Leverage in Death (In Death, #47)

by J.D. Robb

“The unrestricted love of a child is a precious gift.” “I get that.” “I thought you would tell him, was sure of it. I was wrong.” She didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I didn’t have proof,” she began, and he said nothing. “And what good would it have done, for him, if I’d told Roarke I suspected the man he thinks of as his father killed Patrick Roarke?” “I thought you would tell him,” Summerset said again, simply. “Due to—beyond our personal … friction—your duty to the law, and your loyalty to Roarke.” “Those are exactly the reasons I didn’t tell him.” “I don’t understand you.” “Guess not.” She started to continue up, stopped. “Okay, here it is, then it’s done. I believe absolutely in the law, the need for it, the rules of it, the need and rules of it that lead to justice. I’d be nothing without believing that. But that was a different time and place, and circumstances. You had no one in authority you could trust to serve and protect, to stand for you when a fucking monster threatened to rape, torture, and kill two children. He’d have followed through on that threat because there was no one to stop him. You did. Roarke’s here because you stopped Patrick Roarke, because you protected the child he was at that time, in that place, in those circumstances. That’s enough for me.” “There were no cops such as you in that time and place.” “Times change.” She continued up. “Put it away.” “Perhaps I can,” Summerset agreed. She stopped one more time. “You don’t get points for teachin...