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Tad pointed to Hank. “What about you?”
“No Bigfoot this time, I promise. But the past few months, we’ve had an influx in reports of UFO sightings around the area. Also, near the San Juan islands. I’d like to talk to some of the witnesses.” He gnawed on his bottom lip. “I thought—”
“Oh no,” I said. “I am not going to stake out a UFO and get dragged aboard and probed. Remember—”
“Bigfoot. I know, I know. I just want to interview the people who witnessed the sightings,” Hank said. I expected him to roll his eyes, but he held up his hands. “I promise, I won’t ask anybody to go out watching for them with me.”
“But you fully intend to go out there yourself?” Caitlin asked, narrowing her eyes.
Hank sighed. “I told you, I’m not asking anybody else to go out hunting for UFOs. I wouldn’t mind backup for questioning the witnesses, but…I won’t put anybody else in danger again.”
It was obvious he intended on heading out on some scouting trips. Even though I didn’t want to go, it wasn’t my job to prevent Hank from doing so on his own time. We couldtellhim he was asking for trouble, but in the end, he was a man who was obsessed—with Bigfoot, and with UFOs. And obsession was a strong lure.
“So, answer me this. If we go out to talk to the witnesses with you, will you be satisfied with that for a while?” Tad asked. “We need you, and frankly, after the Bigfoot mess—which I take partial responsibility for, I never should have okayed the trip—if you go hunting for UFOs, you’re looking for trouble.”
Hank scowled. “Can we get off the subject? If you want to go with me to interview the witnesses, great. If not, I can do it on my own time.”
The surly tone surprised me. Then again, we had been on his back about what happened for a couple months. Maybe it was time to let it go. Except that, thanks to the trip, I was bound by two promises I’d had to make to save our butts. It was hard to imagine letting both of those promises go until I came out safely on the other side.
“Why don’t we start by assigning Caitlin and January to researching the Woodlings, and Hank—you and I will tackle the UFO witnesses,” Tad said. He shifted, wincing. He was still using his cane, and although he was healing up, the injuries had been harsher than we had first thought and his recovery was taking a long time.
“Are you sure?” Hank asked.
“Yeah, I’m up for it,” Tad said. He opened up his calendar. “We’ll plan it for after January’s wedding.”
“If you do, and I’m back from our week in Port Townsend, I’ll go too.” I decided that I had to either forever hang Hank out to dry, or put it to rest. Yes, the ramifications of what he did were still looming in front of me, but he really hadn’t meant for all of that to happen. And I knew—absolutely knew—that if Hank was given the chance to take on the vows I’d had to make, he’d willingly shoulder the responsibility without question.
He held my gaze for a moment and I smiled.
He smiled back. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Though if you go next week or the week after, I won’t be available.” It suddenly dawned on me that next week I was getting married.
Hank laughed at that. “Ihopenot. You’ll be off walking down the aisle and we’ll all be there watching. We can wait. Next week, we all want to be around to help you and Killian out.” He held out his hands. “You know Inevermeant for any of you to be hurt, or to be compromised in any way.”
I stretched across the table and took his hands. “I know. Trust me, I know. I’m sorry I’ve been so bitchy about it. I’m just…scared, I guess. I have no idea what Briar is going to want from me. Or the Crow Man.”
Hank ducked his head. “Anything I can do, you know I will.” He turned to Tad. “You too. I know you’re not healing up the way they thought you would. I’ll work my ass off for free if it helps. And I promise, I’llneverknowingly put any of you at risk—not ever again. I’ve learned my lesson. While I’m really interested in this UFO stuff, I won’t let my thirst to know what’s going on cloud my common sense.” He squeezed my hands and let go. “I promise.”
Tad and I exchanged looks. We’d been the two hardest hit.
“I’m with January,” Tad said, then frowned. “We never can anticipate what’s going to happen to us, but if we don’t settle this, we’ll never be able to work together in comfort. So, let’s have it. Any other grievances? Caitlin?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m angry atyou, actually, for not reining Hank in, in the first place. You’re the boss, and you’re a good one, but you have to take control of the company and run it the way it needs to be run. And that includes not letting any of us ride roughshod over you. You’re great at listening, but sometimes it goes too far.”
He snorted, amused. “Yeah, you’re right. I hate disappointing people.”
“You’re not going to upset us. We know that you won’t fuck us over,” I said. “Look at how you’ve made accommodations for Wren, and now me. But you have the ultimate say on projects. Be the boss, and we’ll respect you for it.”
Hank was silent for a moment, then added, “They’re right. I knew if I pushed hard enough, you’d cave. And I wanted it so bad that I was willing to push. If you had put your foot down, I would have accepted it, at least eventually.”
Tad listened carefully. “All right. I think it’s a holdover from being a child prodigy. I had so much more knowledge than the adults around me, but nobody would listen to me. Eventually, I quit trying to take any sort of control. But from here out, what Hank got us into is done. We all agreed to go along, and we’re all adults. Some of us came out more banged up than others, but we’ll be here for January with whatever she has to face with Briar and the Crow Man.”
One by one, we reached out, stacking our hands in the center of the table, then Tad said, “One for all, and all for one,” and we joined in. I could feel the energy race through the room as we did so—it had been its own ritual of sorts.
When we finished, I decided to ask one last thing. “Hey, if anybody has time, I’d like to track down the origin of the emerald necklace my great-great-grandmother Ellen owned. I think it’s enchanted, but it feels benign and comforting.”
“We can do that,” Hank said. “Do you have a photo of it?”
