refrigerator.
“Jessica, he’s going to take the last of the blueberry syrup. You’d better hurry.”
“Don’t bother,” Jack said. “She’s curling her hair; it will be a while.”
Luke looked over at Susan. “When did that start?”
“This summer.”
He tended to notice details, but he’d missed that one. “Getting everyone seated for this breakfast is not as easy as it used to be. Want more coffee?”
“Please.”
He topped off his sister’s coffee and then turned the stack of gifts beside her plate to hide the fact he’d flubbed the tape job on his gift. “Where’s Tom this morning?”
“South of Australia. He’s calling from the boat at noon our time.”
“The guy gets seasick; I bet this has been a great trip.”
“A ten-million-plus investor, he’ll take Dramamine from an IV. One more backer and the lab starts building.”
“Has this car been named yet?”
“Hot Lightning, I think.”
“I voted for that one,” Jack added.
“It breaks every speed limit in the world-Hot Lightning sounds appropriate.” Luke pulled out a chair for his sister and, once she was seated, shook out a linen napkin to place in her lap.
“Thank you, Luke.”
“Why do you do that every year?” Jack asked.
“Courtesy, young man, you’ll learn,” his mom replied.
Jessica joined them in a flurry of hair bows and jacket choices.
Luke caught the pile before it slid off her arm. “Go with the red-they make you look intimidating.”
“Ignore your uncle. Blue jacket, red bow, and add that scarf you bought last weekend,” Susan suggested.
“Okay.” Jessica leaned over and kissed her mom. “Happy birthday. One waffle, please.” She darted back for the stairs.
Luke moved a waffle to safety on Jessica’s plate. “Where’s Tom taking you this year when you leave the kids with me?”
“I’m pushing for a tour of the eastern US this time, no flying, just miles of roads and thousands of places to shop.”
Luke laughed. “He’ll love it.” He cut into the stack of pancakes on his plate. The guy might have chosen to focus his talents on building rockets and fast cars, but for Susan he’d occasionally slow down. Luke liked his brother-in- law.
His pager sounded as he ate. Luke offered a smile in apology to his sister and stepped away from the table to answer the summons. His quarry of the day had been spotted east of town. Luke didn’t know if he was sad or sorry to be missing the wrapped gifts. He closed his phone. “I’ve got to go.”
“Don’t look so annoyed. I have another birthday breakfast next year.”
“I know.” He hugged his sister and kissed her cheek. “Happy birthday, Sis.”
“You too. Jack snuck your present into your car.”
“Did he?” His nephew looked entirely too pleased with himself. Luke paused by the boy’s chair long enough to wrap him in a headlock. “Thanks, buddy. Study hard today. This weekend we’ll go try out those golf clubs again.”
“You’re on.”
Luke tried to break the twin birthday bond with Susan by the fact his birthday was minutes before midnight and hers minutes after, but she always snuck it in on him. She liked to celebrate hers, and he did his best to forget his. “Say hi to Tom for me. I’ll be back this evening sometime to put together what he’s going to tell you about at noon.”
“Luke, you can’t leave me in suspense like that for hours,” Susan protested with a laugh.
“Sure I can.” He hugged the returning Jessica. “Very sharp, young lady. You’re still not dating until you’re twenty.”
“But I-”
“He’s right,” Susan added. “Come eat.”
Luke pulled out his keys. “I’ll see you all later.” He left the threesome laughing around the breakfast table and headed out, wondering just what Jack had put in his car.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Luke shifted the items he carried to knock again on the hotel-room door. Amanda Griffin had bailed on him before the forty-eight hours she’d promised? She wouldn’t be down at the hotel pool, where she could be noticed, and if she had stepped away from the room to go to the vending machine she’d have been back by now. “Amy, it’s Officer Granger. Please come to the door.”
While he waited he slid another one of the cookies from the tin he held. His sister never said she understood his preference to keep the birthday low-key, but her gifts always conveyed it. The cookies had been homemade and carefully stacked, the book underneath the tin one of the mysteries he favored. She knew him very well indeed. He reached to knock a third time. The door opened under his raised hand. The sight of Amy paused him midmotion; her blue eyes were half open, the lashes framing them heavy with sleep. “I woke you up.”
She gave a nod as she stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. “Yes, sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night.” She stepped back to let him into the room. “I just saw the news scroll by; you arrested him.”
“The next town over did: shortly after 1 p.m. at his cousin’s home.” She was slow coming out of the sleep, her eyes a bit puffy and her attention not very focused, but it was rather nice to see the lack of the tension he had feared. “I brought pizza this time with cookies and ice cream for dessert. Although maybe in the circumstances I should have brought breakfast.”
She laughed. It was the first time he’d heard the sound, and he rather liked it. “I love it all and I’m starved. What kind of pizza?”
He pushed the room door shut with his foot, wondering what she’d think if he mentioned she looked very young at the moment and he felt very old. Her feet were bare, and the faded blue sweatshirt she wore was from a college in Texas. “Half with everything, half cheese and sausage.”
“Both work for me.” She disappeared into the bathroom. He carried the items he held over to the table. She reappeared with a hairbrush, tugging out sleep knots in her long hair.
“This won’t go to trial, Amy; he’ll plead out to avoid the death penalty. When I left he was already talking with the district attorney.”
She lowered the brush and tossed it aside with a sigh. “I’m not sure I like that outcome for what he did, but I guess I can understand it. And that kind of news you could have sent someone else to tell me.”
He watched her, assessing her mood, and felt relieved enough to let himself smile a bit: not coiled so tight today, finding her footing, and beginning to regret her promise that he could have forty-eight hours; he should have expected that. “This case might be sorting itself out, but we’ve still got an unfinished conversation to have.” At the end of this particular day he wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was going to be had. There were times when the job had to dictate when he could ease back and when he couldn’t, and this was one of those collisions.
She joined him at the table and accepted the plate he handed her. She chose two pieces of pizza from opposite sides of the box and settled back in her chair to eat. “Why do you have to dig? Why do you have to know?”
“Because you’re running.”
She shrugged, her slim shoulders making the gesture an eloquent answer. “Running isn’t so bad. I had three good years here before chance put me in the spotlight. Maybe the next place I’ll get five or more. That’s a better alternative than another cop being dead. Your sister isn’t going to appreciate that need of yours to know when she’s burying you.”
She was pushing him away incredibly hard. That resistance told Luke a lot about her past in itself. “Either talk to me or I can run your prints to confirm your name and do my own looking.” He wanted her to trust him, but that wasn’t in the cards. She’d already taken too many hits in life that he knew about to easily trust. He’d settle for a neutral interview. “I’m not asking just to drag up grief for you. You’re in my town, running from a guy that scares the daylights out of you, and I care about the job and badge enough to do what I think needs done.”
