“I have a favor to ask,” Ryan said.
“I’m late for a session so you’ll have to walk with me.” Colin pulled the door closed behind his back and started down the Hosta-lined trail. He set a quick pace toward the meeting facility, and Ryan had to hoof it to keep up with the guy who matched Ryan’s height of six feet.
Colin glanced at him. “So what’s this favor?”
Ryan shared about the fire, the boxed hand, and the need for his help. “If you could do a deep dive on Verna, Nico, Dr. Blackburn, and David Blackburn, that would be great. Wally too.”
Colin came to a dead stop and fixed an intense look on Ryan. “You know I don’t do that anymore, right?”
This wasn’t going at all like Ryan had hoped. “I’m sorry, man. I know you left the FBI because you were burning out.”
“Burning?” Colin’s right eyebrow rose to join the other one. “Come on. Admit it. I was crispy fried when I got here.”
“You were, and I hate to ask because I get it. I don’t like rehashing my old law enforcement days either.” Ryan had been living that life again since Mia came back and could totally relate. But he had a vested interest. Mia. And he wouldn’t give up easily. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Mia’s life is on the line.”
Colin widened his stance, his hands drifting to his waist and planting firm. One on his sidearm, which they all carried when working with clients since they’d had one go off on them and threaten lives. He scratched his wide jaw covered in whiskers.
Okay, the guy was going to say no. If he did, Ryan wouldn’t beg. No way he would force Colin to do something that he really hated to do. Ryan would move on to Nick at Veritas even if Ryan had to pay the guy himself.
Colin huffed out a breath and started walking again. “I have sessions until six today, but I can start on it tonight.”
Ryan clamped down on his lips to keep his mouth from falling open.
“Thanks, man.” He clapped Colin on the back. “I’ll make sure Reid and Russ know that you’re working on this in case it gets in the way of one of your classes.”
“No way I’d let that happen. I can do both.”
But could he do it on a timely basis?
Ryan hated to push, but… “This guy coming after Mia seems pretty determined, and I’m concerned for her safety. The sooner we have the information the better.”
“Understood. Now I really gotta go.” Colin saluted and took off in a jog.
Ryan watched his teammate rush toward the large pole barn structure and remained standing in place. He had to hope he’d convinced Colin of the importance of doing this research on a timely basis.
If not, the arsonist could strike again, this time taking a life.
8
Mia closed Eddie’s folder and laid it on the table next to the sofa in the lodge’s family room. Man, that kid had a history more troubled than her past. It should probably scare her off, but it steeled her resolve to help him. Even if it meant spending every day with Ryan. No cost was too great to keep Eddie from ruining his life more than he already had.
Poor kid had been dealt a tough blow. He’d been a model student until his mother had been mowed down by a drunk driver. She’d been a single mom, and his dad was completely out of the picture. Eddie had bounced from foster home to foster home for the last three years and had a rap sheet filled with misdemeanor offenses.
Mia had never been arrested and wasn’t an orphan, but the way her dad treated her, she’d often felt back in the day as if she was all alone in the world. And she’d come close to being arrested. Should’ve been more than once. Maybe God had been watching out for her. But if so, maybe He should’ve let her be arrested to teach her a lesson. Who knew His plans? Surely not her.
Resolved to help, she got up. She would meet with Ryan on Wilderness Ways procedures. On the way back, she could check in with resort manager Verna Swann about filing an insurance claim for the barn and get her take on the fire. Kill two birds with one stone and all of that.
“Here, boy,” she called Bandit.
He hopped up from the fuzzy bed in the corner by the fireplace and charged across the room.
“I’m so glad to have you.” She snuggled him tight and laid her cheek against his soft body. “I need a friend who doesn’t try to persuade me to do something I don’t want to do, but just listens.”
She walked past the counter where the box holding the hand had last sat and shivered. She’d replaced it with her purse and a folder holding Wally’s will and the warning letter from the post office. She would make a copy for herself in the office so she could give the original to Russ. If she really wanted to get to the bottom of things, it was time he knew about the first letter. She didn’t have to tell him that she suspected her father.
She gave Bandit one last hug and eased his coned body through the door of his crate. He whimpered, but didn’t put up a terrible fuss when she stepped outside.
She went through the attached breezeway to the garage, the late afternoon sun breaking through puffy clouds and shining through the windows. The green John Deere utility vehicle sat in the only clean area of the oversized space, keys dangling from the ignition. Leave it to Wally to leave keys in vehicles. He’d been one of the most trusting people she’d ever met.
