Minutes to Kill (Scarlet Falls #2)(23)

“Chaotic but good.” Grant stopped at an intersection and turned right. “We’re getting into a rhythm. Everybody pitches in.”

“You all seem happy and busy.”

“The kids don’t leave me much time for reflection. Faith won’t remember any of this, but I worry about Carson. His parents were murdered. Something like that is bound to leave a scar.”

“You’re doing great with him.”

“He’d like it if you visited more.”

“I’ll try,” Hannah said.

“Where are you going next?”

“London.” She hoped. Sort of.

“Don’t be a stranger, Hannah,” Grant said. “I never understood how important family is to my sanity. Dad had Mom. That’s how he got through his days after the injury. After she was gone, he just couldn’t hold it together anymore. She was his lifeline. Today, you gave him his memory of the happiness he had with her, even if it was just for a little while. That’s priceless.”

Hannah nodded. It hadn’t been priceless. It had cost her. But Grant was right. She needed to put her own expectations and needs aside.

“You’ll visit him while I’m away?”

“Yes.” How would she get through that by herself?

“I know you spent most of your life trying to please him, but that’s in the past. You can’t hold on to it. Let it go. You’ll feel better.”

“He wasn’t interested in having a daughter.” There. She’d said it. It sounded pathetic and selfish coming out of her mouth. The man was paralyzed and dying, and she couldn’t let go of her childhood daddy issues. Sad. Just sad.

“He didn’t mean to slight you. He just didn’t know what to do with a girl. He grew up with four brothers and went to military boarding school. He honestly thought you’d be happier doing girl stuff with Mom. He was always so surprised when you wanted to go camping or hunting with us.”

“If I didn’t do all the wilderness excursions, I wouldn’t have spent any time with him at all.” Even with tagging along, she’d always felt like an afterthought. And on that note, time to change the subject. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”

Grant’s glance told her he wasn’t finished with the conversation, but he’d let her off for now. “Disgustingly early.”

“Need any help getting the kids packed?”

“No. We’re about done. Carson is so excited, I doubt he’ll sleep at all, and Faith is up half the night anyway.” Grant steered the truck through a bend. “If you need anything, Brody will be around. He might stop in.”

“Why?”

Her brother lifted a big shoulder in a faux shrug. He wasn’t fooling her.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Didn’t say you did.”

“Are you trying to fix me up with the cop?”

“Of course not.” He gave her a quizzical look. “Where did that idea come from?”

Where did that idea come from?

“Because you can keep your bromance with Brody to yourself.” Hannah lowered the window an inch and welcomed a stream of country air into the cab. “How did you end up so tight with him?”

“We’re not tight.” Grant laughed. “But he’s ex-military, too. Takes one to know one, I guess.”

“Brody was in the military?” She wouldn’t have guessed. While Grant was all barely contained aggression, Brody always seemed to be completely in control. Usually, his Mr. Cool act annoyed her. During Lee’s murder investigation, Hannah had barely held on to her emotions, but the cop’s never faltered.

“He did four years in the navy to pay for college, then worked with the Boston PD before moving here.”

“Why would anyone come to Scarlet Falls?”

“That’s a question you’ll have to ask him.”

No, thank you. She had no intention of getting to know Brody that well. Though the fact that Grant obviously knew Brody’s background but wasn’t talking piqued her curiosity. No piquing. She needed to stay focused. “I’m only here for a week. I doubt the topic will come up.”

But she was sure she’d be seeing Brody soon. She’d sent him the e-mail, not that there was much he could do.

As soon as they arrived back at the house, Hannah booted her computer and checked her inbox. Scanning her messages, she froze at a subject line: Jewel.





Chapter Eight

When a body was dumped in the great outdoors, insects were the first responders. The faint drone of insect wings buzzed in the background as Brody got out of his unmarked police car. He skirted the rusted skeleton of a child’s bike. The old rail yard was a grave site for more than unused freight cars. The enclosed area was a dumping ground for everything from abandoned vehicles to rotting mattresses. It was an excellent place to acquire tetanus—or dispose of a body.

He walked past an SFPD cruiser. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, stood next to the vehicle’s bumper. The boy shoved his hands in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie. The girl, dressed in leggings and boots, wrapped a knee-length sweater tightly around her body as if she was freezing. Brody bypassed the kids. He’d interview them after he saw the body.

Twenty feet of wet weeds separated the dirt road from a patch of waist-high scrubby plants. Treading carefully, Brody skirted a used condom and ducked under a strip of crime scene tape. Near the center of the space, a body sprawled next to a tractor tire. The wind shifted, and a fresh meat scent hit his nostrils.