“You need some sleep,” she told him.“I’ll handle the ticket in the morning.”
She started to move out of the bathroom, but he took her arm and stopped her forward movement.“No.I’ll pay it.That was more the cherry on top of the shit sundae than the shit itself.It’s fine.I didn’t get arrested, did I?”He tried to smile at her, to make the joke land.
Her mouth curved slightly.
“I’m sorry,” he said, earnestly.“For being an ass.”
She studied him.“Sounds like you had a shit day and came by it honestly.”
She was trying to excuse it, but he didn’t want any excuses.“I don’t like taking my shit day out on anyone.”
“Yeah, not ideal, but it’s better than letting it sit.”She patted a hand against his heart.
He wondered if that was true.Wasn’t sure he’d ever know for sure.“Jules Hyatt showed up at the hotel after I expressly told her not to.”
“Ah,” Sam said, like that really explained his mood.“She sure gets under your skin.”
Nate moved with her into their bedroom.Because his legdidhurt and because hewastired, but he also had to find some way to explain to Sam why this Hyatt thinggot under his skin.He didn’t think it was whatshethought.He wasn’t sure she could understand, because even he struggled to fully understand.
But something about the weird kind of flashback when Mrs.Hyatt ambushed him gave him kind of a clue into pieces of it, anyway.
“She’s a victim.I believe that.”They both crawled into bed.“But she’s trying to… use me as some sort of weapon, and I really fucking resent it.I’m done being anyone’s weapon.”The military’s.
His father’s.
Sam curled up next to him, placed her hand over his heart.“No one can make you that again, Nate,” she told him softly.
He wished he believed it.
Chapter Eleven
Honor’s Edge Investigations Office
It was anice enough day Jill decided to walk from Grandma’s doctor’s office over to Honor’s Edge.She had about thirty minutes while Grandma went through her various checkups.
Jill hadn’t had much of a moment alone to talk to Sam about her progress since she’d first asked her back in February—just the occasional text or email answering Sam’s inquiries.She knew that if there was anything of importance, Sam would have gotten hold of her.So this was probably silly.
Still, she pushed into the office now, glad Sam was sitting at her desk.
“Hey, Jill,” Sam greeted.“I’m glad you came by.You’re on my to-do list today.”
“Perfect timing then.I’ve got about twenty minutes before I have to head back to the doctor’s office.”
“Have a seat,” Sam said, pointing to a chair on the other side of her desk.
Jill sat down.She’d become friendly with Sam over the past year, just from dealing with the Bennets and being friends with Aly, but being in this office, talking about thisstuff, it all made her very uncomfortable.
“I still don’t really have any major leads,” Sam said apologetically.“Just little threads I’m trying to tug on.I started looking into your grandfather a little bit, wondering if maybe something around his death was what traumatized your grandmother, or might just be a stepping stone to the next thing.”
Jill nodded.She’d certainly considered losing the love of her life might have marked Grandma.“I don’t know much about him myself.Except she loved him, and she gets sad to talk about him or remember him.But in a… it doesn’t seem like a traumatic thing.She loved him.”
Sam nodded.“What about your dad?Would he be able to tell you anything about Gerald’s background?”
“I’d be happy to try and ask, but he’s always been a bit of a sore subject for my father.Again, I’ve never gotten the impression it was because it was traumatic exactly.More he feels guilty for not being here when he died.Not… doing more to help Grandma.”
Sam wrote a few things on a piece of paper, then slid the piece of paper across from Jill.“I found his obituary.It listed who it should, but it also mentioned these two friends of his.Do you know either guy?”
Jill looked at the names, tried to think about the people she knew here outside Grandma and the Bennets.“No.Those names don’t ring any bells to me.I could ask my dad if he knows these men.Do you not?”
