Snitch, Carrie thinks. For a moment, it’s all too familiar. How many times did they have this exact conversation at this table, late at night?

“I was just looking to say hi to Hailey,” she says. “You know. Catch up.”

Her father sighs and looks away. With a small start, Carrie realizes, for the first time in her life, that this is where she gets that little mannerism. They have exactly the same response to bullshit. She wonders how it took her this long to see it.

“You know, it’s always hurt a little that you think I’m stupid.”

“Dad, I don’t — ”

“You think I don’t know what it looks like when you’re working a case? After all this time? For God’s sake, Carrie.”

“All right,” she says, “I’ll level with you.” She takes out her phone, and taps over to the photos. She takes a deep breath. This is going to require a lot of explanation, going back a long way.

But when she looks up, she sees him shaking his head. His face is tight with anger.

“Don’t,” he says. “Whatever this is, whatever you’ve gotten mixed up in, do me a favor: keep it to yourself.”

Carrie is baffled for a moment. He’s her dad. He needs to know about this. She needs his help. This was the way it always worked. She would uncover the problem. He would tell her to stop, to leave it to the professionals. Then she’d solve the crime, and he’d snap on the cuffs.

“Carrie, you’re my daughter and I love you, and I always will. But this is not my job anymore. And it’s not yours, either. Leave it alone. For once in your life, please, I am begging you. Leave it alone. ”

“Dad, there are people in danger. Middleton — ”

He pounds his hand down on the table, cutting her off. Pearl jumps, looks scared. “Oh, you don’t give a damn about anyone here, Carrie. You only want to solve the puzzle. You want answers. And you don’t care what happens to anyone else as long as you get them.”

Carrie feels like she’s been slapped. “That’s not true,” she says. At least, not all of it.

“Really?” he says. “Because that’s how it always looked to me.”

There it is. It’s been twenty years, but the wound hasn’t ever healed for him.