“You’re golden, then.”
“How did the session go?”
“Meh,” she said with a casual shrug that didn’t match the haunted look in her eyes. “Some days it’s easy peasy. Other days it’s a painful grind. Doesn’t matter. You show up and do the work.”
He caught her arm. “Hey,” he said, quiet, low. “How did it go?”
“Pretty fucking awful,” she replied, just as quiet. Like if the universe heard her, it would be twice as bad next time. “Thanks for asking. Want some lunch?”
“Sure,” he said.
They walked back into the kitchen. “I heard you going at the woodpile,” Cady said as she opened the refrigerator door. “Thanks. You also didn’t need to do that.”
“I’m used to a lot more stimulation than this,” he admitted.
“So am I,” she said, setting containers of stew and chopped-up veggies on the counter, then reaching for the pan to heat up the stew. “No, sit down, I’ve got this. Unless, if you need something to do, I wouldn’t mind being uncivilized and eating off trays in front of the fire.”
He used the leather carrier to haul in some of the logs from outside. By the time he had the fire going, she was carrying over a big tray laden with bowls of beef stew, sliced whole-grain bread, butter, and the fresh vegetables. After setting the tray on the tufted leather ottoman, she handed him a plate for bread and veggies, then a bowl of stew.
Her gaze was distant as she tucked her feet under her and settled in with her own bowl, eating with an absentmindedness that told him she was still far, far away. “You’re not worried about what’s going on?”
“One of the things I learned early on was that if I was going to hire someone to do a job, I either let that someone to do his or her job, or they were just a distraction. You seem extremely competent. I do neither of us any favors if I micromanage you. More importantly, I trust you.”
Her words startled him. She had no reason to really trust him, not at a time when he didn’t know who he could trust himself. The people he thought had his back might in fact be betraying him right now. Cady had family, friends, connections. He had nothing but himself.
He was hers, if she wanted him.
The thought flashed through his mind with the speed and searing impact of lightning. Where the hell did that come from?
“Good,” he said. He went back to eating stew, but now too distracted to really appreciate the flavors. It was a relief when he heard a car pull into the driveway, followed by a second vehicle. “Hawthorn and Dorchester,” he said with a quick glance at his watch.
Doors slammed. One, two … three … four. “Get out of sight,” Conn said.
“I’ll clean up,” Cady replied, stacking dishes on the tray.
The kitchen put her out of the line of sight to the door. Hand on his holster, Conn walked to the window and peered through the slatted blinds. He saw Dorchester’s Jeep, Hawthorn’s Durango, and a Mercedes no one he knew could afford. They’d come in personal cars to avoid drawing attention to Cady’s house, and parked in front of the big evergreens, so no one could see the cars from the street.
Heads appeared on the stairs, Detective Joanna Sorenson behind Hawthorn, which accounted for one door. But the head that appeared after Matt had smooth black hair glinting in the weak winter sunlight. Eve Webber. Matt had brought along emotional reinforcements.
The last person trotting up the stairs, in a suit and tie, was a lawyer Conn knew only by reputation. Caleb Webber.
Conn opened the door, and his mouth. “No, we weren’t followed,” Hawthorn said.
Eve patted him on the arm to say hello, then headed for the kitchen like she knew the place. “You sure it was a good idea to bring her along?” Conn said to Matt. “She’s had enough excitement to last most people a lifetime.”
“She’s not most people,” Matt said wryly as he unzipped his army jacket and shrugged out of it. “And she insisted.”
“I didn’t insist,” Eve called from the kitchen. “I simply pointed out that Cady might like a friend at the table. I know what it’s like to be in the middle of something like this. Conn, do you know my brother?”
Caleb Webber held out his hand, not bothering to smile. “Caleb Webber. I’m Cady’s local attorney. Her agent asked me to be here.”
“I’ll call Chris,” Cady added as she fiddled with her phone. “It’s so sweet of you to take time away from Eye Candy.”
“Natalie owes me, big time,” Eve said. “She took a few days’ vacation with no notice and just got back today.”
“That’s nice,” Cady said. “Where did she go?”
“Nowhere with sun. She’s as pale as she was before she left.”
“It’s a little early for me,” Cady said. “February. That’s when you want to get away, when it’s been cold and cloudy and slushy for months and you can’t take another second of it.”