She pulled the mirror down and scrubbed at the eyeliner below her left eye. Or what was left of it. “They say it’s all-day makeup, but I haven’t found that to be the case. I should sue them for false advertising.”
“How long has your day been?”
She scrunched up her nose at him. “Going on sixteen hours, I think.”
“I doubt you’d win the lawsuit.”
“Yeah. Probably not.” She shut the mirror. “You really think if the judge was dead, the legislation would stop? That the bill would be dismissed?”
“Maybe. Between him and the congresswoman, they’re generating new support for it every day.”
“True.” She bit her lip. “So, what was your idea? What’s up?”
He shot her a blank look.
“At the courthouse, you said to text you when I was done. Well, I just got done and am asking in person.”
“Oh. I think we should put dogs on the judge.”
“K-9 teams?”
“Yeah. States are using K-9s in courthouses to detect things that shouldn’t be there. Why not use them for protection too?”
“I don’t think the lieutenant would go for that idea. That’s not what the teams are for. US Marshals have their own teams. Why not call them in for this?”
“I’ve thought about that. But this situation. It’s . . . different.”
She raised a brow. “Different how? I mean, I know it’s personal with Rachel’s situation and all, but . . .”
He shook his head. “No, I mean . . .” He sighed. “I don’t know what I mean. I can’t explain it. Something just feels . . . off.”
“A lot of things feel off,” she muttered. “But all you can do is ask. I’m happy to be a part of it if the lieutenant says yes.”
“Good. And if he wants to bring in the US Marshal K-9s, I’m cool with that too. The more the better, but I want you in the house with us. You know this case—and Hank is trained to protect as well as detect.”
“Yep, and to trail. He’s a triple-trained animal. All of the shepherds are because they excel at it.”
He nodded.
She paused. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“What happened with you and Aimee?”
He winced. “Ah, that’s kind of a long story.”
“I’m not trying to be nosey, just trying to understand Rachel.”
“You and me both.” He fought with the memories of his dead wife, trying to figure out which ones to pull forward and vocalize. While he was searching for words, Linc’s blue truck pulled into the parking lot. Soon, more vehicles followed. “Let’s save that for another time. Ready?” he asked.
“Yep. Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
Grateful she followed his lead on the change of subject, he smirked. “If I remember correctly, you’re always hungry.”
She rolled her eyes at him and he grinned. Then felt the slam of guilt. How could he smile when Rachel was still out there? How could he eat when he didn’t know if she had eaten? How could he keep going?
Because he had to.
He needed to be at the top of his game in order to do everything possible to bring Rachel home.
Once inside, out of the cold, he shed his jacket and helped Chloe off with hers. They hung them on the rack of pegs just inside the door and waited for a waitress dressed in 1800s attire to approach. “How many?”
“Seven,” Blake said.
“Blake? That you?”
He turned to see Daniel Matthews, owner of the restaurant, walking toward him. He held out a hand and Blake shook it. “Hey, man, how are you doing?”
“Just fine. Haven’t seen you in here in a while. You getting your home cooking somewhere else?”
“What? You really think I’d betray you like that?” Blake had to force the smile. Even joking with a friend seemed wrong. “Work is pretty crazy right now.”
Daniel frowned. “Everything all right?”
“Nope, but I’ll have to fill you in later.” The rest of the St. John siblings were behind him, and while he trusted Daniel, he didn’t want to get into everything right here. The man had a restaurant to run. Blake forced a smile. “We’ll catch up later, though.”
“Sure thing. Where’s Rachel? Riley’s been asking about her. Said she hasn’t seen her in a while.”
Riley was the man’s nineteen-year-old niece. He’d taken her in when his brother and sister-in-law were killed while on the mission field. “Rachel’s been busy. Tell Riley I’ll have her call as soon as she can.”
“Sounds good.” Daniel nodded to the young woman who’d been standing off to the side. “Take them to the back room where they’ll have a bit of a quieter atmosphere.”
“Of course, Mr. Matthews.” She smiled at Blake. “This way.”
He knew the way but fell in behind her. Chloe stayed beside him and the scent of her strawberry shampoo wafted toward him. He drew in a deep breath and tried to ignore the fact that he wished they were headed for a table for two instead of seven.
Once they were all seated, Blake was gratified to find Chloe next to him, with Hank at her feet. Linc sat on his other side, scrolling through something on his phone.
Blake leaned over to Chloe. “Thanks for letting me join in.”
She raised a brow at him. “Of course.”
“Why haven’t we seen each other much since I’ve been back?”
The raised brow stayed up. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I’m not even sure. I guess I’ve just seen so much of Linc. I just wondered why I hadn’t run into you.”
She shrugged. “Linc and I don’t really run in the same circles.”
“I suppose.”
“Hey, Chloe.”
She looked past him to the end of the table where Ruthie sat. “What?”
“Guess who was in my OR today?”
“Are you about to break some HIPAA law by telling me?”
“Not at all. He told me to tell you hi.”
“Who?”
“Jordan Crestwood.”
Blake paid close attention to the fact that Chloe’s face went blank. “Oh, is that right? Well, how’s ol’ Jordan doing these days?” Her voice was chilly enough to send goose bumps pebbling his arms.
“Not happy to hear from him?” Blake murmured so only she could hear.
“Not in the least,” she muttered back. To her sister, she smiled. “What rock did he crawl out from under this time?”
Ruthie blinked. “Ah . . . I don’t know. I thought you two were an item.”
“Not for a while now,” Derek answered for her then thumped the table with a fist. “Are we going to order or what? I’m starving.”
Everyone turned their attention to the waitress, who stood poised with pen over pad. All except Blake. He reached for Chloe’s hand. “You all right?”
She drew in a deep breath and gave him a short nod. “Fine.” Once she gave her order, she took a sip of water and he tried to read her expression. “Is Ruthie talking about the Jordan Crestwood on the SWAT team?”
“Yep.”
“Derek’s friend?”
“Ex-friend, I think, but yep.”
“And you don’t want to talk about this, do you?”
“Nope.”
He paused. “Do I need to hurt him?”
Her laughter turned heads and drew speculative looks from the others at the table. But his comment had the desired effect. Her countenance lightened and the gentle squeeze of her fingers on his eased the pain in his own heart a fraction.
“Nah. He’s probably going to self-destruct, thanks to his mega ego. You might want to make sure to stay out of range of the explosion, though. It’ll be massive with the aftershocks.”
“Isn’t that an earthquake that has aftershocks?”
“Same idea.”
“Ah. Gotcha.”
The fabulous food and good-natured teasing that went on between the siblings helped as well. It didn’t take him long to down his burger and fries. When he finished, he stared at his plate, wondering what Rachel had eaten. If she’d eaten. If she was cold. If she was—
Any semblance of peace fled and his heart throbbed a painful beat as he shut off the direction of his thoughts.
Linc’s phone rang. He spoke into it, then leaned over to nudge Blake. “That was Monique Pascal from hospital security. We might have some more information on Rachel.”
“What?”
“Monique wants us to come in and look at some more footage she managed to find.”
Blake tossed down his napkin and rose. “Let’s go.”
12
Chloe hurried after the men. She’d overheard the conversation between Linc and Blake and she wasn’t going to miss this one. “I want to go.”