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“It’s decaf.” Tick waved toward the refrigerator. “There’s an unopened bottle of cold brew in there if you want it instead.”

“Why are you drinking decaf?” Pausing before she bit into her sandwich, Tori wrinkled her nose. “The last time I saw you do that was—”

Her voice died, and she set her biscuit down with comical speed, glancing between him and Caitlin. He met his wife’s rueful gaze and shrugged.

Tori braced both hands flat on the marble. “You’re not. Please tell me you are!”

Caitlin straightened, hands in her lap, a friendlier version of her Woodfield posture. “We are.”

His sister’s excited squeal cut through the air, and Cookie flinched before she clapped a hand over her mouth, big dark eyes twinkling with glee.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.” Tori threw her arms around Caitlin. “I love this! When are you due? Do the girls know? Oh, I hope it’s a boy. Another girl would be great, too, though.”

Caitlin laughed, disentangling herself with gentle hands. “It is wonderful. We’re due early in January.”

“Tori.” He pitched his voice low and calm, her demeanor going solemn when she looked at him. “We just found out, and we’re not going public for at least a couple more weeks.”

“Not even Mama?” Her eyes rounded, and she shook her head. “That will be tough.”

He flicked a glance at Caitlin, sure she was biting the inside of her lip. “Not even Mama.”

Tori stared at him a moment, then lifted a hand and let it fall, slanting a smile at Caitlin. “Okay. I can be self-disciplined. Promise me if it’s a boy and you name him the third you won’t let him nickname him Tres, Cait. It’s so cliche and overused around here.”

He saluted his sister with his cup of terrible decaffeinated coffee. “Not even on our radar.”

“Good.” She rolled her eyes, so reminiscent of Eleanor that he smiled. “Keep it off.”

“You have to be on the road soon.” Caitlin’s quiet voice drew his attention. She shifted, tucking her foot beneath her on the stool, drawing her robe more closely about her body. “Do you want me to reach out to David, see if I can offer assistance in any way?”

“That would be great.” She’d have every Falcon Security resource she could leverage working for him. Folding the wrapper around his sandwich — he’d eat it in the car after he grabbed a cup of halfway decent coffee to go on the road — he came around the island to cup her cheek and drop a kiss on her mouth. “Thank you. I’ll see you, Falconetti.”

Chapter Eighteen

Never Say Never

In the end, she didn’t have much to offer David, except a Falcon Security cyber team to trawl through Vontressa’s social media accounts. After the phone call, David sounding tense and gutted, Caitlin dove into the forensic equivocal analysis on a Harris County cold case, but her focus proved negligible.

Instead, she fretted, all the scenarios Vontressa might have met tumbling through her brain.

She could not imagine not knowing where Eleanor was, where Eva was.

The silence and isolation of the house stretched around her, the quiet threatening rather than peaceful.

When Tori texted an invitation to meet for lunch, she leapt at the distraction, even agreeing to allow Tori to swing by and pick her up.

The lunch rush was in full force already. They ended up at the Hickory House, a long, squat concrete building on the highway. Pickup trucks and SUVs filled the parking lot, but Tori squeezed her silver sports car into a small space between a huge diesel Ford and a pecan tree.

The heat washed over Caitlin in waves when they stepped from the car.

Tori dropped her keys in her purse. “We may have to wait, but it’ll be worth it. The food is always great.”

Her prediction proved true, as the line at the hostess station stretched to the entrance. Caitlin glanced around at the country décor—hokey hand-painted signs, ceramic animals, lots of sunflowers. The spicy scent of smoked meat and barbeque sauce hung in the air, and her stomach turned over. She pulled in a couple of breaths. Regular morning sickness hadn’t been a problem with this pregnancy, but smells got her at the weirdest of times.

Her stomach flipping now made this baby all the more real.

Tori turned her back on the farmers in front of them and fixed Caitlin with a steady gaze. “I’m so glad you're here.”

“Your brother is here for a week, and the girls are away.” Caitlin shrugged. “Where else would I be?”