found one there as well. Interesting. He’d like to see how her patrons reacted to his team’s arrival the day before.
Ivy led him through the kitchen to an office, then closed the door. “What’s going on, Kit? Why are you here?”
“Can’t a brother visit his sister every now and then?”
“This is your first visit in over a decade. Try again. Yesterday a whole platoon of commandos stopped in for dinner. Why are they here?”
“Just some buds. We’re going fishing.”
“Kit Bolanger.” She put her hands on her hips. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.”
“All right. Fishing for what?”
“That, I’m not going to tell you.”
Ivy walked in a small circle-the room was clearly too small for her nerves and him. “What do you want, Kit?”
“I want to see my daughter.”
Ivy’s head jerked his way. “No.”
Kit stepped toward her, into her space, backing her toward a cluttered bulletin board. He slapped a hand on either side of her head. “I will see her.”
Ivy’s big blue eyes filled with tears. Her gaze held him with same force he achieved with his entire body, pinning him in place. “Don’t take her from me,” she whispered.
“Never.”
“She’s my world.”
Chapter 15
Ty looked up at the towering log house. It was utterly unchanged in the long years he’d been gone. The windows were clean, the logs weathered to a nice patina. The grounds were neat. Daisies, poppies and other perennials made brilliant swathes of color in the flowerbeds. The air was lush with flowering lilacs.
He hadn’t phoned the Jacksons to let them know he’d be stopping by. Truthfully, he didn’t want to see them yet. He fished the key to the front door out of his pocket and let himself inside.
Shadows filled the foyer and living room. All the windows had their drapes drawn. Sheets covered three different suites of furniture. Though the house was clearly unused, there wasn’t a speck of dust. The Jacksons were indeed good caretakers.
He paused at the side of the room where his father’s bar stood, uncovered and stocked with his favorite whiskey. A chill skittered down his spine. It was as if the man had only gone on a protracted vacation, not that he was dead. The ache in Ty’s leg became more pronounced as he battled memories he never wanted to revisit.
Leaning on his cane more heavily, he spun away from the bar. He forced himself to walk into his father’s den, a place his father admitted him only when he wished to discipline him. He stared at the chair he’d occupied twenty years earlier in excruciating pain, his leg broken and untended because his father was on a bender and couldn’t remember breaking it in one of his vicious fits of rage. One beating begat another, until the man finally sobered up.
Ty kicked the chair across the room, hating the memory, hating how weak he’d been. He turned and swiped everything off the surface of his father’s desk with his cane, hearing a satisfying crash of lamp and containers and other clutter. Landing on top of the heap was his father’s silver letter opener. Ty grabbed it and limped back to the desk. He knew his father watched him impotently from wherever his spirit had gone.
He stared at the smooth, highly polished, ancient, enormous, mahogany desk-his father’s great pride-trying to decide what words to carve into the surface. “Fuck you” was too trite. “Go to hell” was foolish, because hopefully that’s where the bastard already was.
“Mr. Bladen! You’re home!” Dennis Jackson said from the doorway. Ty pivoted, expecting to see his father, but there was no one other than his foreman.
“Call me Ty,” he barked the order. Dennis straightened, adjusted his black leather vest in the same way he’d done a thousand other times when Ty’s father had rebuked him.
“Of course. There anything that I can do for you? Do you want a room prepared and the house opened?”
Ty swiped a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Dennis. I didn’t mean to be such a shit.” He offered the older man a conciliatory smile. “I guess you startled me.”
“It doesn’t matter-Ty. You’re injured?” he asked, nodding toward Ty’s leg and cane.
“A lucky shot. It’s healing well. And no, don’t bother with opening the house. I’m not staying.”
“I see.” He glanced at the wall behind Ty. Was it his imagination, or was Dennis acting nervous? Ty leaned on his cane and took a few steps to the desk, using the motion to cover the look he sent around the room.
“Dennis, I noticed the paths between here and the Wolf Valley property are surprisingly well used. Do you know why? Have you had any trouble here? Odd visitors? Trespassers?”
“No. I haven’t seen anyone on the property or in the house. I do a circuit of the grounds every few days.”
Ty looked away. Dennis was lying. “I asked because Mandy is having some difficulties over at the construction site, and I wondered if you were experiencing the same.”
“We’d heard about her troubles. Several folks in town were discussing it.” His gaze flashed to Ty, adding a quick clarification, “I wasn’t participating in the conversation. I just overheard their discussion.”
Ty didn’t react to how he’d gotten the news. His father had hated for their servants or any of their employees to participate in gossip. It had been a firing offense. Maybe Dennis was having a case of the nerves, unsure what to expect now that he reported to Ty.
“I’ll be over at Mandy’s for a while, helping her with the situation. Kit’s home, too.”
“Is it serious, then? Mandy’s situation?”
“It is. I know you and Mrs. Jackson are due a vacation. I think it’s a good time for you to take it now.”
“If there’s trouble, sir, I would prefer not to be away.”
“You’ve served my family honorably my entire life. Would it be so terrible to take a month and visit your children? Your grandchildren? Spend some time on a beach? Make the arrangements and provide me with a bill. I’ll cover the expense.”
“Sir, will we have jobs when we return?”
Ty crossed the room and stood in front of the older man, one of the few who’d dared to make his childhood bearable. He set his hand on Dennis’s shoulder. “This is your home, whether you work here or not. Take some time away. I will let you know when it is safe to return. And spend some money on Mrs. Jackson. I’ll pay your wages while you’re gone.”
Kit pulled his chair closer to the monitors in the command center. He’d asked Ivy to give him a copy of the footage from an hour before his team sat down to supper to an hour after they left, from both of the cameras in the dining area. He and Max were speeding through the gray-scale video, fast-forwarding to the moment the team entered the diner. Owen and Greer were sitting behind them, watching the monitors.
“What are we looking for, Kit?” Max asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll know it when we see it.
“What’s doin’?” Blade asked.
“Ivy had video of the diner from last night. I thought it would be interesting to see who was there when the guys dropped in and what their reaction was. Mandy, you know these people. Tell me if something looks odd to
