But Jake couldn’t help but wonder whether she was actually sleeping. Or did she simply want to be alone with her grief?
After getting Emily settled in bed, his mother had flitted around the house, cleaning things that were already clean. Her nervous energy confirmed she was as concerned about Emily as he was. That’s why, after checking in with Zane, he’d stayed in the house.
In case Emily needs me.
She needed so much more than the shoulder he could offer, but he was powerless to do anything more. The one thing he’d accomplished this afternoon was a series of phone calls to arrange to have Emily’s floor sanded and refinished.
Hearing her bedroom door open and the familiar bump and thump of her cast and crutches, he jumped to his feet and met her in the hallway, eager to help her in any way he could.
Her red swollen eyes were so full of pain, his heart broke for her.
“Can I make a phone call in your office?”
He had to strain to hear her quiet voice.
“Absolutely.” He opened the office door for her.
She closed the door behind her, but it didn’t latch tight.
Jake stood close to the door until she was safely settled in his office chair. As he turned away, he heard her choked voice. “Joe, they killed him! Cameron is dead!”
Jake stepped away from the door.Joe?Did she remember she had a boyfriend after everything came back to her? A burning sensation filled his chest. Emily must have a close relationship with Joe for him to be the first one she contacted.
He returned to the great room and picked up the paperback western he’d been looking at for the last three hours—looking at, but not reading. For the life of him, he couldn’t concentrate enough on the words to make sense of them. He threw the book across the room in disgust.
One thing occupied his mind. A beautiful, grieving woman, who sat in his office pouring her heart out to another man.
A short knock on the front door followed by his cousin Ben walking in drew his attention. Relief swept over Jake, and he welcomed the distraction. Despite being a lawyer, Ben was an excellent mechanic.
“Hey, Jake.” Ben gave Jake a quick bear hug. “I’m glad you’re okay. How’s Emily doing?”
“She’s having a hard time.”
“I’ll bet. What happened to your truck?”
“I’m not sure. One minute my brakes worked fine and the next they didn’t. I thought the driver of the SUV must have cut my brake lines while we were eating lunch. But when Robert and the police arrived, I checked them, and they looked fine as far as I could see. I can’t figure out why they failed.”
“Should we go take a look?”
Jake looked toward his office. He didn’t want Emily to be alone when she came out, but he needed to get out of this house. “Yeah, go on out. I need to change my clothes and talk to my mom.”
By the time Jake joined Ben in the equipment shed, where he’d had the tow truck leave his truck, Ben already had the hood of his truck up and one tire off.
“I need more light here, Jake,” Ben called from under the truck.
Jake ran an extension cord and plugged in a work light.
“Well, I’ll be...” Ben said after a few moments.
“What did you find?”
Ben slid out from under the truck. “I took the brake line off, and after wiggling it, I managed to bleed brake fluid through it. Apparently, there was an air pocket blocking the flow of fluid. That’s what caused the brakes to fail.”
“How did I get an air pocket in my brake line?”
“After you brought the light over, I found a pinhole in the tubing. It looks like someone pierced the tubing and forced air into the line, so your brakes would fail when the flow of fluid stopped.”
Jake’s jaw dropped. “Who would know how to do something like that?”
