Cold River - Carla Neggers [93]
“Fair enough. Nick’s a friend. I’d trust him with my life.”
“With our sister? Scratch that. I’m speculating. I don’t know anything.”
Sean skipped his event and got back into his car. He shut his eyes, seeing in his mind every detail of the canyons, not that far from Beverly Hills, where Jasper Vanderhorn had died. A hot spot had flared up in the high winds and dry conditions and blazed out of control, jumping a fireline and trapping Vanderhorn, an experienced firefighter himself as well as an arson investigator.
Nick and Sean had tried to get to him and failed.
Rose had been there, close enough to be in danger herself but helpless to save Vanderhorn.
The land was still charred, but Sean had noticed signs of life when he’d last gone out there. Green shoots poked up out of the ground. The air didn’t smell as foul as it had.
When he got back to his house, he headed straight to his bedroom and dragged out a suitcase. He packed his warmest clothes. His head was spinning with questions, but if he knew one thing, it was that January in Vermont would be cold.
And Hannah would be there.
He zipped his suitcase shut and looked out the tall bedroom windows. Devin was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. Nick was still stretched out on a lounge with a glass of ice water.
Sean dialed Elijah’s cell-phone number, but it was Jo who answered. “I ended up with Elijah’s phone,” she said. “I’m in D.C.”
“Fight?”
“No. Damn, Sean. No.”
He heard the anguish in her voice and felt a pang of guilt. “Sorry.”
“You’ve talked to him,” Jo said.
“Yes.” No fool, Jo was. “I gather we’re all on a need-to-know basis with whatever you’re up to. How are you and Elijah, Jo?”
“Arguing about the fate of the cabins. He’s all for getting a bulldozer out there. He’s not sentimental.”
“He saved that engagement ring he bought you. Still wearing it?”
“Forever, Sean.”
“You’re both a couple of romantics under a tough shell and wearing guns.”
Jo waited a moment before she spoke. “Do you want to tell me about Hannah? She’s why you called, isn’t she?”
“I shouldn’t have left her.”
“She’s not alone. You just think she is because you’re a rock-headed Cameron who doesn’t—Never mind. Your relationship with Hannah’s none of my business. The unanswered questions are getting to everyone. It’s just the way it is. We all have to deal with it.”
“Who are we talking about here, Jo?”
“How was New Year’s in Beverly Hills?”
Sean sighed. Jo wasn’t going to give him anything. “Chilly. I had to wear a sweater.”
She cursed him cheerfully as she disconnected.
He clicked off his phone and headed out to the pool. The water rippled in a breeze. Nick had put on a sweatshirt.
Devin had rolled his jeans up to his knees and stuck his feet in the water. He had on a T-shirt and didn’t look cold. “How was the fund-raiser?” he asked. “You weren’t gone long. Did you even go?”
“I didn’t stay,” Sean said as he walked over to Nick’s lounge chair. “My sister?”
Nick glanced up, meeting his friend’s eye. “She’s good with dogs.”
Sean gritted his teeth. “Nick—”
“I’m heading home.” Nick rolled onto his feet. “Let me know if you need me in Vermont.”
“My sister and Jasper Vanderhorn?”
“You’re going to Vermont. Ask her.”
As a smoke jumper, Nick was fit, agile, committed, reliable—and daring without being reckless. He brought that same intensity and commitment to their business partnership. Sean trusted him without question.
Just not with his sister.
“I never should have left Vermont,” he said half to himself.
“Hannah?” Devin was slightly pale.
Sean turned to the teenager. He wondered if he was pale himself.
Devin’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going back to Vermont, aren’t you?”
“Late red-eye.”
Devin leaned back onto his elbows and squinted up at Sean. “Hannah’s onto something, isn’t she?”
Sean felt a tightness in his throat. “I hope not.”
Twenty-Three
January 3—Black Falls, Vermont
Hannah shut her law book and put away her study notes on the small table in her apartment