Page 18 of Gideon

“I’ll take a shower and then start breakfast,” I said, handing over the fish. “Thanks for cleaning it. Maybe I’ll catch another one later today—enough for a fish fry.”

“You caught it; the least I can do is clean it. And for the record, I love pancakes, too.”

“Perfect. Pancakes are one of the few things I’m good at making. My mom taught me when I was little. Funny, isn’t it? I don’t remember much about her, but I remember making pancakes together.”

Gideon hesitated before asking, “Was your mom into drugs or alcohol?”

“No, nothing like that. She was just my mom—always home with me—until she met Wayne. They weren’t dating long, but she started acting differently when he was with her. And then she died. I’ve always believed he killed her. I was only eight, but I know he gave her a pill with fentanyl.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. Losing her made me worry about Haley. I have to be extra careful. I can’t let anything happen to me.” I paused. “Is Raven’s father still alive?” I wasn’t sure why I asked that.

“Yes,” Gideon said, glancing at me curiously.

“Sean’s coming tomorrow to talk about working for you,” I said, changing the subject. “Don’t let his appearance throw you off when you meet him. He looks like a hippie, but he’s a good guy.”

“When did you even have time to call him?” Gideon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Kat brought me her phone when I was fishing. I used it to call Joanie, and she gave me Sean’s number.”

“Who’s Joanie?”

“His sister. They were both in foster care. Sean refused to go to any of the homes unless Joanie could come with him.”

“I’m glad they were able to stay together.”

“Well, I better get my shower so I can make breakfast,” I said, heading toward the bathroom.

After a quick shower, I made my way to the kitchen and started on pancakes. I’d found some bacon in the fridge, and the aroma soon filled the air. Gideon walked in, grinning as he took a deep breath.

“I love bacon and pancakes,” he said, rubbing his hands together. I already knew that—he ordered them every time we ate out on our road trip. “I put the fish in the fridge in the garage. Are we having it tonight?”

“Is it big enough to feed everyone?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll have it tonight.” I flipped a pancake, then added, “I’ve been thinking about changing my and Haley’s last name to Dean. That was my name before I got married. It has nothingto do with Gavin but everything to do with Jonah. I want no connection to him.”

I don’t blame you. You can sort it out once all this is over.”

“Do you think it will ever be over? I can’t even have a driver’s license because he could easily track Haley and me. Wait, I can’t even drive a car because he could find me,” I said, frowning.

“We’ll take a day at a time. The FBI is after him right now. Hopefully, they’ll have a shoot out and he’ll end up dead.”

I laughed I couldn’t help it. “That would be the best news I’ve ever heard,” Still chuckling, I went hunting for Haley. I found her in the living room watching cartoons with Raven.

“I didn’t know you were here?” I said, smiling.

“I brought my laptop so you could use it to send me your DNA information. You did say you had it on your computer—is it at the bottom of the river?”

“Because in my frantic, scared mind, as Haley and I were running away from that killer, I left it behind. It’s not with my phone at the bottom of the river. The moment I remembered it, I was mad that I had forgotten it. I’ll have Sean fix me up with another one when he gets here.”

“When will that be?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Good. I had a few things I wanted to ask him. Did Jonah Reeves know you did a DNA?”

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