Page 79 of Going Once

Tate returned, slid an arm around her waist and gave her a quick hug and a kiss.

“Thank you, honey.”

She smiled. “What for?”

“For being you. Something smells good.”

“Burgers,” Cameron said. “Sit down, Nola. You cooked. We’ve got the rest of this.”

As soon as she sat down, Tate took the chair beside her.

“Doctor Tuttle said Dad came through surgery and that the transfusion probably saved him.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” she asked.

“I didn’t want him dead, if that’s what you mean, but I also didn’t ever intend to go through that blood relation thing with him again.”

“Oh, that.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that.”

“Here, build your burger and quit worrying about the old fart,” Wade said, and slid a plate of burgers and a bag of buns on the table as Cameron added all the fixings that went with them.

“What do you want to drink?” Tate asked her.

“I’ll just have water,” she said.

He got up and fixed the cups.

She sat back, watching how the men worked in tandem without confusion. It was obvious how bonded they were and that they’d done this kind of thing countless times before.

“We had a visitor,” Wade said.

Tate looked startled, then glanced at Nola.

“Who?”

“A volunteer from the gym. I worked with him that night I handed out water bottles.”

“What the hell was he doing here?” Tate asked.

Wade sighed. “Laura found a sack of stuff under the cot Nola had been sleeping on. I guess we missed it when we picked everything up. I guess she knew the guy was staying out here and sent it with him.”

“Do we know him? Did we clear him the night she was attacked? What came up on his background check?” Tate asked.

“He’s the one who was sick when we went to interview him. He wasn’t faking. Thought he was going to pass out on us just standing there talking. As far as I know, nothing popped on his background check.”

“He’s not scary, but Leon Mooney was helping out, too, and he sure was. I guess now we know why.”

Tate’s eyes widened. “Shit. Pardon my French. Mooney said he recognized the Stormchaser when he attacked you, and he obviously knew this guy pretty well if they were working together. Are we damn sure he wasn’t there that night?”

“Well, I watched him leave,” Cameron said. “Although that doesn’t mean he didn’t come back. But there you are. He got sick pretty damn fast afterward if he did come back.”

Tate couldn’t let go of the connection.

“Everything is a clue and nothing is an accident,” he muttered.

“Eat your hamburger now, detect later,” Nola urged.

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