“What are you talking about?” Nate asked. “Sweet Harbor has a five-star rating everywhere. Jessica’s famous for her hospitality, not to mention her cinnamon rolls. Most of her guests fall madly in love with the place and never want to leave. Some of them fall madly in love with her, but she’ll never leave Lost Harbor.”
Ethan had no idea how to respond to that, except to mumble something about “getting off on the wrong foot.”
But it didn’t matter anyway, because just then a teenage girl skipped across the grass from the drive-through line to the table. “Hi Darius, hi Nate. Do you have any extra cheeseburgers?” she asked. “I forgot my money.”
It had to be S.G. She fit the description perfectly—blond hair in a braid, pale gray eyes, extremely blunt and direct approach to things like food. She wore a pair of overalls over a yellow t-shirt, along with muddy Converse sneakers.
Darius tipped his hat back, smiled at her, and gestured at Ethan. “I think my friend there does. S.G., this is Ethan. Ethan, meet S.G.”
The girl barely glanced at him before homing in on the greasy paper bag at his elbow. “You have extra?”
“I do. Help yourself.”
She opened the bag and peered inside. She sniffed a few times, big inhales of air through her nostrils. Then she fixed him with a revolted frown. “These aren’t cheeseburgers. That’s fish.”
“Really?” He took the bag back from her and smelled for himself. Damnit, she was right, and the only reason he hadn’t noticed before was that the French fry smell had drowned out the scent of fish. “Sorry about that. They must have given me the wrong order. Any chance you like fish?”
“I hate fish. Too slimy.” She turned her focus to Nate. “Did you get an extra burger?”
“Not today, kid. I can share my fries though.”
She barely waited for him to offer the fries before she took a handful. Ethan recognized the behavior; he figured it was the result of “food insecurity”—the uncertainty about where your next meal was coming from. Even though S.G. had plenty of food now, she probably still remembered what it felt like not to.
He cleared his throat to get her attention. “How about I buy you a burger, to make up for the slimy fish?”
She shook her head, keeping her back to him. “No.”
He resisted the urge to correct her with a “no, thank you.” He wasn’t here to teach her manners. “Maybe some other time, then.”
“No.” She grabbed one more handful of french fries, then waved goodbye to them all. “I have to go back to work now. We’re harvesting the peonies.”
“Right. Tell Kate I’ll make dinner for her,” said Darius. “You too, if you want.”
“We have to work all night, then I have to sleep.”
“Don’t forget to have fun this summer,” Nate told her. Her fine eyebrows drew together as if she wasn’t sure what he was referring to. But she didn’t ask for an explanation, just ran back to the bicycle she’d left on its side next to the drive-through.
The two firemen gave Ethan a sympathetic look. “Sorry that didn’t work out.” Was Darius trying not to laugh? It sure seemed that way.
“First swing, right? When I tell her I’m working with Maya, she’ll relax. This is for her benefit, after all.”
“You should have told her that right away. She tends to be very black and white about things. Now she’ll think you weren’t straight with her.”
“Yup, sorry to say it, but you’re screwed,” said Nate cheerfully. “It was the fish, man. That was the nail in the coffin. S.G. can’t stand any kind of fish. When that girl makes up her mind about something, there’s no changing it. Might as well beat your head against this table.”
Ethan dragged the last bite of his burger through a puddle of ketchup. “I’m not even surprised,” he told the other two. “Didn’t I warn you I was bracing for disaster?”
“You did, but I thought you were being dramatic,” Nate said. “Can you work this case without talking to her? Maybe do it over the phone? I have her number.”
Ethan reached for his phone only to remember that it had disappeared after his last call with Charley. He’d searched all his clothes and pockets and his travel bag. He’d even stripped the bedding off his bed. He’d looked under the bed, through the antique desk, in every bureau drawer. No sign of it. He’d even wondered if Jessica had pulled another of her little jokes.
“On top of everything else, my phone’s missing,” he told the other two. “The good luck continues.”
“Strange things,” Darius said ominously. “Strange things.”
Ethan looked glumly at his bag of soggy fish burgers. He shoved it farther down the picnic table, only to watch the raven swoop down on it and fly away with the entire thing in his beak.
At least he had a couple of guys around to laugh about it with.
Chapter Eight
Jessica burst into the waiting room of the Aurora Bay Hospital emergency room. She spotted Maya sitting with her head in her hands, elbows propped on knees. When Jessica reached her side, she saw that her friend had tears dripping onto her hands.
The sight shocked her.
She’d seen Maya cry before, of course; when she’d sprained her wrist, when she’d lost her sweet sixteen necklace, when she’d broken up with Lucas Holt in high school. But it didn’t happen often. The sight tore a hole right through her heart. She sat down next to Maya and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Is he—“ She was so afraid that Harris might be gone that she couldn’t finish the question.
“He’s in there right now.” Maya lifted her face from her hands and wiped away her tears with the cuff of her sleeve. “He’s on IV fluids and they’re doing an ultrasound on his heart—” She broke off, her mouth twisting with the effort not to cry again.
“Maya, it’s okay to lose it, you know. You don’t always have to be calm and collected. You can be a freaked-out daughter.”
But her words didn’t have the effect she’d expected. Maya sat up, her spine stiffening. “No, Jess, I can’t lose it. I need to keep it together right now. If you want to help, help me do that.”
Jessica had never seen her so upset. “Of course I want to help. That’s why I’m here.”
Maya folded her lips together, as if fighting to hold onto her cool. She drummed her fingers on the seat next to her. “It’s driving me crazy waiting out here. If I’m not on their asses every second, how do I know they’ll do right by Dad?” Her honey-brown eyes flashed with true fear.
“Because they’re doctors doing their job. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Remember when my cousin was pregnant and she almost died of a blood clot because the doctor didn’t believe her?”
Tension sang in every line of Maya’s body. Jessica remembered that incident very clearly. It was the first time she’d realized that her beloved Badgers, being black, faced difficulties she didn’t know about.
“We won’t let anything like that happen,” Jessica said firmly. “We’ll raise hell, both of us.”