“Zack’s our town gem. Best food and the best bar for miles.”
“I believe it.” I started to say more, but his phone rang through the car, and his mood suddenly shifted to serious.
He switched off the speaker phone and pushed it through to his earpiece. “Hey.”
When I felt I could, I looked over at him and noticed his jaw was clenched. I could just barely hear a man’s voice on the other end. His hands tightened on the wheel, and he mouthed a curse word.
“I’ll come,” he said quickly and ended the call. Before I could ask what was going on, he pulled a U-turn, and we headed in the opposite direction.
“I need to deal with something before we can head back to the house. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come along for the ride. It shouldn’t take that long.”
“That’s okay.” I wasn’t really sure I wanted to know what made him this stressed, so I remained quiet. When we pulled onto a side road, I noticed his grip on the steering wheel was literally turning his knuckles white. A big red house sat on top of a hill with a matching red barn a few yards away. It was a huge piece of property and looked to be some type of farm, although I couldn’t tell what they grew because of how dark it was. Lights shone on the lower half of the house, and it looked as though a man was pacing behind a curtain.
John parked and turned to look at me. “You could stay here, but I don’t like to leave you alone out here, so I think you should come in.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine here.” I really didn’t mind, but the look on his face had me quickly open the door to follow him toward the house. Tripper trotted along on my heels. We walked up the stairs to the house, and he hesitated at the door.
“I’m sorry you have to see this.”
He opened the door and let me walk in first, and I spotted the woman on the couch in tears and a man in the corner looking like he was about to break down.
John hurried over to the woman and sat next to her, while Tripper followed cautiously. She started to panic when she saw the big fur ball, but John reminded her that she’d met Tripper before and that he’d been around for a while now.
“Ellie,” he said calmly, “what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to get into the car.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” He rubbed her back. “You don’t even have to go until tomorrow.”
Her breathing picked up, and her panic rose to the surface. Her words were slightly delayed, and I could see it took an effort for her to get them out. “I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t,” he assured her. “Just like last time, you didn’t die then, right?” John glanced over his shoulder at me, and I looked away when I saw the rawness inside him. I took it he didn’t share this side of himself with many people.
“Pops,” he called to the man in the corner, “I want you to meet Sloane. She’s a friend of mine. Could you maybe get her something warm to drink?”
The older man’s lifeless eyes found mine, and a small flicker of something flashed across his face. He stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“Hi, Sloane,” he said quietly. “Can I make you some coffee?”
I didn’t want any, but I could tell John needed me to be anywhere but here where he was.
“That sounds good, thank you.”
“Oliver.” He smiled warmly.
The kitchen was modern but had a lovely farmhouse feel to it. A chicken with jacked-up eyes stared at me from a shelf. It was creepy but funny as hell. I tried to hide my smile, but he must have caught it in the reflection of the window.
“That’s Hennie.” He filled the pot with water as he stood with his back to me. “John gave us that when he was thirteen. We were horrified at first, thinking the kid just bought us a thoughtful gift and we’d have to pretend we liked it, but after a few days, we caught him moving the ugly thing around the house just to tease the heck out of us.” He let out a small chuckle, but it was soon weighed down by the sounds from the other room. “John was always good at making us laugh.”
It didn’t go unnoticed that he spoke in past tense.
“It’s pretty comical looking,” I added just to fill the silence.
“Mm,” he grunted in agreement. Oliver moved about the kitchen until the coffee was finished. He handed me a large mug and motioned for me to follow him out onto the wrap-around patio. It was cold, but I knew he wanted me out of earshot.
“How do you know my son?” He handed me a warm wool blanket from a box that sat next to the porch swing, and I happily snuggled into it.
“I know his boss in Washington.” I sipped the warm coffee and let its heat spread through my insides.
“What brought you to Montana?”
I sighed and decided the man deserved the truth.
“I’m a criminal defense attorney, and my last clients were pretty shady and forgot to provide me some rather important information that was later brought to light, and we lost the case. They were pretty unhappy with me for losing and started to give me some trouble. Frank—you know Frank, right?” He nodded. “Well, he’s a family friend, and he thought it would be best if I got out of town for a while.”
“It is pretty serious?”
“I suppose so.” I shrugged. I was used to having clients upset when the evidence didn’t work in their favor. “Honestly, I’m not really afraid of them. I didn’t really care that I lost because I think a part of me wished something would come to light and sink them.”
“That bad of guys, huh?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. Henry’s son always had a way of speaking about what happened like he was telling the weather, emotionless. He wasn’t sorry for anything he did; he was just sorry he was sloppy and got caught. “They’re ruthless.”
He leaned over the railing and let out a deep sigh. “It’s a good thing you’re here, then.”
“Yeah, my father certainly thinks so.” I watched a dark cloud move in front of the moon and dull its shine.
“What do your parents do?”
I downed a little more coffee just to stay warm. Oliver seemed easy to talk to. He asked questions and seemed generally interested in me.
“They both work in the Army.” I kept it vague.
He nodded and stood straight again when he heard a car coming up the driveway. A lady stepped out with three plastic bags, and I strained to see who it was.
“That’s John’s mother, Kelly.” Oliver filled in my unasked question. “She went out for dinner.”
I suddenly felt like I was in the way. I really wished Dell had picked me up. Kelly walked up the stairs, and when she spotted me with her husband, she stopped short.
Oh, shit. She was the lady who had been crying at Zack’s.
“Kelly, this is John’s friend Sloane.”
I reached out and pretended like we hadn’t met earlier. “Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Black.”
She shook her head free of the trance she seemed to be stuck in. “Please call me Kelly.” Her worried face swung over to Oliver’s. “Everything okay?”
“Just a little misunderstanding, but John’s inside.”