AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Twenty minutes later, afterthe paperwork was secured, they were loaded into Bart’s truck with a full picnic hamper and headed down toward the river for some fresh air. After some hearty debate, he’d convinced Maria closing the diner for a few days was the best bet. He couldn’t keep up this pace and his instincts told him they were on the verge of finding the mobile meth lab. The last thing he wanted was to be frying bacon when the rig arrived. Hannah was capable, but he didn’t want her coping with this alone.
That sort of move might play right into the cartel’s hand.
When he pulled off the paved road and turned down a narrow track that cut through the trees, she laughed. “We’re going off-roading? I’m starting to think Eva’s right.”
“About what?” He couldn’t take his eyes off the road just now to get a read on her, but the comment made his nerves jump. Eva was right more often than not—about intel. He didn’t trust her take on his love life. “Good grief, did you call her from the store?”
“I was referring to her opinion that you’re spending too much time out here in the boonies.”
“It’s hardly the boonies and I can get all the culture or socializing I want in Fredericksburg or Richmond.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Get plenty of socializing?”
Thank God they’d reached the clearing. He stopped, slammed the gearshift to park and stared at her. “I get out when I can, but you know how tied I am to that business.”
“You’re very successful.”
“Why doesn’t that sound like a compliment?”
“Bart—”
“Forget it.” He tried to smile. “I’m overtired.”
“You’re hurting. You lost a good friend yesterday.”
He threw open the truck door, the hinges squawking in protest as they hit their limit. He’d lost a friend, she’d lost a witness. People died, it happened to be one of the realities of living. But his friend and her witness… those lives weren’t lost, they’d been stolen.
The greed of the cartel and criminal mindset grated against every value he believed in, everything he’d been raised and later trained to uphold.
He reached into the truck bed and retrieved the picnic basket. “Grab that tarp bag.” He pointed to the roll of blue plastic secured on her side of the truck bed.
Planting his truck stop in a place everyone called the middle of nowhere had started as a sound business decision. If they held a gun to his head, he’d probably admit the quiet, rural spaces of this area appealed to him after the noise and adrenaline-laced thrills of his Army career. He had taken on this business with thought and care for his son, contrary to Beth’s opinion. He’d decided the natural area and the thriving business offered Kyleexperiences to balance the typical suburban upbringing Beth provided.
But he kept his mouth shut. In his experience a woman—a wife—didn’t want to hear a dissenting opinion. “This way.”
“Bart, please. I wasn’t trying to offend or—”
“Or what? We agreed Vegas was a one-time deal, so you can’t be worried about my social life unless you think it will interfere with your case. Which leaves me wondering if you found something in those files you think implicates me.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Not stupid, tired, remember?” He jerked a thumb toward his chest. “This seemed like the best place to regroup without any interference.”
“Bart, I did find something—”
“Know what? I don’t care. Not now. I am upset about Tim’s death. I’m upset he didn’t come to me sooner and I may never forgive myself for letting the cartel operate right under my damn nose.”
“That’s not your fault.”
They had reached the river but he didn’t even see the picturesque view. Didn’t care if she saw the rope swing or the small haven he’d created on this bank for his son to fish and play. The water swirled gently through an eddy, but the soft sounds couldn’t break through this surge of anger and helplessness coursing through his system.
“My son visited me three times in the past six or seven weeks.”
He set the picnic basket aside and motioned for her to hand over the tarp. She ignored him and spread it across the ground herself. “Did you bring him here?”
