he did, it was before he searched the place.” She waited a moment for her brain to catch up. “I’m surprised there was even anything in the office to find, given how much of a mess this place is in. Nathan went...” The breath left her lungs in a rush.
Jonah frowned. He looked like he was waiting for her to finish.
Elise looked around. Where was Nathan? He must have seen the explosion. And there were cops everywhere.
A man called out, “Hey, Jonah. I think your radio is busted. We found this kid hanging around.”
Elise craned her neck to look while Jonah strode toward two marshals walking Nathan between them. Her son’s hands were pulled behind his back.
She grabbed the EMT’s arm. “Help me up.” He looked at her like she was crazy, but Elise ignored it as she pulled on his shoulder. He raised her to her feet. Trying not to breathe so much that it hurt, she strode over to the marshals holding her son. “Let him go.”
“Elise—” Jonah held out a hand, halting her when she would have gone to Nathan. “Stay out of this. Unless you’re going to tell me it has something to do with your brother.”
Eyes on Jonah, Elise pointed a finger at her son, showing Jonah the stern mom face that made Nathan listen even when he didn’t want to clean his room. “You let him go.”
Jonah said, “Elise—”
“Mom, they think I planted a bomb.” Her son’s voice wavered.
Jonah’s eyes flashed wide. “Mom?”
Who else did Jonah think the kid belonged to? It shouldn’t have been that much of a stretch. They both had the same build, the same steel-gray eyes.
“Nathan and I don’t have anything to do with your search for my brother.” There was no way she would let this new cop version of Jonah tie them up in his business. “We arrived in town this morning. The fact we’re here tonight is only a coincidence. We have nothing to do with my brother, or what happened here. Let. Him. Go.”
* * *
Jonah looked from Elise, to the teen and back. Steeling himself for the answer, he said, “Is this your son?”
She nodded.
“Is he my nephew?”
The team as a whole shifted in reaction to his question, though Jonah didn’t think anyone but someone who worked with them day in and day out would have noticed their reaction.
No one moved. Surrounded by his coworkers, cops and emergency services personnel he knew and who knew him, Jonah waited for Elise to finally tell him the whole truth.
It seemed like an eternity of agony before Elise said, “Yes.”
Tears filled her eyes. Jonah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had a nephew he hadn’t even known about? First, Elise had walked out days after Martin’s funeral—before Jonah had even managed to get home. Now he was finding out she’d been pregnant?
Why hadn’t she ever bothered to tell him she’d had Martin’s baby? Never told his mom she was a grandma?
Fury burned inside him. She must have seen it, because she winced.
“Elise—”
“No! Don’t you dare blame this on me, Jonah.” She looked at him as though he was little more than a stranger. Evidently whatever familiarity they’d had years ago was gone now.
The dark green button-down shirt had a wild-animal sanctuary logo on it and matched her green pants, held up by a corduroy belt with empty holders and a broken key chain. She certainly wasn’t a kid anymore. But just like back then, his heart caught at the sight of her.
Why did he suddenly want to sit her down and ask her how she’d been?
To cover the slip, he turned to Hanning and Shelder. Eric looked like a male model, while Hailey had wild red hair and was a cute tomboy. The lovebirds made an interesting pair. They were also very good at what they did.
“Let the kid go.”
The young man passed Jonah, looking up at him with his brother Martin’s silver eyes. Elise had always called them steel gray, but Martin’s had possessed a light that Jonah had never seen anywhere else. Until this kid—almost a man, really.
He had Jonah’s lanky body—except that it was actually Martin’s, not his. He shouldn’t forget that. Still, the long arms and legs were familiar enough that he knew Nathan had trouble finding clothes that fit his limbs. Length might’ve helped on a basketball court, but Jonah had found it also meant he had trouble with coordination the rest of the time.
Nathan’s hair was styled to sweep across his forehead and fall over his eyes. Jonah was just old enough to find the fact that his nephew probably used styling product in his hair mildly hilarious.
The kid shot him a slightly curious, dirty look, and walked to his mom.
Jonah focused on his team. “Get Parker and Ames. I want the whole zoo searched. We need to find Fix, but keep an eye out for the man who attacked Elise. I’ll get you a description.”
His female teammate smirked, tipping her head to one side. “Elise?”
Jonah sighed. “Elise Tanner, this is Deputy Marshal Hailey Shelder, who was just leaving, and her fiancé, Deputy Marshal Eric Hanning, who is going with her.”
Hailey rushed past him. Jonah turned just in time to see her shake hands with Elise. Hailey practically bounced up and down on her boots. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
Jonah rolled his eyes, his gaze landing on Eric. He shrugged as if asking, What are you going to do?
Jonah knew exactly what. “Shelder. Don’t you have a search to do?”
Hailey snapped her boots together and saluted. “Yes, boss.” Eric laughed and the two of them strode away to do something other than nose into Jonah’s personal life.
His gaze strayed to Elise. “You’ll need to give a statement. Whatever you can tell the police about the man who attacked you is going to help us.”
He believed her when she’d said she didn’t know the man who attacked her, but her brother could just as easily have been the one who planted the bomb—a pretty good distraction for the marshals chasing him, if he’d had the time to plan it out. Elise could be just another statistic of the victims hurt by Fix Tanner’s actions.
Too bad it had to be her.
Why had she come back? The thought that she could be in on Fix’s scheme entered his mind, but Jonah dismissed it almost immediately. He was paid to consider all the variables, but he knew Elise wouldn’t lie to him. There was just no way.
Except he didn’t really know her anymore, did he? Even if they’d been friends for years before he’d come home to his brother’s grave and Elise gone. The teenage kid in front of him proved how long it had been. Could he trust her now?
“You
