Page 72 of Presumed Dead

He walked the long way, down the marina driveway instead of crossing over the grassy area between, because a man going to lunch did not drive a block.

The Sandbar at twelve-thirty on a Monday had three couples and a charter captain at the bar and Jace Marriott behind it polishing a glass with a towel, and Margo at the host stand with a stack of menus and the assessing look of a woman who knew everyone who came through her door and assessed each one anyway.

She looked up when Ethan came in. Her face did the small, specific lift it had been doing every time he’d walked in here for a week.

“Hello Ethan, welcome.”

“Hi, Margo. Thank you.”

“Friend of yours is at the back booth.”

“Thank you.”

“Jace already chatted with him; he's all yours now.”

Margo didn't push. She handed him a menu he didn’t need.

“Thank you, Margo.”

She smiled at him sweetly, but he saw the look of Sloane Mercer’s friend and was therefore one of the few people in Blossom Springs Ethan could not lie to without it costing him something.

He went back to the booth.

Ronan was sitting with his back to the wall, in a faded blue work shirt and a ball cap pulled low, with an iced tea sweating on the table in front of him and his hands flat on the wood, looking at the menu. He looked up when Ethan slid in across from him.

“Vale.”

“Cross.”

“You look tired.”

“I look fine.”

“You look tired.”

Ronan took a sip of his tea and set it down without taking his eyes off Ethan, and Ethan returned the look without flinching, because flinching was for a man without a reason to be tired and he had one and he wasn't going to apologize for it.

“Caleb told you,” Ethan said.

“Caleb didn’t have to tell me. Caleb told me you sounded different on the phone Sunday night. I made the inference. That’s what I do.”

“And?”

“And nothing. Not yet. I’m here to deliver information, not lectures.”

Margo brought Ethan an iced tea. "Would you two like to order or visit for a bit?"

Ronan grinned, "We'll visit for a bit if you don't mind."

"Not at all. I'll stop back later."

“Talk to me about the file, Ronan.”

“I will. I’m going to talk to you about the file in a minute. But I’m going to say one thing first, and I’m going to say it once and not again, and then we’re going to drink our tea and order lunch.”

“Go ahead.”

Ronan put his iced tea down.