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A sentence longer than three words and a direct question. Had hell frozen over?
“We’re not sure,” he said, keeping his surprise out of his tone. “Trying to figure that out.” He walked to the window, glad for the interaction, but on guard at the same time. His father still hadn’t looked directly at him. “I thought it best to bring her out here for a little break from the trouble she’s having.”
“Lainie’s always welcome here.”
As opposed to him? “I appreciate that.” Movement caught his eye. “Dad, should anyone be out near the boathouse?”
“No.” This time his father met his gaze. “Why?”
“Because I saw something.”
“Could be a deer.”
It wasn’t. “I’ll be right back.”
“James?”
He froze. It was the first time he’d heard his name on his father’s lips in years. He turned, saw the troubled look in the man’s eyes, and almost decided to ignore whatever it was by the boathouse.
But he couldn’t. “I’ll be back.” He strode toward the door and thought he heard his father mutter, “Seriously?”
He’d just have to mutter. As much as James wanted to stay and continue the conversation, no way could he ignore his gut screaming at him to go investigate.
“James? You okay?”
He glanced back to see Keegan following him. “Just something I need to check on.”
His brother fell into step beside him. “I’ll go with you.”
James almost protested but figured it wouldn’t do any good. “How’s the practice going?” He still had a hard time seeing the kid who’d been nothing but trouble as a full-grown adult and a surgeon too.
“Lucrative. It’s nice.”
“The new partner working out?” James sidestepped an old tree trunk and kept his gaze on the boathouse. Nothing.
“So far. He’s still in his probationary period, but he’s doing a great job. Really taking some of the load off.”
“Glad to hear it.” James didn’t bother opening the door of the small building. No one could get in without the key code to the pad, and the light was still flashing red. He walked around the side of the building, scanning the ground.
The area was disturbed, the rain from the previous night turning the dirt to damp mud. He walked the length of the wall, then turned the corner and stopped. Again, the ground was messed up, but this time, James spotted something.
“What is it?” Keegan asked. “You just went all tense like a bloodhound on the scent.”
“A footprint. Anyone been down here today?”
“Not that I know of. Mom was out here yesterday before it rained.”
The print had been made after the rain, and if no one from thefamily had been down here ... He pulled out his phone and snapped four pictures from different angles.
“You going to call someone to come make an impression?” Keegan asked with a raised brow.
“Nope. No crime has been committed. Not wasting resources on something like this, but that’s not Dad’s print. It’s too big. He wears a size 9, right?”
“Yeah, think so.”
“That’s at least an 11, if not a 12.”
“Hmm. Right.” A pause. “Got some plaster of Paris in the boathouse if you want to do it yourself.”
