Hold Me Close (Ryker Falls #5) - Wendy Vella Page 0,3
for them.”
Fin shuddered. “Imagine being in the sights of Mary Howard.”
“A shiver just ran down my spine.”
“She’s a regular piece of work, for sure,” Fin said. Joe’s cousin was married to Mary Howard’s son, and it was fair to say the union wasn’t something she voted for. All seemed smooth sailing now, but the woman wasn’t someone you wanted to get on the wrong side of.
“True that.” Joe rocked back on his heels. “So now we’ve covered that off, tell me what’s wrong. That whole ‘Fin Finds A Femur’ front page news in the Ryker Gazette not getting to you, is it, bud? Nigel at the paper didn’t mean any harm.”
“No, and quite catchy really, all that alliteration.”
“But it’s not funny, is it? Because whoever lost that femur has a body somewhere on the mountain, and we need to find him,” Joe said in a somber tone.
“Yeah, we do, and a femur is not something you lose like your keys, bud.” Fin dropped down to greet Benjamin, Joe’s son. Giving him a loud sloppy kiss, he received a gruff little chuckle.
One week ago, Fin had been hiking on Phil, one of the mountains, and come across human remains. Since that day, the news had got out and he’d been inundated with questions about the discovery. The Gazette printed the ‘Fin Finds A Femur’ piece yesterday, and he’d been getting hassled ever since.
“You got enough clothes on him? Seriously, bud, he looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy in that outfit. It’s amazing he can bend in the middle,” Fin said, taking in the all-in-one puffy butter-yellow suit the little man had on.
“It’s cold, and his mother would slay me alive if he came back less than toasty warm,” Joe said. “So if it’s not the bone that’s bugging you, tell me what’s going on.”
Fin stood. “Did you know Maggs was back in town?”
The shock on his friend’s face told him he didn’t. “The hell you say?” The shock turned into a big smile. “Looking forward to seeing our girl, I have to admit. I missed her.”
“I just saw her.”
“Yeah. How’d she look?”
“Different… I think.”
“You think?”
“Something seemed off.” Fin shrugged
“Off how?”
Fin thought about that. How was she different? “Like she’s lost her sparkle.”
“She just arrived back and has likely been traveling a while. My guess is that would be enough to dull anyone’s sparkle.”
“Whatever, but my point here is she looks different, Joe, and is acting weird.”
“How long did you talk to her to come to this realization, Dr. Phil?” Joe bent to tweak Benjamin’s hat down over his ears.
Parents, Fin had noted, were always doing that. They saw stuff too. He’d always thought Joe unobservant, but he could spot if his kids or wife needed him a mile off.
“Not long, but I know I’m right.”
“It’s been two years. It’s likely she’s changed some, and let’s be honest, Maggs always had a little weird in her—as we all do. So maybe that’s just come out more?”
“That makes no sense, bud.”
“And you do with all that sparkle talk?”
“True.” Fin looked down the road again even though he knew Maggie was gone.
“You always come back weird after a brush with your dad. Maybe it’ll take her a while to settle too.”
“I do not!” Fin felt the tightening inside his chest he always got at the mention of his father.
“So do. And you always do something totally out of character before you return.”
“Buying a Harley Davidson is not weird or out of character. You know I always wanted one.”
“And no one knows that more than me, but the point here is—”
“By all means, don’t let me stop you getting to the point.”
“Is that you told me you were saving to buy Ted’s land before you left.”
Fin had visited his sister a month ago, and his father had been there. The man made him irrational; there was no other word for it.
“Whatever, and I have the money for the land sorted. Not sure how it turned around to me when we were talking about Maggs.”
Joe made a humming noise in his throat as he pushed the buggy back and forth. “That whole terrorist thing must have been terrifying. I imagine that rocked her. Maggs just needs time to settle back in, Fin. She’s lived a different life for a while. She’ll be grabbing your ass before you know it.”
Maggs had been involved in an incident in London, unharmed but shaken. Fin had read about it, and it had left him cold how close she’d come to being