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“And then my father was gone. He’d asked me to come over that night. And I was on my way, but I was late.”
His face fell as comprehension filled his eyes. “Oh, Molly. I’m sorry.”
Her chest hurt and she realized she’d pressed the heel of her hand to her sternum to alleviate the pressure. Carefully she folded her hands on the table because they trembled. “Thank you. I had one more lead to follow. One more phone call to make. And so I left Raleigh later than I’d planned that night. Later than I’d promised. Dad must have decided to approach Jake on his own. Or maybe Jake made his move and Dad couldn’t wait any longer.”
“You blame yourself.”
She mustered a smile. “Of course I do. For that and for being too busy to notice what my father had—that Harper had changed. She’d withdrawn. She was wetting the bed, throwing tantrums when she never had before. All the signs that something was wrong.”
“How often did you see her?”
“Every other weekend or so. I’d started out with the SBI in Charlotte, but got transferred to the Raleigh office after a year, so my apartment was there. Chelsea and Harper—and Jake—still lived in the farmhouse with Dad. Jake liked not having to pay rent. Said he was saving for their own place, but we found out later that he’d been gambling. Chelsea didn’t fight him over his being gone all the time because he was abusive to her, too. I don’t know if Dad knew that. I didn’t, not until it was too late to help her.”
Gabe hesitated. “Did your niece see what happened? The night her father died? Or her grandfather?”
“No to both. That might be the only thing we had to be grateful about. Dad had her sleeping in another room that night. Pitched a pup tent and told her that she could ‘camp out.’ She heard the shot, but she didn’t see anything. And then, when Jake came after Chelsea—and I shot him—she was in the bedroom. But she heard that, too, and the arguing that happened beforehand.” She sighed. “She said she was glad her father was dead. That she’d wished she could kill him herself, but that she was too little.”
Gabe’s face constricted in a combination of anger and sympathy. “I can understand her point of view.”
“So can I. It still haunts me, though.”
“Why didn’t your father tell you what he suspected about your brother-in-law?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he tried. I wasn’t mentally with them, even when I was physically there.”
“Always thinking about your job?”
“Yep. And I have so many regrets, but I can’t change the past. I can only be there for Chelsea and Harper now. Working for Burke allows me to set my own schedule most of the time.”
He frowned. “I’m keeping you from your family. I should have allowed Burke to assign someone else to this job.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. Burke put Lucien on guard duty at our apartment tonight.”
“I met him earlier today. He seems like a good guy.”
“He is. And I’m there with them six nights out of seven. Sometimes more often. I think they need a break from me every now and again. It’s hard not to hover over Harper, but we’re getting better. My sister had a job interview today and it went really well.”
He smiled. “I heard you talking to her. I’m glad for her. Sounds like she’s getting her life on track.”
Molly had called several times that day to check up on her sister and niece, until Chelsea had basically told her to stop. Kind of like Molly had told Gabe to stop a few minutes before. “She is. She’s finally able to leave Harper with a sitter for a few hours at a time. The first time was rough, even though it was our office manager’s daughter. We knew Louisa and we trust her, but it took Harper a while to trust, and she was the most important person in the situation. But it’s better now. We all can take a little time for ourselves.”
“Did you have plans with Harper this week? Am I keeping you from anything important?”
“We ride a few times a week.”
“On Ginger and Shelley, right? Rescue mustang and a quarter horse.”
She smiled up at him. “Right. I’m surprised you remembered. That was kind of a stressful few moments there in the truck.” As she’d managed to break away from the unmarked NOPD car that had been following them. She hadn’t told him that their tail had been NOPD. Only Burke and his team knew. No reason to make Gabe even more agitated.
He stared at her for a long moment, his expression suddenly unreadable, and she wondered if he could see the truth on her face. She didn’t think so, but... “You handled it well,” he said.
“I was in the military. You learned fast to handle things well. But I’ve always managed calm in a crisis, ever since Chelsea and I were kids.” She shrugged, growing uneasy under his unfaltering gaze. “I’m the big sister. Kind of goes with the territory.”
“I was impressed,” he said gruffly. “And I’m sorry I didn’t trust you from the start.”
“You didn’t know me. It’s fine, Gabe. Really. I’ve already forgotten it.”
“I haven’t. I won’t. Thank you, Molly.”
