“What?” Sophia jerked her head in his direction. “I can’t believe you brought law enforcement to my house. Again. I would think you would want to protect our daughter, but it’s like you thrive on this kind of drama. When are you going to grow up?”
Natalie moved by his side and gave him a look. They needed to separate the women if they were going to get any of their questions answered. He gave her a nod and moved his chin in Sophia’s direction.
Natalie touched Mary’s arm, and as she did Mary jerked. “What?” Anger soaked through her voice.
“I think it’s best if you and Ms. Sanders took a few steps back.” She gently but firmly pushed the woman back.
“Now,” Evan started, “all we really need to know is who ordered those chemicals.”
The women pointed at one another. Finally, Sophia spoke. “This woman wants to get me into all kinds of trouble. And the last thing I want is to have anything to do with her. I wouldn’t order chemicals. Even if I had access to these accounts, I wouldn’t do anything. It wouldn’t even surprise me if she had done this herself and pinned it on me in hopes that I would get into trouble. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we are in quite a contentious divorce.”
“If I had done it, why would I call you and warn you that these people were going to show up and ask you questions about it?” Mary countered. “If anything, I wanted you to be prepared. I didn’t want you to get into trouble. Little Bean needs both of us. We don’t have to be married anymore, but you’re still her mother. We signed up for this together. Now we are in this together, forever.”
Was that what this all was—some weird interfamilial drama playing out in front of them?
Sophia took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and ran her hands over her face like she was trying to dispel some of her rage. “Look, I’m sorry.” She glanced at him and then at Natalie. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throats when you showed up here. I just... Anytime I have to deal with her—” she pointed at her ex “—it sets my teeth on edge.”
Evan nodded. “I understand how infuriating an ex can be. Relationships, especially those involving children and divorces, can be quite acrimonious.”
Sophia’s eyebrows rose like she was somehow impressed with his word of the day. Or maybe it was his empathy; he wasn’t sure. “Obviously, things between her and me haven’t been going well.”
“Obviously.” Mary crossed her arms over her chest and gave Sophia a sour look, one full of pain.
“There is a lot of bad blood between the two of you,” Natalie said. “In my line of work, I see this kind of thing all the time, but I hope you both know that you need to be civil, especially when it comes to your child.”
Sophia looked over at Natalie, finally seeming to actually notice her. “You’re a cop, too?”
Is that who these women thought they were, police officers? Or was this woman just putting them on? Ignorance, in this situation, could be a great defensive move.
Though she did look unsure of them and Natalie. If he had walked into this cold and unprepared in any way, he would have believed the woman. She didn’t have any indicators that she was lying, only that she was defensive—likely due to the fact her ex was standing in her front yard and they were asking her questions. But she wasn’t shuffling her feet, cocking her head, or itching—all simple body language cues people exhibited when they were lying.
“Do you mind showing me the order for the chemicals you guys have been talking about?” Sophia asked, motioning toward him.
“Of course,” he said, realizing that they hadn’t actually given her any information about their being there.
He was glad he hadn’t wasted time trying to figure out a plan when it had come to talking to this woman. Once again, they were getting punched in the face, but he had learned to take the hits and keep on fighting.
He took out his phone and opened the information. Holding up his phone, he moved closer so she could take a look at what had brought them to her doorstep in the first place.
She stared at the image for a long time. “Do you mind?” she asked, motioning to scroll the page.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“What company did we place the order with?” she asked.
He scrolled up. “It looks like it is a place called GenChem. You know them?”
A smile broke through the woman’s tight features. “Ha. I know what this is.” She did a small hop from one foot to the other, like an excited kid. “The company has a long-standing order with them. One on a yearly order cycle.”
That made sense, but he still didn’t understand why, if they didn’t have a rodent problem, they were continuously using such a chemical.
“Our maintenance teams use it mostly in the alleyway and around the doors to the business. I don’t know if you realize this, but there is a complete underground city beneath the streets. There, it’s like the New York City sewage system with rats and vermin. If you don’t stay on top of the problem, it can get bad quickly. Well, according to our company’s teams...” Sophia’s face soured. “I mean your company...” She shot Mary a hurt look.
Mary gave a stiff, acknowledging nod.
There was a long, painful pause. He had always hated this kind of breakup thing when it had been happening in his life, but it was almost as agonizing when it played out in front of him. He wished he could just talk to them both, free of emotions and pain, and see what had really come between them and see if it was fixable. But this wasn’t his place. These were his suspects.
He couldn’t be this tenderhearted.
For all he knew, they were in on it together and were playing him and Natalie like fools.
“I’m glad that we have all that sorted out,” he said, turning off the screen on his phone. “However, given the nature of your relationship, Mary, may I ask why you warned Sophia of our coming here? And why you weren’t forthcoming with the information about her current whereabouts?”
