Sanders steered up to the house and parked behind Hawk’s vehicle. Hawk rushed from the house.
“Anything on Cole?” he asked.
Detective Sanders shook his head. Hawk pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead and turned his back on them. Sanders escorted Jo inside the house.
A few lights were on as she dropped her bag on the sofa. The place felt ... empty ... without Cole. Sanders proceeded to tell Hawk about the events. He wasn’t there inside the library with them, but Jo had told him what she and Cole had learned. They believed they understood the event that had tied her mother and father and Mason together. Sanders had contacted the Michigan detective about identifying the skull and confirming the identity—Helen Martin. Pieces of the investigative puzzle were coming together, and yet Jo still had so many questions.
She left Detective Sanders and Hawk to talk and make calls in their search for Cole as well as answers.
Jo moved to the windows. Dusk would soon turn everything obscure.
She could hear the waves crashing but would have to step out onto the porch to see them. Clouds billowed and raced across the sky. The weather in Seattle was no match for the raw and terrible beauty here. The glorious and yet painful experience.
She stepped outside onto the deck, shutting the door behind her.
Who knew if either of the two men would discover she’d left the house? Or maybe they would and give her space—that’s what Cole would do. Then eventually, he would join her outside. Stand next to her as if bearing the burden with her.
She spoke to the wind and rain. The storm and the sea.
But mostly to God.
“Lord, I’ve lost so much already. I’m still gutted from what happened to Mom. I’ve had two fathers leave me. Just walkout on me. Now I can’t lose Cole too. I just can’t. Please keep him safe and ... bring him back to me. He doesn’t belong to me, I know he doesn’t, so maybe if you can’t bring him back to me, take him somewhere safe. If I never see him again but I know that he’s safe, that’s okay. That’s fine. Just ... whatever part of him I held on to for myself, Lord, I give that over to you. Please ... just keep him safe.”
She said the words out loud, though only God could hear them over the storm. She thought back to the beach around this time last year, when she’d rescued a dying Cole from the rocky shores during a king tide ... the riptides almost took him. Had they taken him this time for real?
Whereare you?
Because if he was alive, if he was okay, he would have called Hawk. She couldn’t keep thinking this way and had to ignore the fear gripping her, the ache in her chest ...God,please keep himsafe.
If he’s even still alive.
She almost dreaded the moment that Hawk would let her know he’d heard something. She feared it wouldn’t be good.
“Jo,” Hawk said.
And here he was, to tell her the news.
“You need to get back inside,” he said. “It’s too cold.”
Hawk pressed an arm around Jo and tugged her from the rail, then led her back inside. Soaking wet. She hated dripping all over the floor.
“Cole will have my hide if I let anything happen to you.”
She lifted her gaze, hopeful.
He smiled. “Yes, I heard from Cole. He’s okay.”
She sagged. Almost leaned into Hawk, but she kept her composure. “Where is he?”
“He’s on his way. Cole says you’re in danger, so we’re going to move again when he gets here. Sanders left to get a new safe house ready.”
“I’ve always been in danger. I don’t even know why.”
The way Hawk looked at her, she suspectedhemight know.
“Well?”
“Cole learned some things, though I don’t know what it all means. It sounds like your father might know.”
