eyes on Bella. “I just . . . It’s just so hard to believe. Andy was so . . . so . . . enamored of his sister. He really did love her. But, as a sister. I believe what you’re telling me, I really do. I’m just having a hard time accepting it for what it is. It’s killing me, but I do believe you. Now, tell me what I can do. Whatever it is you need me to do, I can do. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
“We need you to go back to California and send us that packet of papers Andy gave you to send to Sara. Nikki and Alexis, because they’re our attorneys, will visit the army and the probate lawyers and take it from there. We have to be extra careful right now because we don’t want to spook Sara. She has no clue, at least we don’t think so, that we’re onto her. She thinks she’s safe. We do have two-man shifts surveilling her twenty-four/seven to make sure she doesn’t skip out. It’s uncanny how they tell us she can disappear, then appear across the country with a totally new identity,” Annie said. “Our people are telling us she has dozens of aliases that she uses.”
Montrose just sat there and shook his head back and forth, his eyes glassy. “I don’t have to go back to California. I have a town house here in Alexandria. I bought it before my last deployment, when Andy said that when he got out he was going to buy a house in Kalorama. Neither one of us wanted our friendship to wither on the vine, so to speak. You know, a card at Christmas with the year’s happenings penciled in at the end with a postscript. We talked a lot about going to Redskins games, taking our kids to football games, and enrolling them in Little League.
“I stored all my gear and everything I owned in the town house, which wasn’t all that much when I deployed the last time. I liked the idea of having a place here on the East Coast. I thought about selling it when I found out about Andy, but somehow I just never got around to doing it because I was too busy making a new home for myself in California. My two brothers took me in as a full partner in a firm they started when I was in the army. I kind of like living there, but I’m partial to the East Coast for some reason.
“Andy must have told his sister that’s where he was going to buy a house if you say that’s where she’s living now. Again, if true, it shows how much he thought of her and how he discussed everything with her. Like I said, she was everything to him. She was family, and family was important to Andy. Even though, as you say, she wasn’t a blood relative. Obviously, he didn’t care about that, and they were raised together.
“This is eating me alive. All this time . . . I wish I had known . . . I don’t know what I could have done, but something. I would have . . .”
Maggie set a plate in front of him with a dozen pancakes piled high. Montrose took one look at it and shook his head. “I really and truly appreciate your taking the time to make those for me, but I don’t think I could eat a bite of them. Suddenly, I just want to go running and breathe cold air. Would you all mind if I do that?”
The Sisters all looked at one another, shock and surprise on their faces. Maggie, on the other hand, just eyed the plate of pancakes.
“I think that’s a really good idea. I feel the same way. Do you mind if I run with you, Colonel?” Bella asked.
Paul Montrose was clearly flustered. He nodded his head and headed toward the door, Bella right behind him.
“Just follow the path to the barn, and then you’ll see our bike trail. Follow it. It’s a three-mile run from start to finish. More than enough time to clear your heads. Perhaps when you return, you’ll feel more like eating,” Myra said gently.
When the door closed behind the stressed-out couple, Kathryn looked around and asked what they all thought.
“He’s what he is—a good, kind, loyal friend. I saw him look at Bella every chance he could. I would say she’s a subject of