Gene didn’t want his man to suffer.
“You’re more than good. I want to clap each time you get naked. That’s spectacular.”
Ethan laughed.
Timothy did not.
That said it all.
Gene’s lip was not needed either, obviously.
“Thank you for saving him from his own choices, once again. I’ll assume you and he had a fight to make him go off the rails.”
Ethan was direct.
“That’s between myself and Callen. Again, grown-ass men, Timothy. If I can get a mortgage and have a gun, I think I can deal with my brother.”
He had a point.
From the tone, Timothy knew that pushing wasn’t a good plan. He only needed to know one last thing.
“Okay, Ethan. Are you coming by here before you leave? Word on the reservation is that you have a case. Is it Native women?”
He was blunt.
Honestly, he wasn’t feeling magnanimous.
“No, I won’t be, and no, it’s not Native related. So far, it’s just a dumping spot for bodies. The killer either wanted them to sink into the bog when it thawed or doesn’t know the reservation well enough.”
That seemed to pacify the Shaman.
And shockingly, Timothy didn’t argue.
“Okay, Ethan. I love you, my boy. Bring your man back another time. We’ll have dinner. I’m sorry we didn’t get to eat together.”
Ethan was prickly because, again, his family made him want to do irrational things.
“Don’t worry about it, Granddad. I can find food on my own. When I can’t, Gene feeds me well,” he reassured.
There was silence, and finally, Timothy spoke.
“Goodbye, Ethan. I’ll miss you. Be safe, and take care of him, Gene,” he said.
Ethan didn’t let his man say anything.
“Goodbye, Granddad.”
And then, he hung up.
Well, that call was…something.
Only, Gene didn’t dig. Ethan had told him he was working through shit, and he knew he was there if he needed him. So, he only asked one question.
“Anything else on the victims?” he inquired, redirecting it all back to working.
It seemed like the safest bet.
Ethan smiled at him.