Mary looked down at the toes of her work boots.
“You know,” Natalie said, jumping in, “when people hide things, it makes a person look exceedingly guilty.”
He clicked his phone on and scrolled through his emails. “Mary, that is also to say nothing about the fact that you didn’t send me the videos you promised me—the ones which proved you were home alone last night.”
Mary’s chin moved impossibly closer to her chest until there was a tiny roll of skin pinched there, under her chin.
“Are you really that embarrassed of what happened?” Sophia asked. “Just tell them. It doesn’t matter. They seem like they will understand. Besides, what happened isn’t worth getting in trouble over.”
Mary finally looked up. “Have either of you ever gone through a messed-up, confusing-as-hell divorce?”
“Sure have, why?” he asked.
Natalie looked at him with a bit of surprise. No doubt she would have questions for him later.
“Loneliness can lead to questionable decisions.” Mary held her hands together in front of her. “Not that I don’t like how things went last night, Sophia...” She looked up and the two women’s eyes locked.
For the first time since they had arrived, there was a degree of softness and congenial familiarity between them.
“I would hope not,” Sophia said, the sound somewhat breathless.
He knew that tone. They were lost in their dance with each other. It sounded stupid, his likening their relationship to such a thing, but that was exactly what relationships were—a dance. They could be fun, inspiring, heartwarming and filled with love and laughter...and yet, if one in the pair lost their footing or got behind, it could all come to a screeching halt or a stumbling mess of disasters. They were definitely navigating the disasters, and it was all made harder by the love that still resided between the couple.
“So you guys were together last night?” N
atalie asked, but he could see the twitch of a smile at the corner of her lips. Had she been rooting for the offbeat couple just like he was?
Maybe they were equally as tenderhearted as the other. That could definitely make the feelings he was having toward Natalie that much harder to dance—and he wanted the ballet.
“If you guys knew what all we have been through, you would understand why I didn’t want to admit that we were together,” Mary said, “but we were. And sometimes, no matter how badly someone hurts you or how badly you have hurt them, there is still just a pure, aching love between you.” She smiled at Sophia. “And I don’t know if we will make it or not, but I want you to know that I love you. I will always love you.”
Sophia stepped over to Mary and took her hand. “I love you, too. And I’m so, so sorry. I don’t think we can ever go back to what we were. There is too much water under the bridge, but maybe we could take things slow and be a team again at least for Little Bean. She needs us to be a cohesive unit.”
Mary leaned into her, putting her head on Sophia’s shoulder. “You got it.”
From the look in the two women’s eyes, this wasn’t some farce.
This messy and confusing moment was real. This was love and life all wrapped into one duct-taped, wired together, big ball of the best everyone could do. It may not have been pretty, but then again maybe it was this ethereal, emotive chaos that made everything worth it.
These imperfect moments, with all their jagged edges—were what made living beautiful.
Chapter Thirteen
“That was...raw,” Natalie said as they got back into the truck and she started driving, though she didn’t even know where she should go.
“Very real,” he said, looking out the window. Was he afraid that if he looked at her, what was happening between them would become real, too? “There are a lot of bombs going off there, but I don’t think they were involved in any in your life.”
She shook her head. “No. They aren’t the kind to go after me. They are too focused on what is going on in their lives to branch out and start striking at those around them.”
“Yeah, but it also means that you are still in danger. And, we’re back to square one.”
Her stomach sank. He was right. They could keep grasping at straws, and fighting to find who wished her harm, but the thought exhausted her. They were chasing their tails. “All I want to do is go home and get into my bed and not move for a while.”
“I get it,” he said, glancing over at her. “I’m exhausted by this, too. Running on high emotions all the time can be so draining. If you need rest, let’s go get some rest. We are no good if we’re not thinking straight.”
“I’m so glad you said that. I have really been missing my pillow.” Natalie ran her hand over the back of her neck.
“Yeah, about that...” he started. “There’s no way you can go back to your place. We could go to my apartment, but my family’s there, and trust me, you don’t want that kind of baloney. But I’ve got a line on a private house, if you’d like. And I know for a fact that it has great towels—a whole selection of them.” He laughed.
Her entire body tightened. She had known on a certain level that the night would come again and they would be staying together, but she hadn’t expected to feel this pull toward him. Could she be that close to him and keep her distance—for both of their sakes?
She had just witnessed how wrong things could go, complete with lawyers and children...houses and businesses. Did she really want to get into a relationship? A friendship with this man was far safer and smarter in the long run.
Men and women could be friends, right?
She sighed at the thought.
“No? You don’t want to be alone with me?” he asked, looking over at her.
“No, that’s not it,” she said, waving him off. “A house would be great. Definitely smarter. I guess I can always go buy a good pillow if push comes to shove.”
“We could go to a hotel, too, but I have a feeling that you would definitely need to buy a pillow in that case,” he said, winking at her.
