Page 18 of Beckett

“Nowhere.” I pushed my plate aside. “Just thinking.”

“Dangerous habit,” Coop said. “How’s the farm-sitting going? You talking to the animals yet, now that Lark’s gone?”

I gave him a look over the rim of my water glass. “I talk to the dogs.”

“The dogs talk back?”

“They make more sense than most people.” I shrugged one shoulder and reached for my burger.

“That’s not saying much,” Aiden muttered.

“But seriously.” Coop leaned forward, abandoning his casual sprawl. “How’s it going out there? Must be weird, being on that property alone.”

“I’m not alone.” The words came out before I could stop them. I hadn’t planned to mention Audra at all.

Both men perked up like hunting dogs catching a scent.

“Oh?” Coop’s grin turned predatory. “Do tell.”

“There’s a new girl. Woman. Employee.” I focused on my coffee cup. “Her name’s Audra. She’s helping with the animals while Lark’s gone.”

“Audra,” Coop repeated, drawing out the name. “Pretty name.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Sure you wouldn’t.” He exchanged a look with Aiden. “What’s she like?”

“Jumpy.” I chose my words carefully. “Scared. Shows up early, stays late. Works hard. Lark is paying her cash.”

“Sounds like someone with a story.” Aiden leaned back and crossed his arms over his massive chest.

“Everyone’s got a story.” But even as I said it, I knew Audra’s was different. The way she checked exits, watched shadows, flinched at unexpected sounds. I’d seen that behavior before, in combat zones. In victims.

“She staying on the property?” Coop asked.

“No. Somewhere in town, I guess.” But honestly, I didn’t even know if that was true.

Aiden studied me, head tilted to the side. “You run a background check?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Aiden’s question held no judgment, just curiosity.

I thought about it, really considered why I hadn’t asked Travis to dig into Audra. I could get her last name from Lark then with one phone call, and I’d know everything—at least the stuff that could be known about her from a computer. But age, Social Security number, contents of her bank account…that wasn’t what I wanted to know.

I shouldn’t want to know anything.

“Not my business,” I said finally.

“Since when has that stopped you?” Coop challenged. “You vetted everyone at Pawsitive Connections when Lark first hired you. Remember the guy with the fake references? You spotted that in a heartbeat.”

He was right, and we all knew it. I had a habit of running security assessments on everyone, whether they’d asked for it or not. Professional paranoia, Rodriguez had called it, back when he was alive to call it anything. But with Audra, something held me back.

“She’s different,” I said finally.

“Different how?” Coop challenged.

I remembered the way she’d looked that first morning, exhausted and thin and still ready to work. The gentle way shehandled the animals. The smile that had transformed her face when Jet had chosen her.