that had returned with a vengeance thanks to their scuffle, and tried to decide if he heard derision or jealousy in Eddie’s tone. Probably a little of both. If Eddie spent half his time tripping out, Cole couldn’t imagine too many girls being interested in hanging with him. At least no one who wasn’t stoned herself.
Eddie stirred his coffee so hard it swirled over the brim. “C’mon, why don’t you just get the lecture over so we can both go home?”
“You expect me to believe you came here to apologize to Sherri?”
“Yes.”
“The guy who lured you to the drug house didn’t send you here?”
“What? No!”
Cole exhaled, unfortunately believing him, which meant he was back to square one. “Okay, I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m afraid we didn’t get off to a good start, but believe it or not, I came back to Stalwart because I want to spend time with you, not lecture you.”
“Don’t do me any favors. I got over my case of big brother worship a long time ago.”
Yeah, Eddie hadn’t appreciated Cole’s opinion on his choice of who to live with after the divorce. Almost a year had passed before they’d even talked to each other again. “I’m sorry. I was wrong to stay away so long. I’m hoping we can make up for lost time.”
Eddie snorted. “Face-planting me into the sidewalk is a great way to start.” He lifted his mug in a toast. “Thanks.”
The waitress slipped their soup bowls onto the table, allowing him to let the remark pass without comment. Clearly it would take a lot more than a few shared dinners to chisel that boulder-sized chip from Eddie’s shoulder.
Sirens cut through the silence. An ambulance whipped out the bay next door, but with hedges blocking a good part of the view, Cole couldn’t tell if Sherri was inside. He breathed a silent prayer for her protection that only partially quelled the urgent desire to follow the ambulance and do the job himself. Okay, time to stop worrying about treading on his brother’s feelings. He locked gazes with Eddie. “If you want me to trust you, you need to be straight with me. ’Cause I’ll tell you, across the street is an office full of deputies that think you should be sitting in jail. Are you stalking Sherri?”
“What?” Eddie’s head jolted back, his eyes wide with shock that looked pretty believable, unless it was shock that Cole had clued into his double life. If Eddie was trying to exact revenge for the way Cole had ignored him, terrorizing Sherri was a sickeningly smart way to go.
“You heard me,” Cole said through gritted teeth, not wanting to believe the worst about Eddie despite appearances.
“No, man, I just needed a fix.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I thought you of all people would believe me.”
“I want to, Eddie. But you’re not giving me anything to go on. You say some guy told you to do these things, but you don’t have a name, a location and scarcely a description. And her partner’s got it in for you now.” Cole had checked the guy’s background. A former army medic, the man had a little too much righteous warrior in him for Cole’s comfort level.
“I’m telling you, that day in the ambulance is the first time I’d seen her in, like—” he hesitated, the flick of his gaze betraying his deception “—like, forever.”
Cole let it slide. For now. If he wanted to earn Eddie’s trust, he needed his brother to at least think he believed him. “And where were you when this guy told you to raid her ambulance?”
“Around.”
“Around where?”
“I don’t remember. The park maybe.”
“The park downtown?” Where psycho homeless guy hung out.
“Yeah, maybe. I hang there sometimes. It’s not like I go looking for him.” Eddie slurped his soup. “He finds me.”
Cole didn’t like the sound of that. “He finds you?”
“Yeah, you know. We just kind of run into each other.”
Yeah, Cole could imagine the kind of places they ran into each other. If anyone had asked him seven years ago if there was a booming drug culture in Stalwart, he would’ve laughed. Now...he wasn’t so sure. “You hang out together?”
“No, but he knows what it’s like to, you know, need a fix.”
Needing to get his own fix on the guy’s whereabouts, Cole resisted the urge to point out that the guys at Teen Challenge knew, too, and cared a whole lot more about helping him. Eddie wasn’t ready to hear it yet.
“He sometimes gives me tips on where I can get stuff free,” Eddie went on.
“You mean steal it?”
Eddie shrugged again.
“What’s he drive?”
“Never paid attention.”
“But he does drive? He’s not some homeless guy living on the street?”
“He doesn’t look like one.” Eddie pushed away his empty soup bowl. “We done?”
Cole’s cell phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. Zeke? He’d thought his partner would be happy to have another day off from being saddled with him. Probably calling to rub in that his nephew wouldn’t be taking a sick day if he were on the job. Cole held up a finger to signal Eddie to wait a minute and clicked Talk. “What’s up?”
“You know where your brother is?” Zeke’s voice grated. Why the sheriff had partnered Cole with the one guy who resented him filling the new opening, he’d never know.
“Here with me. Why?”
Eddie’s wary gaze snapped to his.
“You’re lucky. Dispatch just got a call of a savage dog attacking a female paramedic.”
Cole’s pulse jumped. Sherri was the only female paramedic in Stalwart. “Where? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know what her condition is. I’m on my way. So’s animal control. She’s at Line One near Third.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
Zeke’s snort punctuated the click of him hanging up. Clearly his intention hadn’t been friendly.
Cole threw cash on the table and grabbed Eddie’s arm. “We’ve got to go.” Zeke may have taken his word that Eddie was with him, but he wanted Sherri to see it for herself.
“Me?” Eddie looked as if he thought Cole was taking him to a lynching—his.
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