One question burned in her chest. “Why were you looking into the investigation to begin with, Cole?”
She shouldn’t care, she really shouldn’t. But she had to know why he was really here.
He lifted a shoulder, and his brows furrowed as if he struggled to answer her question. After a few breaths, he finally replied, “I wanted you to be free, Jo. Free to live your life the way you want, not holed up in ... yeah, a beautiful place, but you have so much to offer the world.”
She let his words sink in.
The world. And Cole? A few months ago, he hadn’t wanted what she offered.
He roughed his hand over his mouth and chin. “You shouldn’t have to hide or fear for your life.”
She nodded and glanced around. They’d just been sitting here in his Yukon in the parking lot, talking things through. Catching up. The rain had stopped. Cars parked and cars left. People trudged along sidewalks on a rainy day. The world kept turning, oblivious to Jo’s personal battle.
Glancing at Cole, she angled her head. “That still doesn’texplain how and why you were there to pull me from the car.”At the exact moment I needed you.
“I went to Cedar Trails first to see you. Remi told me where you were headed.”
“That traitor.” Jo half smiled. Of course, Remi Grant would want Cole to find Jo. Remi was her boss at the lodge and her dearest friend of late. Remi hadn’t wanted Jo to chase her father down. “Why not call me or text me?”
“Would you have responded?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly. Remi told me what you were driving and that you’d texted you thought your dad was in the Columbia Center. I couldn’t miss the big, loud Land Rover racing around a corner to the ferry, and then I spotted you in the driver’s seat. Stupid traffic kept me from making it myself. So I paid a boater to follow the ferry. I was going to catch up on the other side. I thought to head you off.”
“Head me off. Why? You could have just waited for me at Cedar Trails.”
“I was trying to catch up. Thought I could help with your father. Look, I don’t know what’s going on there, that’s beside the point. I tried to follow, and I missed the ferry. That’s when I witnessed the vehicle going into the water.”
“Nothing else? You didn’t see the suspect?”
“No. I saw the vehicleinthe water, I should say. I wasn’t looking at the ferry. I was looking at the car.”
Jo sat up. Leaned closer. “And you didn’t know it was me in the car?”
“I didn’t.”
Wow. She couldn’t believe this. “You just dove in...” Cole hated the water. He might have been traumatized one too many times. Maybe even had PTSD, but that didn’t stop this man. He’d faced his fear to save a stranger.
“Someone was in the vehicle, that was all that mattered.”He averted his pained gaze. “I was shocked to see you.” His voice hitched.
This strong, quiet professional was showing some kind of emotion for her? Jo wanted to lean into him and forget that she hadn’t heard a word from him in months. Forget that he had acted like he didn’t care at all. What she saw now seemed to prove otherwise. But she’d been burned too many times, and even today her own father had let her down. She wasn’t trusting anyone again. Not for a long time, if ever.
“If there’s anything I can do to help you with your father, just let me know.”
Her life was one big, twisted roller coaster. She wanted to know about her mother. She wanted to know about her father. “I don’t know where he is. He’s just ... gone. I tracked him to the Columbia Center, where his cell said he was, and the security guard told me he’d left. Now the little red dot is gone.”
“Remi said he left a note,” Cole said.
“Yep. Said that he was sorry he led danger to me.”
“Did you tell the police about that? Maybe the murder on the ferry—”
“I wasn’t the target. I was just the witness.” Jo glanced out the window again and shook her head. “This is what I get for leaving my hideaway.”
“While I don’t know what kind of danger he could have brought your way, and that raises a lot of concerns, is there anything more we can do while we’re here to look for him? Because, if we find him, we can get answers.”
“It’s a dead end. I’m going to go now. I’m taking the next ferry.”
