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“I’m glad I caught you.” Cole steeled himself against the hurt. He’d texted her multiple times to ask about coming out to check on her, but she’d wanted her space.

He’d wanted to talk about her father. Her mother. The ferry killer. And well, maybe he’d wanted to finally talk to her about ... them. Maybe he wanted to explain where he’d been in the many months since he’d seen her last.

But she was pushing him away now. As soon as she’d seen him, she’d taken another step out the door. Jo peered out into the late evening. Yeah, he hadn’t seen her in twenty-four hours, and it might have driven him out of his mind.

Hawk had come into the office with him and closed the door to the lodge so they had privacy.

“Jo?” Remi approached the door where Jo teetered between staying and going.

Remi pulled Jo inside and shut the door. “Let’s talk it through. Make a plan. I just want you to be okay.”

What had Jo told Remi? After yesterday, would she ever be okay again?

Funny about running and hiding, Jo had done it once before. He suspected by that look on her face that she might consider doing it again, especially since her father had taken that same path. But Cole couldn’t see Jo leaving behind her new friends, especially Remi.

And Cole? Who was he to talk? He’d done this to her a few months ago. He’d left and not come back. He couldn’t talk her out of disappearing again if she slipped into the night without saying goodbye.

A pain jabbed at his heart. Please don’t go , Jo.

If only he could say the words, but he had no right.

Not until he told her everything about why he’d stayed away.

He hoped Remi could persuade her to stay with her friends here.

People who loved her and were prepared to protect her.

How long could she survive on her own with what seemed like multiple nefarious entities coming at her from different directions?

She looked at him. Held his gaze. Maybe she read the complete dejection on his face because suddenly her shoulders dropped as if all the pent-up energy had drained out of her.

She drew in a breath. “Okay. Let’s make a plan. Then I need to go home. I’m exhausted. I thought I needed to work because my mind just will not stop, but I can’t do this anymore.”

“You need to rest,” Remi said. “I could come over and stay with you tonight. Or you could just stay here in the lodge.”

“I want my own place, and I’m fine, Remi. I’ll be fine. My tiny house misses me. Spruce Hollow needs me now.”

Cole smiled at those words filled with so much love for the place she’d created at the edge of the rainforest. And that same emotion surged in his heart—for her. If only he could fix things between them. Fix it all.

“Jo, there’s something you need to know,” Cole said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

“Look, I’ve had a long, hard day, so just tell me already.”

“Remember Detective Rick Wilson? I mentioned him earlier.”

“Yes.”

“He called yesterday when I was following you, and then again today. You said you wanted to—”

“You didn’t.”

“I didn’t tell him that I found you, no. Not yet. But you said you wanted to set up a meeting. Have you changed your mind?”

She sighed. “No. I need to talk to him, but that doesn’t mean I want him to know where I am. For all I know, some cop in Michigan doesn’t want my mother’s murder solved. I can’t trust anyone.” She took an involuntary step forward. “What else?”

“He said that you could be in danger.”

“Ya think? That’s why I left. What an idiot.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t called for. But I left because I thought I was in danger. They weren’t helping to keep me safe.”

“I think he really just wants to talk to you and wanted me to give you up.”

“Talk. Talk. That’s all they do anymore.

People, especially women, often die by the hand of a person under a restraining order.

The police tell them there’s nothing that can be done.

Until, of course, after someone dies. Then a murder suspect is taken into custody.

Or not. They have to be caught first. Evidence must be gathered. ”

“And it has to hold up in court. I hear you, Jo.” She was venting like never before.

“I’ve worked in that world long enough that I know how hard it is to bring justice.” Jo sank onto the sofa and hung her head. “So I fled instead of standing my ground and fighting for justice. Instead of fighting for freedom and for safety for myself and justice for my mother.”

Cole didn’t want to say anything in case she wasn’t finished getting it all out. Hawk and Remi remained perfectly still and quiet, listening and watching.

Jo leaned back and closed her eyes as if the world was closing in on her and her mind was the only escape.

“So I’ll set something up, then,” Cole said.

Jo opened her eyes and sat forward. “Don’t tell me he’s coming here.”

“He doesn’t know where you are. We can do it over videoconferencing.”

