“No… you’re too friendly to be the evil doppelgänger.”
That hurt. I deserved it, but it cut to the bone.
“What can I say? Turning forty does things to a man.” I shrugged off my emotions.
“You’re not forty yet, old man.”
Old man?That hurts even more.
“Does that mean you’ll visit more often?” Cassie asked. She and Bryce were the siblings I knew best because of our relative closeness in age. Seven and nine years was a decent gap, but I was thirteen years older than Dalton, who had a year on the twins.
“I hope to.” It depended on me working more in the States, something I rarely did.
My current case led me to a cold case. The cold case sent me on a wild goose chase that’d led me from Spain to Germany, then back to DC before finally leading me to Texas. Where it led next and how long it’d take was anyone’s guess.
I intended to apply for a transfer to the Dallas satellite office after closing my current cases. It’d mean more desk work, but it was time to leave the overseas fieldwork to the younger guys.
Bryce stared at me, his eyes practically neon signs of skepticism. I couldn’t blame him; I’d been gone,distant, for a long time.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love my family; I did. I just didn’t know them. I’d let my career create more distance between us than our age difference.
I can change that.
As we finished eating the best meal I’d had in months, Roni asked, “How’s the logistics job?”
“Boring, but it pays well and I get to travel.” When I left the Navy and took the job at the CIA, I created a cover story to justify my time abroad. I told my family, including my now ex-wife, that I’d accepted a job as a logistics and financial analyst for the military, making sure our troops overseas had everything they needed.
That job was too boring for my ex. Hence why she started sleeping with sailors.
“Such a waste of your fancy education,” Bryce said. It wasn’t the first time he’d said something along those lines. My brotherhad great cop instincts, which meant he was the only person who challenged my cover story. “Didn’t you do spook stuff in the Navy?”
“Spook stuff?” With my poker face in place, I sipped my wine before reminding him. “I was an intelligence officer; I stared at spreadsheets and analyzed data for a living.”
Lie. My job wasn’t just analyzing the data; it was piecing it together to tell a story of who our enemies were and predicting their next move.
Bryce held eye contact, no doubt waiting for me to show him a tell that I was lying.
I wouldn’t. My Navy and CIA training and experience would beat his local police academy training and small town law enforcement experience any day of the week.
“How’s small town law enforcement treating you?” I asked.
Laurel Springs had a reputation as a safe community, the perfect place to raise a family.
“We don’t have many felonies, but the misdemeanors keep me busy.”
Chapter 3
Nina
Friends and family packed Grannie’s to celebrate Madi’s engagement.
I recognized many of the faces, but there were some I’d never seen.
“Who’s that guy with Eva?” I asked Beth.
He was gorgeous and never stopped smiling while working his way around the room.
“That’s one of her brothers, I think.”
