Page 46 of Tempest

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Thursday

It had been too quiet since he’d arrived on Sunday, and he figured it was the calm before the storm. Speaking of storms, here came his favorite one dressed in a skirt and polka dot shirt. “Hi, honey. Have I told you how much I like it when you wear skirts?”

Her eyes grazed over him and she smirked. “I figured that out yesterday when you slid that big hand of yours up my leg and inside my panties.”

“What can I say? You’re my favorite flavor.” He watched her eyes grow big and let out a laugh. “You can pretend to be shocked, but we both know it’s an act.”

Lifting her chin, she gave him a look that was worthy of a nun. “I can assure you that I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her cell phone ringing saved them both from further debate. “It’s Phoebe.”

Ryan returned his attention to the material Lucky had sent them earlier. It appeared that there were more than a few executives at Bellows Energy with colorful pasts. It looked like Bill surrounded himself with his cronies and didn’t take into consideration qualifications or education when he hired someone.

Ivy got off the phone and sat down next to him. “Phoebe’s starved, so I told her to take an Uber over to Avenue B Grocery Store. I’ll have Colin meet her there, and then he can drive them to Daddy’s house.”

“Let’s get going, then. We don’t want your brother to eat all the food before we get there.”

“He’s a growing boy. He needs to eat,” Ivy replied. “The last thing I want to deal with is a cranky Colin. No one is grouchier than him when he’s hangry.”

Her phone rang again and Ryan watched her face scrunch up. “Who is it, honey?’

“Why in the world is he calling?” She asked as she shoved the phone into her purse.

“Who?” Ryan asked with more force than necessary.

“An old family friend. Stuart is the son of one of Daddy’s longtime friends. We went to the same college, and I dragged him to a couple of dances when I couldn’t scrounge anyone else up. He came to Daddy’s funeral, and I was surprised as all get-out. He and his daddy kept trying to corner Colin and me at the reception, but someone was always pulling us away.”

“Are you going to call him back?”

“I’ll wait to listen to his message and then I’ll call him back in the car. We should get on the road.”

“So, did you ever kiss Stuart?”

As Ivy walked out to the truck, she laughed like he’d just told the funniest joke. “Stuart Reardon wasn’t the sort of boy I was interested in kissing.” She climbed into the passenger seat and when he got in, she flipped him the keys.

The tension in his neck slid away as he started the car. “Tell me where we’re going.”

“Get on the 290 and take it until it connects to the 1. The house sits on Lake Austin.”

“Did you have a chance to go into the house last week before someone took a shot?”

“No. I walked around the outside, and then I was on my way to the lake when I was hit. It makes me madder than a wet hen that I couldn’t figure out where the person was shooting from.”

“I’ll look around today and see if I can come up with any clues. It’s always good to double check, in case the police missed something.”

“That’s right. You were a sniper. How could I forget that?”

“Easy. You’ve never seen me at work. I’m just the charming guy you met in a bar in Florida.”

“Funny, I don’t think the charm happened until much later.” She took his hand and laughed.

***

They entered a neighborhood called the Estates at Westlake. Most of the homes sat behind gates, so it was difficult to tell how big any of them were. “How long has your daddy lived here?”

“I’m not sure. At least a year or two. It’s a lot different than his home in Fort Worth. Turn left up here.”

He watched her and felt a stab of anger. It was the same feeling he had whenever he thought about his mom. How could parents dismiss their own flesh and blood so easily? It was something he would never understand.

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