Echo Lake. Carla Neggers
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pushed his mug away from him. “He drove you home last night.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “He didn’t interrogate me about anything, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s not like there are any secrets in Knights Bridge, anyway.”
“There are a million secrets in Knights Bridge,” Eric said.
“And not one of them is mine. My life is under constant scrutiny.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Relax. We haven’t searched Phoebe’s house yet now that you’re staying there.”
“I know. I can tell. I leave a thread in a door to detect intruders.”
It wasn’t true, and she was only half-serious, but bringing up her position in their family had become her refrain whenever she was feeling the heat. Sometimes it even worked. But she didn’t know why Eric and Justin’s questions about Brody were getting to her.
Eric rubbed the back of his neck. He’d always been more patient than Justin, if only marginally so. “Look, Heather, we know you can handle yourself. That’s not the issue. Brody didn’t leave town on good terms and vowed never to return.”
“Things change,” she said.
“So they do. I’m surprised he’s a federal agent now. Good for him.”
Heather picked up her coffee mug. “But?”
Eric’s gaze leveled on her. He had the Sloan deep blue eyes. “But my one piece of unsolicited advice is to spend as little extra time there as possible.”
“I agree,” Justin said. “Do what you need to do. Go home. Stay out of any dramas out there.”
“The puppy is the biggest drama I’ve noticed. Do you know of anyone who’s missing a twelve-week-old golden retriever? He doesn’t have any tags. We figure he was abandoned out at the lake.”
Justin made a face. “We?”
“I did have an opinion, yes. Come on. Ease up.” When neither brother responded, Heather stared at them. “You two are worried about me? Seriously?”
Eric held up a hand. “Hold on. Don’t get wound up. Vic’s never let anyone from town into his life. He’s kept his distance because that’s who he is and what he wants.”
“You don’t want me getting ahead of myself, thinking he’s—what? A friend?”
“Let’s just say Vic isn’t looking for us to invite him over for potluck night,” Justin said.
“Maybe he will now that he’s retired, but that’s up to him.”
Heather tackled her eggs, wishing now she’d waited for the country store to open and grabbed something there. She was bound to have run into someone she knew who would have driven her up to Vic’s. Justin smiled suddenly—not, she realized, because of her or her situation. Samantha Bennett, his fiancée, had just entered the restaurant. She wasn’t wearing a hat over her short golden-brown curls, but she had her winter coat buttoned up to her chin.
Heather grinned at her second-born brother. “You just got giddy.”
“Giddy, Heather?”
“Happy? Excited? Pleased? I admit I didn’t think you and Samantha would last past Thanksgiving, but here you are, a couple of lovebirds.”
Justin looked past her to Eric. “Can I throw our little sister off the front porch? Would you arrest me?”
“No point arresting you,” Eric said. “There isn’t a jury that would convict you.”
“Funny, you two,” Heather said. “Very funny.”
Justin grinned. “Eric and I need to mark the calendar. You just admitted you were wrong.”
Heather grinned back at him. “I’m seldom wrong only because I have the guidance of my five wise older brothers.”
Eric and Justin laughed in disbelief as Samantha breezed over to their table. She sat across from Justin and rubbed her hands together. She was very fit, energetic and new to Knights Bridge. She’d arrived in October looking for eighteenth-century pirate treasure and instead had found Justin, a carpenter and volunteer firefighter.
“Cold, Sam?” he asked.
“It’s nine degrees out there. I don’t know how you people can be laughing.”
“Laughter warms you up,” Eric said with a wink.
“So does coffee.” Samantha unbuttoned her coat but left it on as she reached for Justin’s mug. “I could be in South Florida with my parents. They’re working on salvage plans for their sunken World War II submarines. They’ll go back to Scotland in April. The forecast high today in Key West is eighty. The forecast high here is twenty.”
“And it’ll last for five minutes at two o’clock,” Heather added.
The widespread skepticism in town about Justin Sloan and Samantha Bennett as a couple was giving way to optimism. They were just so different. Justin was the second of six siblings and had lived in Knights Bridge his entire life. Samantha was an only child, an adventurer from a family of prominent adventurers, and a woman who’d never lived in one place for long. She was staying at the Sloan family cabin, supposedly doing research on Captain Benjamin Farraday, her mysterious eighteenth-century pirate. Heather suspected Samantha was at least as interested in being close to Justin.
Samantha put her hands around the mug with a sigh. “Warmth. It feels so good. I keep forgetting to wear gloves. Does the cold ever get to you, Heather?”
“Sometimes, especially when I’m not prepared.”
As was the case yesterday, she thought. She didn’t so much as glance at her two brothers at the table in case her expression gave her away and they realized she hadn’t told them everything about her first encounter with Brody.
“We want Vic’s renovations to go well for you,” Justin said. “Leave whatever Vic Scarlatti and Brody Hancock have going on to them.”
“Who’s Brody Hancock?” Samantha asked.
Heather waited a half beat but she already knew Eric and Justin weren’t going to respond. They would let her explain Brody and watch her reaction. She decided to keep it simple. “He’s a Diplomatic Security Service agent who used to live in town.”
Samantha set the mug on the table. She already looked warmer. “There’s a lot of fine print in that answer, isn’t there? You all knew him growing up?”
“We did.” Justin handed her a triangle of his toast. “The Brody Hancock we knew didn’t like to be bored. I doubt that’s changed.”
“Not if he’s a DSS agent,” Eric said, pushing back his chair. “That can be a hellishly dangerous job. I don’t know where he’s been posted, but I would bet real money that he’s taken on the toughest assignments.”
“An adrenaline junkie?” Samantha asked.
The Bennetts could be described as adrenaline junkies, Heather thought, but she said nothing as her eldest brother shrugged. “Maybe. I haven’t seen Brody since he was eighteen.” He got to his feet. “If you’re ready, Heather, I can give you a ride out there.”
Heather would have liked to stay and chat with Samantha, who was endlessly interesting but also interested in others. “If you and Justin are thinking about getting a dog, Rohan is cute as anything and has a great personality. He just needs some training.”
Samantha smiled. “A way of saying he’s rambunctious, isn’t it?”
“He’ll learn well once he’s settled into a permanent home,” Heather said.
“You mean once he’s away from Vic,” Eric said with a grunt. “Let’s go, Heather. I’ve got