Claire looked even more worried than she had when Josie arrived looking like a fire survivor, which she was. “You told me it was always better to have more than one soldier on a mission.”
“So?”
“This investigation sounds like a mission to me. I think you should let Daniel stay and help you with it.”
“He doesn’t have to stay in my house to help me.”
“Yes, I do.” He was done discussing it. She could argue until she was hoarse with it, but he wasn’t going anywhere. “Claire, you said something about tea.”
“Of course. Josette, take your shower while I make your colleague some breakfast.”
“He’s not my colleague. I’m not a merc anymore.”
“But you are going to work with him on a mission. That makes him your colleague.” Claire’s logic seemed to deflate Josie, who started down the hall.
“I’ll take my shower. Why don’t you cook Nitro some breakfast, Claire?”
“I think I’ll spare him the pain and pour him a bowl of cereal.”
“I’d rather you cooked,” Josie threw back over her shoulder as she turned into a doorway to her left.
Claire just laughed and led Daniel into the kitchen where she pulled out a box of health-food-type cereal and a carton of organic milk from the fridge.
Handing him a bowl and spoon, she smiled wryly. “The last time I cooked, I set the kitchen on fire.”
He looked around him. The maple cabinets appeared to be in perfect condition. “It didn’t seem to do any lasting damage.”
“No, but the fire department wasn’t amused to be called out to put out a pan of flaming tofu dogs.”
“You called them to put out the fire?”
“The neighbors did. I was working on something on the computer and didn’t notice the smoke until the fire trucks arrived.”
He could not fathom being that unaware of his surroundings and shook his head.
Josie came out of the shower a half an hour later looking clean, but pale with exhaustion. Claire cajoled her into eating some cereal and then bullied her into bed.
Daniel added his voice to the other woman’s arguments, and Josie glared at him. “You’re not staying here.”
“Save it for after your nap.”
“Grown women don’t take naps.”
“You’re no good to me or your dad exhausted. Your brain isn’t even working well enough to realize my staying makes the most sense.”
That brought some more grumbling, but she turned smartly on her heel and stomped off, saying something about knowing when she wasn’t wanted.
He could have argued that particular point by the simple expedient of standing up from the table and revealing evidence to the contrary, but he found himself smiling as he watched the cranky woman disappear around the corner to the hall.
“I’ll look, but chances are he’s not using plastic for anything and he’s got an alternate identity set up somewhere.”
Daniel knew Hotwire was right, and the chances of tracing Tyler McCall’s whereabouts with the computer were slim, but they had to try. Because, frankly, unless Josie saw something in the journals he hadn’t, they had no other leads for finding her dad.
He’d been reading them ever since she went to bed and Claire had left for her classes. He’d learned a lot, but none of it relevant to the explosion and fire at the compound. So he’d called his friend Hotwire for his input.
“His disappearing act doesn’t make sense,” Hotwire added. “Why would he leave Josie to fend for herself if he knew the source of the threat and was hiding from it? Wouldn’t he take her with him?”
“Maybe Josie isn’t at risk.”
“Someone willing to blow up his compound to kill him would be willing to use his daughter to get to him.”
That’s what worried Daniel. “It’s not going to happen.”
“You said he had Josie call you before he took a powder.”
“Yes.”
“Then he didn’t leave her to fend for herself, did he? He knew you’d watch her back and better than he could in the state he was in.”
“Maybe.” But Hotwire was right. Tyler knew Daniel well enough to know he’d never abandon Josie to investigating the explosion on her own. Just as he had to have known Daniel would call his friends in to help.
“Besides, the guy’s brain isn’t exactly running on all six cylinders right now. For all we know, he’s had a flashback and is living in some Vietnam jungle in his head.”
“That’s what worries me.”
“You worried?”
“This is Josie’s dad we’re talking about here.”
“And you don’t want Josie hurt?”
“No.”
“Now, that’s very interestin’. I don’t remember you ever being overly worried about a woman’s feelings before.” The deliberately accentuated southern drawl needled Daniel.
“Drop it.”
Hotwire’s incredulous laugh irritated Daniel to the point of cursing.
“Tch, tch, tch…You’ve got to clean up your mouth. You’re staying in a woman’s house now. Didn’t your mama ever tell you it’s not mannerly to swear in front of a lady?”
His mother had been cursed at on a regular basis…every time his dad drank. “No.”
“Then take my advice. Clean up your mouth.”
“Josie’s a soldier, for crying out loud.”
“Ex-soldier and her roommate is a sheltered little thing.”
Claire hadn’t seemed all that sheltered to him. She had a mind like a computer and even the personality of one at times, but she hadn’t seemed particularly naive.
“Why didn’t you tell me Josie was getting out of the business?”
“Because you bit my head off every time I said her name over the past year.”
“You’re no shrinking violet.”
“I’m also not stupid.”
“You’ve been helping her with her computer studies.”
“You make it sound like I’ve been breaking the Sixth Commandment instead of helping a friend change her life.”
“So now you’re friends.”
“Josie and I have always been friends.”
“Since when is friendship an automatic by-product of working with another merc?”
“It isn’t.”
“But you’re friends with Josie.”
“Unlike some people, I realized right off that not only is she a good soldier who can be counted on, but she’s also a sweet woman worth knowing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You haven’t exactly gone out of your way to make friends with her.”
“I don’t go out of my way to be nice to anybody.”
Hotwire laughed. “That’s true, but I think your lack of enthusiasm for her company has hurt her feelings.”
He’d come to the same conclusion, and it bothered him. “I don’t dislike her, damn it.”
“Whoah…buddy, no need to go ballistic here.”
“I don’t go ballistic anymore.”
“That’s what I thought, but Josie brings out some pretty powerful feelings in you.”