Remi took a step closer. “What do you want to do, Jo?”

“Set it up, Cole. Tomorrow, even.” She stood and moved to the door. “But tonight, I’m going home.”

Jo left them all standing there.

****

At Hawk’s house in Forestview, the wind and rain lashed at the windows, mirroring Hawk’s tone. Cole wasn’t being fair. Hawk didn’t sound nearly that harsh, but Cole didn’t like that his older brother was jumping down his throat. But he’d always done that, and he might feel he had the right.

Cole paced, ignoring Hawk, who grilled him incessantly about the last many months he’d been away and about Jo, her situation and his response to it, his relationship with her or lack thereof, and life in general.

The sound of his brother’s voice was starting to knife through every nerve ending, especially since it had started earlier this morning when Hawk had taken Cole to retrieve his Yukon.

Then the rest of the day, Hawk had been busy and left Cole to work on his multiple investigations that were going nowhere.

Allison had caught Covid and was working slower than usual.

She shouldn’t have been working at all, but he knew she’d try.

“Are you even listening to me?” Hawk asked. Maybe he finally realized that Cole had pushed Hawk’s grating words out of his mind.

No? They were back to their usual sibling rivalry, except now it was more brotherly banter, and he knew they would be fine on the other side of it. Hawk was just filling his role as an older brother and trying to look out for Cole.

When Cole’s phone vibrated, he sent Hawk a smirk. “Saved by the cell.”

He answered without even looking to see who it was. “Cole Mercer.”

“It’s me,” Jo said.

His heart did that erratic beating thing it did when he heard her voice. He wished he was with her now, but she apparently still needed space. Still, she’d called.

“I’ve been thinking.” Her voice was soft. Sweet. And thoughtful.

“Yeah?”

“You came here to talk to me about Mom’s death. Everything else, with my dad at least, is just a distraction. He can take care of himself.”

Cole frowned at that. She needed to take the possible threat from her father’s world seriously, but on the other hand, it was good to focus on something, and he’d take that.

He was glad she’d found clarity back at Spruce Hollow.

He smiled to himself, again. He was doing that a lot lately—when it came to Jo. “Okay. What else?”

“Did you set up the call with the detective?”

“Yeah. We’re shooting for tomorrow. He’ll get back to me with the details.

How are you doing, Jo? Everything okay?” Anything suspicious going on?

He wanted to ask her about coming out to check her place again, but he doubted she would go for it.

He’d checked the perimeter deep in the woods last night after she’d gone inside.

Why had she really called? Did she want to hear his voice too?

He stomped out the thoughts. His nerves were about shot at this point. Hawk pretended to chop a salad—since when did he eat greens?—but he probably didn’t miss a thing in this one side of Cole’s conversation. Cole didn’t plan on giving him ammunition to shoot down his plans.

“Everything is fine,” she said. “I wanted to make sure you understand that I want to focus on solving Mom’s murder.

I’m sorry that I kind of blew up at everyone.

Give Hawk an apology for me. I already called Remi.

But getting it all out like that helped me realize what’s important.

Mom. She needs justice. And I need peace.

I need the freedom you were talking about. ”

“She does and you do.”

She was quiet, but he sensed she had more to say. He wanted to crawl through the connection to be with her. He once again paced and stared at the floor, envisioning her. Why had he stayed away for so long? Idiot, idiot, idiot.

It’s Jo. It has always been Jo , from the moment she saved me on that beach . Why do I have to mess everything up?

“Can I do anything for you, Jo?”

“You’ve done enough. I’ll be fine. I’ve survived here this long...”

Without you. He finished her sentence for her.

Surviving before, when no one knew where she lived, was different.

Now she was on someone’s radar. Or two someones, he just couldn’t be sure.

But he wouldn’t argue with her. And he’d just have to check the forest around Spruce Hollow without her permission.

He knew how to blend into the jungle, and the rainforest was his second home, if he thought about past missions.

“Get some rest,” he said. “We’ll talk in the morning. How about breakfast at the lodge?”

“No. Come to my place. Eight o’clock sharp. We’ll have more privacy here than at the lodge. I don’t need more people in my business.”

In other words, Cole in her business was already one person too many. “See you in the morning.”