Page 39 of Crossroads of Betrayal
A hum of jealousy buzzed in his veins. He hoped Tucker understood how lucky he was to have a family to go home to—a child to brag about. That’s all Zeke had ever wanted. A family like the one he’d grown up in. He may have it still one day, but the dream seemed further and further away all the time. “Good for her. She’s a cutie. Looks like her mom.”
“Lucky for her,” Tucker said with a small laugh.
The line moved again, and Zeke found himself at the counter. An older couple was being helped in front of him, so he studied the delectable choices.
A loud beep sounded from Tucker’s front pocket, and he plucked out his phone to stare at the screen. “Shit.”
Zeke frowned. “What is it?”
“I’ve got to go. They need me back at the retreat right away.”
The urgency in his voice set Zeke on edge. “What happened?”
Tucker glanced over his shoulder at his family, then back to Zeke. “They, uh, need Otto.”
“Your dog? Dude, what’s going on? I may not know you well, but the look on your face says it all. Something bad happened.” Bits of his earlier conversations with Tucker came back with the swiftness of a sucker punch and nearly knocked him off his feet. “Otto’s a tracking dog. Either someone is hiding that needs to be found or someone’s missing.”
Tucker wiped a palm over his smooth jaw. “Listen, I’m not sure how much of this I’m supposed to tell you. I don’t think you had anything to do with what happened to Tessa, and I sure as hell don’t think you hit Grace with a truck. But the fact is you aren’t a part of the police department, and Lincoln hates when people spread any kind of information about his cases. I don’t want him pissed at me, and I don’t want you involved any more in this mess than you need to be.”
“I’m already involved. And so is Grace. I know you guys don’t know about me and our past, but trust me, she means the world to me. I need to keep her safe, but I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s happening. So please, tell me what’s going on.”
Tucker sighed. “The woman who came here with Tessa, Joan, was found this morning outside her cabin. Someone attacked her last night.”
Dread settled into the pit of his stomach. “That’s horrible, but why do you need to meet the investigators with Otto?”
“Because another woman is missing. Grace usually gets the calls for finding anything that’s missing, but with her injury it falls on me and Otto.”
“Who’s missing?”
“Shelly. One of the other women who was on the camping trip.”
He squeezed his eyes closed against the crushing news. Someone was going after the members of the camping trip one by one, and he had a feeling this person wouldn’t be stopped until everyone who was deemed a threat was taken out permanently.
* * *
Grace resistedthe urge to tap her foot against the floor mat as Zeke motored her toward Joan’s cabin. The sky was gray, the mid-morning sun hidden behind a patch of clouds, and a light fog hung over the lake. Zeke parked behind Lincoln’s customized golf cart, shut off the engine and jumped from his seat. She gathered her crutches and set the rubber bottoms on the ground.
“Wait a second,” Zeke yelled as he rounded the hood. “I’ll help you.”
She swallowed the urge to argue. As much as she hated depending on other people, the cumbersome crutches combined with the constant ache in her side made getting around a giant pain in the ass. She’d planned to stay home all day, but not anymore. Not after Zeke had showed up with a disorienting combination of delicious doughnuts and devastating news.
Shelly was missing, the person responsible for multiple violent attacks was on the loose, and she couldn’t sit around nursing an injury while all hands were on deck.
Reaching her side, Zeke gripped her elbow and helped her maneuver out of the cart. Her feet hit the pavement with a bone-jarring thud. She gritted her teeth, refusing to show how much it hurt.
“Does Brooke know you’re coming to the retreat?” He stayed by her side, matching his stride to meet hers as she moved slowly toward Joan’s cabin.
She shrugged, the movement causing her crutches to falter in her grip. “Probably not. I spoke with her last night after you left. I told her what you’d uncovered about Joan and Tessa’s previous case and wanted to let her know I was doing okay. I mentioned I wouldn’t be in today. She didn’t let me know there were any issues this morning, so there’s no reason for her to think I’d show up.”
“I’m not sure how welcome I’ll be,” he said, mumbling the words so low they were almost lost on the autumn breeze.
“You’re with me so you’re fine.”
“Appreciate the support.”
Before she climbed up the porch steps, she stopped and faced him. “I’m clearly not the only person around here who knows you aren’t involved in any of this crap. If Tucker thought you were guilty of anything, he wouldn’t have told you about that phone call. He did, and now we’re here and we’ll help however we can.”
A small smile poked through his stern expression.
