Jo came to stand by him and offered him a mug of black coffee. “What will you let me know?”
He turned, took the mug, and gave her a soft smile. “How do you know I’m talking about you?”
“I don’t. But the way you’re looking at me now ... you have news I’m not going to like.”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“How much you already know.”
“You know everything I know, Cole. Please, just tell me what she said.” Jo glowered.
“Raymond Dodge isn’t your father’s real name.”
She stepped back as if punched. “Oh. Well.” Her chest rose and fell with her heavy breaths. “What is it, then?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Allison know?”
“She doesn’t. She would tell me if she did, and I would tell you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Wait ... you think that I somehowknewthis?”
“I wouldn’t blame you. After all, you were hiding here. He brought you here with him whereheappeared to have been hiding.” From danger. Someone had found him, and that’s why he left. Cole would let Jo work that out on her own. “You shared that your mother had created a fake passport for you with a new ID. So it’s not a stretch.”
“Well, I didn’t know!” Her cell dinged with a text, and she glanced at it with a gasp. “It’s Pop!”
The words were in all caps, and he could easily read them upside down.
BOMB! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW!
Cole grabbed Jo and yanked her with him out the front door. She snatched her sling bag from the coatrack. They leapt off the porch, rushed to his Yukon, and scrambled inside. He quickly started it, then shifted in reverse and floored it. The tires spun out, slowing their egress, but this would take them farther and faster. Finally, the wheels gained traction, and the vehicle raced in reverse along the path through Mrs. Crawford’s property.
Time slowed for him. The tiny house exploded. The walls burst outward. The roof splintered, chunks of it flying into the air in multiple directions. Debris rained down, landing in the pristine forest. Jo screamed. He might have screamed too.
A chunk of wall nearly hit the Yukon, bouncing on the ground near where he’d braked. Maybe he should have continued putting distance between them and Spruce Hollow, but the bomb had gone off. Now he sat in shock.
Watching.
The Land Rover sat off to the side and had escaped damage—that he could see from here anyway. A fire erupted. Had the bomb been an incendiary device? Or had the destruction caused a gas leak and subsequent explosion and fire?
Jo had stopped screaming. He pulled his gaze from the complete decimation to look at her. Tears streamed down her stunned face. He had to get her out of here. He never should have agreed to let her stay at Spruce Hollow andshould have fought harder. The tiny house had obviously been discovered by the wrong people.
The text from her father remained forefront in his mind. Bile rose in his throat at the thought that the manhad, in fact, brought danger to Jo. He continued backing away from the house.
“Cole, what are you doing? Where are you going?”
“I’m getting you out of here.”
Mrs. Crawford ran out of her home, and he stopped. Lowered the window. “Get in!”
She stood in shock. Cole hopped out and grabbed her hand, but she resisted. “I have to find my dog. Gizmo’s gone! I let him out—”
“I’ll find him.” He ushered her into the back seat, and then he pulled away from the property and steered up the road before he stopped.
“What are you doing?” she protested. “I have to find Gizmo.”
