Riordan.”
“And to you moving to Brooklyn,” he added with a boyish grin.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2012 by Amy Patricia Meade
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