Page 107 of Hidden Truths

Cal barks out a laugh and scoops me up. He places me gently on the bed and tucks me in before getting in on the other side and pulling me into his chest. I sigh in contentment, my head resting over his heart so I can hear it beating.

forty-five

CAL

“It’s been less than an hour.”

“I know,” Harlow says, pacing in front of the couch. Melt the Ice released their first episode this morning. I’ve already listened to it, and I think they did a great job. Jo was serious as always, and Harlow brought more lightheartedness to the show while still keeping to the serious nature of the topic.

“What are you worried about?” I ask, pulling her to sit on my lap.

“Negative impact. Hurting Ezra.” Harlow looks past me and out the glass door into our backyard, lost in thought. “Oh fuck! What if this makes him run again?”

“Fuck!” Cora says cheerfully from her spot on the floor.

Harlow looks shocked but recovers quickly. “Good job, Cora girl! Duck!”

“Duck!” Cora repeats and we all clap.

“That was close,” Harlow mutters as I laugh.

“Why would he run?” I ask.

“In the off chance it wasn’t Wolfe,” she says. “I know all evidence points to him, but if there’s even a slight chance it wasn’t, this could spook Ezra.”

“I don’t think he’ll run,” I say after thinking for a moment.

“You don’t?” Harlow asks, looking like she doesn’t believe me.

“I don’t. He’s had to have seen the news about his dad, and I’m sure he’ll listen to the podcast. He’s going to know what we’re doing. He’s going to see we’ll never stop searching. When it’s safe, he’ll come out of hiding, or you’ll find him before that.”

“You think he’ll listen to my podcast?”

“I know he will. Ezra has a curious mind, kind of like you. He’d be too interested to ignore it.” I kiss her forehead and she leans into me.

“Let’s hope someone has a credible tip,” she sighs. “Because I have no idea where he went after leaving Jasper in Nashville.”

“We’re getting tips on the site already,” Jo says, walking in through the back door. “Well, it looks like the app is actually the preferred method at the moment.”

“And you need to come over here to say that?” I ask grumpily. I don’t get a ton of alone time with my family, and I was enjoying it, even if Harlow was freaking out.

“There’s one that stands out that I think we need to look into,” Jo says to Harlow, ignoring that I even spoke. Which is typical. Jo hands her phone over to Harlow, who reads whatever is on the screen. Her eyebrows shoot up, and she looks at Jo.

“Holy shit.”

“Shit!” Cora echoes.

“Good job! Fish!” Harlow says, giving me a guilty look before turning back to Jo’s phone.

“Do we think this is real?” Jo asks.

“It could be,” Harlow says, biting her bottom lip.

“The submission is anonymous, but maybe we should ask your dad to try to find the person,” Jo says.

“If we do that, we might be putting them in danger. And even if we aren’t, it goes against the entire point of it being anonymous.”

“Can someone tell me what the fudge you’re talking about?” I ask, trying not to swear since apparently Cora picked today to be a parrot.

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