Critical Reaction by Todd M. Johnson Page A

lunch.”
    With an effort, Poppy smiled back. She deserved it, he thought.She needed a respite from this as much as he did.
    For a moment, he wondered if he should’ve sent the email so quickly, whether he should have thought about it for awhile. But no. He’d been pussyfooting with these guys long enough. Now they’d know for sure he wasn’t going away. Not withoutsome answers. Besides, the email was gone; he couldn’t bring it back.
    “I’m fine with that, long as you’re buying,” he said, standing and walking toward the bedroom to change—and swatting her gently as he passed by.

CHAPTER 9
    Ryan sat in his room for half an hour after they returned from the drive around Hanford, leaving Emily alone. At last, he rose, grabbed his bags, and headed downstairs to load them into the Avalon—before returning to her door and knocking.
    “Come in,” her voice called through the door.
    Emily was seated on the window seat. Her face looked drawn. Her bag, he saw, was still unpacked at the end of the bed.
    Ryan worried at the sight of it. “Why isn’t your bag in your car, Emily? We’ve got to check out.”
    “Go ahead,” she returned.
    “You’re coming, right?”
    “No.”
    His stomach lurched. “Come on, Emily. You can’t be serious. This is a killer of a case. We’d just be prolonging this kid’s agony by taking it on.”
    He saw now that his daughter’s eyes wore the placidity of a decision. “His name’s Kieran, Dad. And I already extended my stay at the B&B. I’m calling Frank tomorrow to take my vacation, plus a leave of absence. I understand what you’re saying about Kieran’s case. You don’t have to represent him. But I will.”
    “Don’t be idiotic,” he shot back. “You can’t represent him in this, of all cases.”
    “Take a look at my diploma,” she said. “And I’ve been in a courtroom before.”
    “For two years. In criminal cases.”
    She sat silent.
    “Why? Why do you have to do this?”
    The defiance in Emily’s eyes became something harder. “Because he was there for me when Mom was sick,” she said softly. “When nobody else was. Nobody. And by the way, Mom thought a lot of Kieran.”
    “Carolyn met Kieran?” Ryan asked, startled.
    Emily shook her head. “No. But we talked about him a lot. When she was in the hospital.”
    The room emptied of oxygen. Ryan felt an agony of anger and sadness flowing into his chest and face; he knew that Emily could see it too.
    What did she know about that time?
    “Good luck,” he said.
    He slammed the door shut behind him and took the stairs to the first floor in a haze. Pavia was there, behind the counter. The proprietor looked disturbed; he’d heard the door slam, Ryan thought distantly.
    Ryan sat for half an hour in his Avalon, the engine running, while the hot sun’s reflection glinted in the chrome rimming the dusty hood. His mood tilted back and forth on a sharp edge between anger and guilt. Emily didn’t understand what those last two years had been like. He’d barely had enough emotional strength for Carolyn. He’d used every drop on the woman he loved. There was none left over for Emily. Now he wouldn’t be shamed into taking this miserable case to appease her—or to honor what Emily claimed Carolyn thought of Kieran.
    When he finally looked at the car clock it was after two. He reached to put the car into gear.
    Instead, he turned off the engine. Grabbing his bags, he climbed the front stairs to the B&B, returning to Pavia, who looked up at Ryan with anxious eyes.
    “I want to keep my room for another day. That okay?”
    The hotel owner nodded.
    Ryan headed back upstairs to his room. He was going for a run.

    He weaved through the hot air and the busy foot traffic on the path through River Park. Blurred flashes of color from joggers and runners passed by as he pushed his pace faster and faster, the sweat burning his eyes, each breath coming more quickly after the last.
    A side path approached on his right, heading