the place. Or when he crashed, thank God. And you never accepted the truth, even when the cops told you.” So much for his determination, Drew thought.
“The police didn’t know, either. They didn’t know Doug, not like I did. They assumed.”
“So,” Quinn said, “neither of you knows for sure what was in his head, you just have what you believe but can’t prove. And the two versions are not compatible. That about it?”
“I know,” Alyssa said stubbornly.
“And you can’t fix willful blindness,” Drew snapped.
And there they were, back to square one.
Quinn sighed. He looked at Hayley. “I’m not sure even Foxworth can fix this one. How do we prove what was in a dead man’s heart?”
“But Cutter...” she said.
“I know. He’s as determined as I’ve ever seen him.”
“We could look into it, couldn’t we?”
“Wait. You’re saying you’d go against your own policies because of a dog?” Drew asked, sounding as incredulous as he felt.
“Not just a dog. This dog,” Quinn said. At Drew’s look he chuckled. “Believe me, not so long ago I sounded just like you. But it’s hard to argue with the kind of stats this guy has piled up.”
“So, he’s never wrong, is that what you’re saying?”
“No. He just hasn’t been yet.”
Hayley cut in. “Maybe somebody, somebody not emotionally involved, might know something. If anybody can find somebody like that, Foxworth can.”
“Somebody without a dog in this fight, you mean?” Drew joked, unable to quite believe he was taking this discussion even semi-seriously. “This is crazy.”
“On that, I agree,” Alyssa said. “Dog aside, I don’t want anybody digging around in this. Luke’s been through enough. I’m not going to risk destroying his image of his father.”
Drew’s stomach knotted. Had she really said that? Did she even realize she had acknowledged the possibility that there even was a risk of that image—that illusion—being destroyed?
That quickly, Drew changed his mind. From what Quinn had said, Foxworth was big, had great resources, better people, and tremendous results. They also had time, time the police never had, and as Quinn had explained, once they took a case, they never gave up unless their client told them to.
It was almost dizzying how quickly he’d flipped, but Drew couldn’t deny the allure of this being settled once and for all. But he knew Alyssa would never voluntarily seek out truth that might contradict her image of Doug.
But if Foxworth could do it...
“—I appreciate the thought, but no,” Alyssa was saying.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Quinn said. “We’ve never really tried to pull Cutter back once he’s gotten his teeth into something, so to speak.”
“Maybe he’s right,” Drew said.
“What?” Alyssa’s head snapped around and she stared at him.
Careful, he cautioned himself. There’s only one way to get her to see reason. And in this case, it had the advantage of being true, and being the one thing that had made him sickest about this whole thing.
“Luke,” he said quietly.
“I told you, I won’t have him thinking his father was some common criminal who didn’t love him!”
“That’s not the reason to do it,” Drew said, keeping his voice low, even with an effort.
“Then what is?” she demanded.
“He doesn’t even have to know. I swear to you, even if I’m proved right, we don’t have to tell him.”
“Then what is it you’re after, Drew?”
“I’m after a way to clear the air between the parents he has now. Because a six-year-old talking about going away because he thinks it will make us happy is nothing to ignore.”
Alyssa opened her mouth. Shut it. And as if he could see it, he sensed the fight drain away. As always with her, Luke came first. And the truth of what he’d said was undeniable.
She looked over to the boy and the dog. Then back at him.
“How do I know you mean it, that you won’t tell him anything bad they might find?”
Again the admission. Drew’s hopes rose. He tried to quash them. It was too early, he couldn’t let himself think that way. “Have I ever broken my word to you?”
She looked unhappy about it, but she said, “No.”
“Then let them look. Maybe they won’t find anything, but maybe they will and we can put this behind us once and for all.”
“What if they find you’re wrong?”
He didn’t think that was going to happen. But if by some chance Foxworth found something that proved Doug was who she thought he was, at least with her, then he deserved better than he’d gotten from his big brother.
“Then I’ll join your chorus to Luke,” he said.
Something flashed in her eyes then, and he knew he’d won.
“Done,” she said.
And Drew wondered what on earth he’d gotten them into. All because of a dog.
Chapter 7
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Quinn muttered to the dog at his feet. Cutter looked up at him steadily.
“I believe that’s his ‘Of course I do. It’s you humans who are slow on the uptake,’ expression,” Hayley said cheerfully.
“We humans,” Quinn said, “are reluctant to handle familial dynamite.”
Hayley glanced over to where Drew and Alyssa were standing at the third-floor window, Drew holding Luke up so he could see the bald eagle sitting on the branch of a large maple amid the evergreens. The boy was babbling excitedly; he’d never seen one so close before.
“Maybe we should have Kayla and Dane talk to them about misguided brotherly love,” Quinn said, and Hayley looked at him to see that he’d followed the direction of her gaze. Hayley had no doubts that Kayla and Dane Burdette would be willing. They felt, as did most of Foxworth’s former clients, that they owed them whatever they might ask for.
“I get your point, but I’m not sure this situation is the same. Brother and brother, not brother and sister. It’s different, the relationship between brothers, isn’t it?”
“Probably.
