shot her a look. “You’re such a girl.”
She folded her arms. “So what if I am?”
Jonah sighed. “One of these days I’m going to fire both of you. I’m the boss now. I can do that.”
If he didn’t get it over with now, they were going to keep hounding him for details.
“Elise married my brother, Martin. He passed away eighteen years ago, when he was in the army and I was with the marines. I wasn’t there with him, I was on a different mission when I found out he’d been killed. By the time I got home, Elise was gone. My mother told me she banked the death benefits and took off.”
Parker clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Women.”
Shelder gasped. “She was grieving.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Parker said. His eyes were hard, filled with the shadows of the past. “She still lied by not saying anything about having a baby. That boy is Jonah’s nephew and he didn’t even know the kid existed.”
“But—”
“Enough.” Jonah shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort things out with Elise, but it’s not going to be resolved tonight. You guys just worry about Fix Tanner.”
“Is he really Elise’s brother?” Eric asked.
Jonah nodded.
“She’s involved, then,” Parker said.
“Unlikely, but I’m not going to rule it out.”
Parker nodded. “That’s good. Stick close to her, and eventually you’ll discover what she’s lying about.”
Jonah frowned.
Shelder shook her head at Parker. “When did you get to be so cynical?”
Jonah wasn’t going to hang around for them to argue some more. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
He drove his truck to the hospital where they’d taken Elise. It was hard to decide if he was more interested in seeing her or in getting to know his nephew better.
Nathan.
The boy’s name brought forth the memory of his own father’s warm smile. But then, he supposed that was the point of Elise naming her son after his father. Nathan Rivers, Jonah’s dad, had always had a soft spot for the girl from the trailer park across town.
The first day they’d met Elise, she had been a spindly twelve-year-old on the lakeshore. Her older brother, Fix, was supposed to have been watching her. She’d wandered a mile around the lake’s beach, looking for turtles, before she met up with Jonah, Martin and their father, who had been fishing.
The minute he saw that gap-toothed smile on the girl with the stringy blond hair and she started talking about the symptoms of shell disease in western pond turtles, Jonah had been thoroughly charmed. His dad, too. The old man had suffered a soft spot for little Elise Tanner that was a mile wide and twice as high. But Martin was the one who’d married her.
Now Elise was a stranger, Jonah had a nephew he’d never met and her brother was number one on his list of fugitives to hunt down and drag back in to custody. Never mind figuring out who had hurt her, lifted her keys and stolen files from the zoo office.
Nathan was in the hall. “Hey.”
“How’s your mom?”
“They’re taking X-rays.”
Jonah nodded, unsure what else to do—or say. They weren’t at the point he could squeeze the kid’s shoulder. Nathan was a stranger, despite the resemblance.
Nathan bit his lip. “Were you in Operation Desert Strike just like my dad?” He must have seen the surprise on Jonah’s face, because he said, “I looked it up online. I know all about Iraq back then.”
Jonah said, “I wasn’t in the same part of the country as Martin.” He pushed out a breath, unwilling to think about the gravestone and the empty pool house. Both of them, gone. “I thought your mom left because she didn’t want to know me anymore, or be reminded of your dad.”
After Elise had gone, there hadn’t been much else that made sense. What faith he’d had in a God of love and goodness had died with Martin’s death and Elise’s leaving.
Why hadn’t he tried harder to find her? Maybe he shouldn’t have given her up so easily. Their lives hadn’t been perfect, but maybe their friendship had been worth fighting for. The fact that he’d loved her was irrelevant now—she’d made her choice.
Now she was back, and his father would’ve said God brought them here for a reason, which only made him ache for his dad all over again. Jonah didn’t want to know about a God who orchestrated life like that. He was the one in charge of his own path.
The old man had passed away before Jonah joined the marines. He’d never gotten to see Jonah become a marshal. Never had to live through Martin’s death. Never met his grandson.
Despite everything Jonah could wish to have been different, they were both there now.
He pushed aside the awkwardness and set a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here now.”
For whatever reason, Jonah would accept the gift he’d been given for exactly that—a gift. It was what his dad would’ve wanted.
Nathan’s cheeks filled and he pushed out a breath in the same way Jonah had done. “This is super weird.”
A smile stretched Jonah’s mouth. “It won’t be for long, I hope.” He let his hand drop. “Did you talk with the police?”
Nathan nodded. “They took my statement. But I was across the zoo and I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t even know that someone hurt my mom. I just saw the fire, and when I came running those marshals handcuffed me. But it’s all good.”
Of course it was. Jonah studied the kid, trying to figure out if looking jazzed was his normal state, or a consequence of the night they’d had.
Jonah said, “I’m glad you’re good.”
Still, he had a feeling things were going to get worse before he figured out what was going on.
* * *
Elise sat up on the hospital bed, the bandages tight around her torso. She wasn’t hurt too badly, just bruised ribs. Not cracked. But the doctor had told her to take it easy and give her ribs the time they needed to heal.
Elise pressed a hand to her forehead. Nothing that’d happened tonight made any sense. A bomb, and a man stealing papers? Taking her keys? Her brother on the run from the US Marshals?
It was like a sick animal with multiple symptoms that didn’t correspond to any one thing. She’d sat up many nights worrying over her furry friends. The worst times were when she had to suffer the helplessness of not being able to fix what was wrong with them.
The door cracked open. Assuming it was Nathan, Elise looked up and smiled. Jonah stopped, still gripping the door handle. His eyes widened and he gave her a tentative smile in return.
Elise rolled her eyes. “What do you want now?”
It was like junior high all over again. Waiting outside for him to give her and Martin a ride home, watching all the cool girls make moony eyes over him. The next day had always been the worst, when she had to deal with their questions and snide comments.
Martin had been in her class, and they’d laughed together over all the attention Jonah got. Martin started to catch the eye of the female population at school after Jonah had graduated, and then things got worse. Still, he’d always said he only had eyes for her.
“I want you to catch me up on everything that happened before the bomb.”
Elise frowned at his serious face. “I was attacked. The police have already been