adapt. To learn. To find success. I think you should let him.”
“You do?”
She nodded.
“Okay.” He laced his fingers with hers. “When can I be alone with you?” he whispered close to her ear and she shivered. “I want it to be now.”
She groaned. “I know. Me too. But, I don’t want to be a point of contention between you and your grandfather.” His brows did that up and down movement that meant he was figuring out a word, and she smiled with affection, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow and show you a little more of Missoula. We’ll go to my place for a while afterward.” She smiled at him suggestively.
“It won’t be enough. I want the whole night.”
She laughed. “Okay, greedy. But we’ll make do with what we have for now. You can’t be spending every waking hour with me. You still have about ten thousand books to get through.” She winked at him and he smiled, but looked disappointed. This separation is hard for me too, Jak.
He sighed, stepping back. “Okay. Someday I’m going to have a house of my own, and you’re going to live there with me, and never spend another night alone.”
“Oh, Jak,” she breathed, stepping into him, kissing him, breathing him in. His innocent simplicity. He wanted that so much right now. But she wondered again how his changing, his merging and blending with society at large would alter who he was and what he wanted. And she knew it wasn’t fair of her not to let him go if ultimately, him changing meant leaving her behind.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The snow had melted, the earth soft and spongy beneath her feet. In the distance, she heard the occasional yap of a dog as she and Agent Gallagher made their way through the wooded area.
She’d been surprised when he’d called her that morning, asking for a ride to Isaac Driscoll’s place, even though the roads were markedly better than they’d been the week before. Harper had assumed her less-than-prestigious police consultant career had officially come to an end. But Agent Gallagher had told her he not only needed a ride, but that he could use her help “poking around in the woods” as he put it.
Harper had suggested that Jak come along and help too—or even instead of—after all, no one knew those particular woods better than he did. But Agent Gallagher had said no, and she thought he’d acted cagey about it, and so there she was, stepping over a decayed log as she studied the piece of paper Isaac Driscoll had drawn and apparently kept in his bedside drawer.
“Boss?” came a voice from behind them.
“Yes,” Agent Gallagher called, moving past her to the edge of the woods where the other man stood. She recognized him as one of the men who’d been holding a dog when they’d arrived a half an hour before.
Harper looked away, studying the map again. Agent Gallagher had told her the word at the bottom—obedient—had something to do with the Spartans. Apparently, Driscoll was obsessed with them. Harper released a frustrated breath. Without any specific starting point, she had no idea what to look for. There was nothing that looked like anything she’d seen on a traditional map before.
“Two bodies, sir,” the man’s voice carried to her. She froze, her eyes widening. Two bodies?
She heard Agent Gallagher blow out a slow breath. “Children?” he asked and there was something in his voice that made her think he already knew the answer.
“Appears so, yes. One very young, the other older. The lab will tell us more.”
“Okay. Thank you, David. Did the dogs hit on anything else?”
“Not yet. We’re going to widen the search, come back tomorrow if necessary.”
“Thank you. Let me know right away if you find anything else.”
“Will do.”
Harper heard the man named David walking away, heard Agent Gallagher approach her from behind and turned slowly to meet his eyes. He must have seen by her face that she’d overheard their conversation, because he blew out a breath and said, almost to himself, “I hoped I wasn’t right.”
“Two children?” Harper whispered, the horror of that coursing through her. There were two children buried out there. Whose children?
Agent Gallagher nodded solemnly.
“They found two,” Harper said. “Do you . . . do you think this third marker is another one?” And if he did, why did he have her out there? The dogs seemed to be up to the task.