Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries #5)(3)

“She does?”

“Yeah. She blames herself for Mom’s relationship with her dad breaking up . . . which is bullshit. Maybe if Mom got off the drugs, she’d be able to have a normal relationship for once in her life. With her daughters, her parents . . . someone.”

“And that’s why Elise went to live with her grandparents, right?”

“Right. My mom disappeared for a week, and eventually Elise took the bus to Me-Maw’s. Pop was pissed, and immediately drove over to Mom’s house to bitch her out, but since she wasn’t there, he had to settle for grabbing all of Elise’s stuff and moving her into their place.”

“When was that?”

“About four years ago.”

“And she hasn’t seen your mom since?” Ball asked. It was hard for him to fathom simply leaving a kid alone in a house for days like Ella Adams had done.

“Not that I know of, but I’m not there. Knowing my mom, she’s probably been texting or emailing Elise. Giving her a guilt trip or something.”

“Maybe Elise went to move back in with your mom,” Ball suggested.

Everly shook her head, but she looked worried. “No.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

Everly shifted in her seat so she was facing Ball. “Ella Adams doesn’t care about anyone but herself. Elise knows that. We’ve had long conversations about it. She knows she’s better off at Me-Maw and Pop’s place.”

“But it’s possible,” Ball pushed, frustrated that Everly wasn’t even considering the possibility.

She huffed. “Fine. You’re right. It was a possibility.”

“Was?” Ball asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, was. I talked to Detective Ramirez about it. He went and talked to Mom. Found her in a pay-by-the-hour shitty motel room with some guy. He questioned her, and he said she seemed very surprised to hear that Elise was missing. Even squeezed out some tears or something. She was high, and as I said earlier, she really only gives a rat’s ass about herself. He said he’d keep an eye on her to see if she led him back to an apartment or something where Elise could be hanging out, but after a day and a half of surveillance, she hadn’t left the motel where he’d originally found her. I know you think I’m white trash and a gutter rat, Ball, but just because my mom’s a drug addict doesn’t mean she passed her stupid gene to me and my sister.”

“I don’t think you’re white trash,” Ball said, genuinely shocked that she’d think so.

Everly sighed heavily and refused to look him in the eye.

“I don’t,” Ball insisted. “I know we didn’t exactly start out on the right foot . . .”

She snorted.

“. . . but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect what you do.”

Everly eyed him. “But you don’t want to work with me.”

Ball shrugged. “It’s not personal. I don’t like working with women.”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

She let out a harsh chuckle. “I think it does, since we’re going to be working closely together for the next week or so.”

“So if Elise didn’t go back to live with your mom, would she want to stay with anyone else?” Ball asked.

For a second, he didn’t think she was going to let go of her question about why he didn’t like to work with women, but eventually she sighed.

“I don’t know. I wanted Elise to come stay with me, but the school she’s at right now is awesome, and all her friends are there. So I send money every month to help my grandparents, and Elise knows when she graduates from high school that she’s more than welcome to come out here to Colorado Springs to live with me.”

“Do you have any objections to Meat remotely logging on to her computer when we get to Los Angeles?” Ball asked. They’d already discussed it, but he wanted to be sure.

“None.”

Ball nodded. He tried to think about what else they should discuss, but nothing came to mind.

He’d never been this . . . weird . . . with a woman before. He knew it was because he couldn’t figure out exactly how he felt about Everly. He admired her for excelling in a job that was typically male dominated, even as he resented having to work so closely with her. He felt sorry for her because her sister was missing and she was so worried . . . but he also had a feeling that maybe the LA cops were right, and the girl was just sowing some wild oats.

His feelings about both his ex-partner and his ex-girlfriend had been brought to the forefront thanks to this case, and he’d been dealing with those for the last few days, even while trying half-heartedly to make up for the shit he’d said about Everly when he’d first learned she’d be tagging along on the mission.

Luckily, they arrived at the airport quickly, so he didn’t have to attempt any small talk. They parked and headed for the ticket counter. Within an hour, they were seated on the plane and taking off for Denver. Of course Rex had put them in adjoining seats on the plane. Ball would’ve preferred to have a break from her, but instead they were sharing an armrest.

Wanting to ease the awkward silence between them as they taxied to the runway, Ball looked over at Everly in the window seat. Her eyes were closed, and her head was resting against the seat back. Her hands were clutched together in her lap, and it was more than obvious she wasn’t a good flier.