met her eyes, wariness in his expression though he nodded. “Why did you take that magazine from the sheriff’s office?” She put her hand up, rushing on, “It doesn’t matter. I won’t say anything. I mean, it’s not that anyone would care anyway, but I’m . . . curious.”
He put his spoon down, and it appeared he was considering whether to answer her or not. Or maybe he was surprised she’d seen him take it. Finally, he shrugged. “Just to look at the . . . pictures.”
“The pictures? Oh. So . . . you . . . can you read?” She hadn’t considered that but . . . if he’d been abandoned at a young age, maybe he’d never been taught to read at all. Maybe he’d never attended school. “Don’t be embarrassed,” she said when he didn’t immediately answer. “You can learn. I could teach you if you want.” She liked the idea. Bent over a book with Lucas, their heads close together . . .
But he had narrowed his eyes and looked to be on guard, and she suddenly regretted ruining what had been an easy camaraderie for a few minutes there. “I read some.” The words came out spaced strangely as though he was reluctant to release each one.
She bobbed her head. “Oh.”
“I don’t know about the world. I thought the magazine might help me understand.”
Harper released a breath. “That’s understandable.” She tilted her head. “What did the magazine tell you?”
He gave her sort of a bewildered smile and raised his eyebrows as he brushed a hand through his thick, choppy hair. He’d cut it himself. Without a mirror. The thought combined with the boyish expression on his masculine face made her heart jump. “That there’s a lot of food out there. Almost every page was a picture selling something to eat.”
She smiled. She could only imagine what he thought when he’d experienced only a diet of meat and fish and whatever he could forage. “Is there something new you want to try?”
He looked unsure. “I don’t know. Pizza maybe. The people eating it looked happy.”
The way he mispronounced it, his expression so serious, made Harper laugh. “Then I’ll bring you a pizza too. Add it to my shopping list.”
Lucas regarded her for a moment, tilting his head in that questioning way of his. “Why are you coming out here, Harper? Is it because you’re helping the police?”
“No, I don’t work for them or anything. I have my own business like I told you, taking nature lovers out. I’m helping the agent get around in these backwoods and answering questions that arise. Honestly, Lucas, you’d probably be better than me at helping Agent Gallagher figure out who killed Isaac Driscoll.”
He looked behind her, out the window on the far wall. “I don’t care who killed Isaac Driscoll.” He met her eyes and something burned in them. Hatred.
Harper was taken aback. “I thought you said you barely knew him.”
“I didn’t.” The fire in his eyes dulled, then went out, leaving what looked like hopelessness behind.
“I don’t understand.”
Lucas looked at her. “He was a cheat and a liar. My life is harder now that he’s gone, but I won’t miss him.”
Oh. Harper wondered if he’d hinted at that much to Agent Gallagher, or if he was confessing that to her because he’d come to trust her a little. “If you have information that might lead to—”
“I don’t,” he said. It was clear he was done discussing Driscoll.
“If it turns out you’re not allowed to stay on this land, where will you live?”
He paused but then shrugged, though he really couldn’t be that unconcerned about the potential of being homeless. “I’ll survive.”
What did that mean though when it came to lodging? Survival alone sounded like a dismal goal. He couldn’t be planning to simply find a . . . cave or something. Could he? She couldn’t let that happen.
Harper felt on edge. She still sensed this man’s goodness and spending more time with him had only made that feeling grow, but there was no denying there were secrets in his eyes. And she would not let some sexual tension get in the way of her asking the questions she felt required answers if she was really going to be a . . . contact. She bit nervously at the inside of her cheek for a moment as she watched him stare into space, his mind obviously somewhere else. “For all evils there are two remedies—time and silence.”