Page 136 of One Last Promise

“You came to arrest him?”

“Yes. The smoke was from flash bombs. Courtney knew and was on her way out with the kids, but ops never go quite as planned. One of the flash bombs caught fire.”

Right.

“We went after the yacht, secured the dealers aboard, and then came back for Richer. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him brawling with a woman. It took a couple more seconds to figure out . . . I mean . . . what are you doing here? Of all places . . .” He shook his head.

“The girl he brought home—that’s Hazel. She’s your granddaughter.”

He blinked at her. Swallowed. “My . . . my granddaughter?”

“Yeah. Actually, she’s Pearl’s daughter.”

He frowned. “Is Pearl okay?”

Oh, Dad. “She’s . . . gone. Cancer. Three years ago. I was with her.”

He drew in a breath, nodded, but his mouth tightened and he looked away, his jaw pulling. When he turned back to her his eyes were wet. “I tried to find you.”

“I know. Or at least, I figured that’s why you came to Florida.”

“I was discharged, and I found out that you’d become a marine.” He shook his head. “Seriously?”

“Semper Fi.”

“Your whereabouts were top secret, but yourfoster mom knew you’d gone to Florida, so I went looking, first in Tampa, then Miami, but I couldn’t find you, so I fell back into what I did.”

“Did you know that Rigger was trying to find me?”

He shook his head.

“My friends think he was trying to use me against you. Revenge for killing his brother.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed.

An EMT had come up the stairs. “Listen, I need to find Hazel.” She held up her hand to the EMT. “I’ve had worse.” Then she pushed past them, through the room and down the stairs, still intact, and through the front door.

Outside, smoke still cluttered the air. So many people—firemen spraying water on the house, and two ambulances and cops and . . .

And not a sighting of Moose. Moosewasn’there.

Instead, she just wished it with all her heart.

“Mom!”

The voice cut through the clutter. She turned and spotted Hazel, pushing through the crowd, a blanket falling off her shoulders as she ran to Tillie.

Tillie fell to her knees, opened her arms, and Hazel ran in, nearly bowling her over, and again, she wept.

“Hazel—I thought . . . ” She buried her face in her daughter’s shoulder.

“Mom, you’re squeezing too hard.”

“Sorry, Nut.” She let go. Looked her up and down. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“He caught me, Mom.”

She nodded, looking around. “A fireman?”

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