When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,42
means you aren’t gonna tell me anything else,” I said with a sigh.
“Rose…just know that I’m doin’ everything I can,” he said emphatically.
“I know,” I said, suddenly exhausted. “And you have no idea how relieved I am to know you’re the one in charge of finding them. I take it you haven’t found Mike either?”
“No, but we’re lookin’ for him too.”
“Bruce Wayne brought up a good point. Why haven’t you issued an Amber Alert? In fact,” I added, “why haven’t you publicized it at all?”
Silence hung over the line for a second. Then he said, “We’re not ready to make this public yet.”
“Why not?”
“This is one of those times I need you to trust me,” he said quietly. “Can you do that? I know in the past I’ve given you reason to doubt—”
“No, Joe,” I said. “Stop. I trust you. That’s all water under the bridge. All of it. We’re both different people now, aren’t we? We’re not the same people who met and fell in love two years ago.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, sounding sad. “We’re not.”
“We’ve both grown, and I’m pretty proud of the people we’ve become. You’re the man you always wanted to be,” I said, wishing we were having this conversation in person instead of over the phone, yet I felt like it needed to be said. “And me…I’m no longer that na?ve young woman you met on your front porch, afraid of my own shadow.”
“You weren’t that fearful when I met you, Rose,” he said tenderly. “You were brave from the moment I saw you behind your mother’s house, lookin’ at the cut electric line. But I agree, we’re both different. We grew apart.”
“Maybe not so far apart,” I said with tears in my eyes. “We’re about to raise a baby together. I think that means we found our way back to each other.”
He didn’t say anything for so long that I thought he’d hung up. Finally, he said, “What are you sayin’, Rose?”
“Let’s talk tonight,” I said. I needed to go see James before I made any kind of commitment to Joe.
“I’m probably gonna be workin’ late,” he said. “In fact, I’d feel better if you stayed with Neely Kate and Jed.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said, trying to push away my guilt. He would hate it if he knew what I was planning. “Just focus on finding the kids. And the talk can keep. We’ve got plenty of time.” We had our whole lives.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked. “Any more Braxton Hicks?”
“Just one this morning. I’m fine. Muffy and I are at home, and I’m feeling kind of tired, so I think I’m going to stick around the farm for the rest of the afternoon.”
“You’re at home?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah, I met with Mason to find out if he had any more information about Mike. Mason thinks he has ties to Hardshaw.”
“What? Why?”
“He wouldn’t give me many specifics, and he told me to be careful who I shared the information with because it could get him in a heap of trouble. I know you and Mason have had your issues in the past, but I’m beggin’ you, Joe, please don’t tell anyone where this came from.”
“Rose,” he said so gently I could almost feel his arms around me. “I’ll be careful. I would never jeopardize his career, let alone whatever type of arrangement you two have. His—and your—secret is safe with me.”
I pushed out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Joe.” It wasn’t lost on me that he never would have handled this so calmly a year ago. “Mason also thinks Sonder Tech has ties to Hardshaw. They’ve discovered that the Sonder Tech owner is friendly with Tony Roberts.”
“Shit.” His voice sounded tight. “They requested that you and Bruce Wayne make a bid for the landscapin’ job. You were out there today.”
“Joe,” I said. “I’m okay. The baby’s okay. Nothin’ happened.”
“You can’t go back there, Rose. It’s not safe.”
“I didn’t know before I went there this morning,” I said. “But I do now.” I hoped he noticed I hadn’t promised not to go. My instincts had always told me they were on the up and up, but then again, I’d almost always dealt with Stewart, and he’d always struck me as honest. What if he was oblivious to the company’s ties to Hardshaw? That was something worth looking into. If he knew that his boss was shady, he might be willing to give us information.