What did he mean by that? Was he thinking about them naked?
Her thoughts went to him behind her, her face pressed into a down pillow.
Stop.
Those kinds of thoughts weren’t going to help her keep her hands off him.
Oddly enough, she wasn’t feeling quite as tired as she had been before.
“Yeah, a house is good. Separate bedrooms.” She sounded clipped.
“Yes,” he said.
His quick agreement bit at her. He hadn’t even had to think about it. Did he not want her, at all? She should have never let him kiss her. When would she learn? As soon as a man got a taste, it was like they no longer had any need to pursue. And if they’d had sex he probably would have left her in the middle of the night—regardless of his proclamations and promises to keep her safe.
Men.
He clicked away on his phone, making her miss hers all that much more. How nice it would be to pick it up and escape for a while. Though that was what she had loved best about giving it up in the first place.
She thought about all the work waiting for her as soon as she came back online—no doubt she would have to answer more questions about Judge Hanes and she’d probably have to take over some of his cases if he didn’t get back on his feet soon. Being here, with Evan, was simpler in all the ways that didn’t involve her heart.
“I just got word that your friend, the judge, has woken up.”
She smiled. “Thank goodness. I’m so glad. How is he doing?”
“They said he is not making a whole lot of sense yet, but he is gaining ground each passing hour.” He paused. “But they are worried about him being a fall risk. Apparently, he keeps talking about getting up and walking out. He is pretty out of it.”
“I’m just glad he’s alive. Do you think he will make a full recovery?”
“Nerve agents can have some long-lasting effects. And none of them are good. If he ends up being able to even go back home within the next few months that would be a real positive.”
She knew he was right, and yet she hated it. “Are you sure there isn’t any way we can find out about the sarin?”
“I talked to Agent Hart. He’s looking into that from his side. But I haven’t heard anything on that line yet.” Evan shrugged.
She hated how little progress they had made and if they went to go see the judge, she wanted to give him some kind of good news—that they were no longer going to have to worry about their personal safety. Instead, the next time she saw him, she would only be the bearer of bad news.
It was terrible, but she was somewhat glad Steve Hanes wouldn’t be able to understand. She could at least save him some of the anguish of knowing that whoever attacked him was still on the loose.
The only comfort she could find in any of this was that if the attackers still wanted Judge Hanes to be dead, at least he was being watched over by the other Spade family members. If Evan’s siblings were anything like him, there was no way Hanes was going to be left alone. They couldn’t always stop the bad things from happening—that was outside anyone’s ability as long as the perpetrator was on the loose—but at least they would do everything in their power to keep Steve safe, and to get information from him when he was capable of speaking coherently.
Until she saw him, though, at least she could rest.
The house where Evan took her was high up on a mountain, overlooking the city nestled into the valley floor. She hadn’t grown up in the city; rather, her familial home had been about fifty miles down in the Bitterroot Valley near Hamilton, Montana. Both were tucked into the mountains where they were protected from the extreme cold and heat that much of the eastern side of the state would encounter. She’d always loved those mountains. They were the backbone of the United States, and if she was to pick t
he heart it would have been the city whose lights were reflecting off the clouds above them.
As they pulled up to the house, she was surprised. She had expected a rental that was like some little dingy pillbox house near the university campus, where they would bump against each other while passing in the hall. And yet, the house that stood before her was a grand log home. Inside, someone had left the light on, and through the living room window, she could see an antler chandelier and a buffalo blanket adorning the far wall. It looked far more like a hunting lodge than a city dwelling.
Whoever their interior designer was, she needed to hire them. This place was the epitome of Montana living. Many out-of-staters yearned to move here after seeing homes just like this one. There was just something about being perched on the top of the mountain overlooking the quaint city on one side and the wild on the other. It was like a metaphor for life.
Evan got out and opened her door for her. She pulled her jacket tight, blocking the wind as they walked up the stone walkway into the house. Snow had drifted into the corners of the entryway and she found it a bit soothing—nature was gently battling with mankind’s intrusions. She loved this home, but nature’s subtle war reminded her of her own. Over time, eventually she would go back to nature just like this place. In the meantime, she could let the weaker souls wear away while she stood strong. She only had so many days left on this planet, and she’d make the most of every single one of them.
“I hope you like the place. We even have a bottle of wine ready, if you’re interested.” He pressed a series of numbers on the door lock, and it clicked open.
She’d be more than happy to have a glass of wine and just relax. It wasn’t maybe the smartest thing to do given the circumstances, but she didn’t care. Sometimes enjoying life meant knowing when to relax. They had been going nonstop all day and had started the morning off with yet another threat. She needed a little time. Maybe it would help her to make sense of things, and maybe she could unpack some of the feeling she had been trying to stuff away. At times like these, it was impossible to deal with everything right in the moment.
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