Page 53 of Better Hide

I know what I’m doing. I know how far I can push her. I give her a dead-eyed smile and throw her a wink.

“Why don’t you let us in?” Cole says.

Marian hesitates.

I shrug. “Or we can leave our car right here. Get every cop on the block eyeballing your house.”

“Fuckers,” Marian hisses but motions us inside. “Move that.”

I do, but only because I want to scope out what other cars they have. There’s a three-car garage, and I pull the car inside, parking right next to an upscale SUV. We’ll take that one next.

When I step inside the house, I wander through the sprawling living room to find everyone in the kitchen. Cole is leaning stiffly against the kitchen wall, Jo standing quietly behind him. Marian stands in the kitchen with her arm wrapped around Sam.

“He’s not here.” Marian throws a hand in the air. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s at a conference until tomorrow morning.” She looks down. “Honey, can you go play your games?”

Sam hesitates.

She kisses him on the forehead. “Now, son.”

The boy waits a moment before he obeys, walking stiffly past me to get to the living room. Cole watches the exchange with a strained look on his face, and it makes me murderous.

I’m going to kill his mom.

Once Sam is gone, Cole asks, “Can you call him?”

“What do you need him for?”

Cole shrugs. “Call it a keep-my-mouth-shut present.”

Marian stiffens.

“So call him.”

“I can’t. He’s preaching on live television, and he has a red-eye home immediately after. He already told me he’d be hard to contact.”

Fucking hell. I’m sure that’s not the reason he’ll be hard to contact, but it’s irrelevant. None of this is going to be fast.

I glance at Jo and see the fatigue in her eyes. Cole glances at Jo too, then at me, his gaze hard. “We’ll wait.”

Marian doesn’t seem happy with the idea, and neither am I. But if it makes her uncomfortable, I’ll indulge.

“It’ll be like one big happy family,” I deadpan.

Cole and Marian shoot me a glare, and in that moment, they look the same. It takes me back for a second.

“There’s a guest bedroom down the hall.” Marian gestures.

The guest bedroom turns out to be a mother-in-law suite.

I herd Cole and Jo inside, then slam the door.

Cole flops down onto the beige couch. The room is full of kids’ toys in muted colors.

“Fuck!” Cole yanks a toy out from under him and hurls it at the wall.

Jo sucks in a breath.

I try my best at a placating voice, “Cole.”

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