a statement that Carl and Dennis Lee were brothers and were arguing over a woman. It was only a matter of time before it got out there that the woman in question was her. People would dig, would want to know every nasty, sordid detail.
They already blamed her for Wallace’s actions. It was certain she was about to be blamed for Dennis Lee’s, too.
To the bottom of her soul, she half wandered if maybe she deserved that for her sins.
Dennis Lee wouldn’t have gotten angry with her. He wouldn’t have gone after her son. He wouldn’t have done this.
She had pushed Dennis Lee to this.
If Dennis Lee hadn’t comforted her fourteen years ago after she’d caught Wallace having yet another affair, they wouldn’t be here now.
Her weakness back then had destroyed her son’s life now. She wasn’t much better than Wallace. That was something she was going to have to deal with, reconcile with eventually.
It was going to take her a while to forget that. To forgive.
To forgive herself.
60
He probably smelled to high heaven. He was too tired to care.
All Jake wanted was to file his paperwork, catch a damned shower somewhere—he wasn’t too particular about where that happened this morning—and reheat some of whatever Izzie had in the refrigerator.
Then he’d fall into his bed and sleep from six in the morning until about six p.m. He’d leave a note for his niece not to disturb him under threat of death. Twelve hours should about do it.
He had no idea where she was at the moment. After his paperwork, he’d text her. Make certain she wasn’t headed off somewhere first and needed him to be responsible for that cat she adored or something.
Jake did what he had to do, taking a few moments to speak with A. J.—Chuckie’s partner in the lab—about the evidence the two of them had been analyzing for him. There was a bright, flashy ring weighing down her left hand that hadn’t been there the last time he’d seen her. He couldn’t resist teasing her about it.
Apparently, Detective Callum had gotten around to popping the question the night before.
Finally.
Sean Callum and A. J.—otherwise known as Autumn—Evers had been stuck together underneath the heavy conference table when the tornado had destroyed the TSP. Jake had crawled his own way out in time to see a woman from search and rescue pulling A. J. free.
The ring hadn’t surprised Jake in the least. Anyone who had seen the two together knew they belonged together, years ago.
Callum joined them as she was handing over the last of the evidence reports. It was damned early for Callum to be in, but they were TSP. Time didn’t mean much on this job. “MacNamara, Marshall is looking for you. Sounds pretty serious.”
Jake tried not to wince. He wanted nothing more than a damned shower. That was going to have to wait. A summons from the chief of the Finley Creek TSP himself at six a.m. meant something seriously wrong had happened.
He mentally ran through the half-dozen pressing cases he still had yet to get to the files for. There was no way he could juggle another right now.
Jake suspected that was exactly what was about to happen.
“I’ll head up now. A. J., you ever decide to throw this ass over, you have my number. I’m so much nicer looking than he is.”
“Just as modest,” A. J. said, sending him a wickedly beautiful smile. “Both of you two are far too pretty for your own good. It’s going to get you into trouble one day. Especially you, as Sean has me to protect him now.”
Callum was a damned lucky man and far braver than Jake would ever be. Still, a woman like A. J. would almost be worth the risk. That’s what kind of woman he wanted some day. One who understood the TSP life. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s what all the girls say. I’m going.”
The TSP was now operating out of an empty warehouse that had been donated by Barratt-Handley, two blocks from the original TSP location. It was Barratt’s attempt to foster goodwill after all the shit his father had been involved in. Shit that involved Elliot Marshall’s family, especially his younger sister-in-law. Jake knew her. She had once worked in the computer forensics department.
She and the chief’s wife and Barratt’s wife were good friends of Izzie.
Izzie.
Every instinct he had told him something was wrong. That it had to do with his niece. He couldn’t get Izzie out of his head today.
That