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More for her own sake than for her sister’s, Savannah gave a vigorous nod. “I’m sure it’s the right thing. I have to go in to the police station for an interview, and it will help so much to have Hez there. I already said more than I should have. That whole good cop / bad cop thing.”
Jess held out her hand. “Give me my paper and get out of here. Though I have no idea how I can concentrate on work when you dropped a bombshell in my lap.”
Guilt, a familiar companion, compressed Savannah’s heart. She handed Jess the paper and stood. “I’m sorry.”
Her sister pointed at the door. “We can talk more when this meeting is over. I need to get back to work.”
“Of course. Thanks so much. I’ll let Hez know he can start on Monday.”
Jess made a nondescript noise in reply and waved her hand again. Savannah retreated into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind her. At least it was over. Her sister had never liked Hez, not from the first moment they’d met. Savannah had always thought Jess was jealous.
When Dad had yelled at Jess, it was always Savannah who comforted her. Their mother was too afraid of Dad to buck him when it came to much of anything. Once Mom had been forced to come crawling back after one of his affairs, her life spiraled down even more until its sad, sorry end.
Dad always knew Jess wasn’t his—and made sure she knew as well. When Jess started standing up to their father, she’d been thrown out of the house, and Savannah had gone with her instead of living at home during college. They’d moved into an off-campus house, and it had been the two of them against the world.
Hez’s entrance into their lives had changed everything. It was no longer just her and Jess, and Savannah had been unable to prevent Jess’s resentment of Hez’s intrusion. Her recovery might be jeopardized by dealing with Hez in her life again, but there was no choice.
* * *
Hez didn’t see the hippo until it was too late. He cast his fly and let the breeze carry it to the edge of the reedy area near the shore of the pond where his cousin and good friend, Blake Lawson, had taken him fishing. Blake had just returned to town after a stint in the Marines. It was a perfect cast—or would have been if there hadn’t been a hippo lounging in the mud. Its massive head rose at the sudden motion from Hez, and it fixed its eyes on him.
“Careful.” Blake spoke in a low voice from the back of the bass boat, which suddenly felt small and fragile. He didn’t increase their slow speed, but he did angle them farther from the reeds. “Don’t bother Bertha.”
“Sorry.” Hez sat motionless, letting his line drift. Blake had cautioned him multiple times to keep an eye out for hippos. They were a lot more dangerous than most people realized, and even females without calves—the only kind at the animal sanctuary owned by Blake and his mother—could be deadly if provoked.
“It’s okay. Bertha has never acted aggressively, and I wouldn’t have taken us here if I thought there might be a problem. But better safe than sorry.”
Bertha watched the retreating boat for a few seconds, then settled back down into the muck. Hez relaxed and retrieved his line. His fly hung over the warm green water, a brilliant gem of wet red and yellow feather, almost completely hiding the sharp steel hook. “I should’ve seen her. I was distracted. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
His cousin was thirty and unmarried. His single state had never kept him from voicing an opinion though, and the odd thing was, he usually put his finger on Hez’s problem.
Blake glanced at Hez, keen intelligence in his blue eyes. “When we talked on Friday, you said you would be meeting Savannah for coffee. Might that have something to do with why you’re distracted?”
“It might.” He recounted their meeting at University Grounds, ending with Savannah’s admission that Beckett had asked her out. “She said she turned him down, but I got the impression she was interested. I’m thinking of just letting the divorce go through and referring her to someone else. I know plenty of good criminal defense attorneys, and a clean break might be best for both of us.”
A sympathetic grimace creased Blake’s tan face. “I’m sorry, man. Did she change her mind about withdrawing the divorce case?”
“No, but she’s only doing it so I’ll represent her.”
“Did she say that?”
“Basically. I asked her whether she was just doing it so I’d be her lawyer, or whether she was willing to give us a second chance. She gave me a nonanswer about how stressed she is and said maybe she’d think about reconciliation after this is all over. She couldn’t even look me in the eyes while she said it.”
“Do you blame her?”
Hez frowned at his cousin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Blake shrugged his broad shoulders. “Do you blame her for divorcing the guy you were two years ago?”
“But I’m not that guy anymore.”
“Does she know that?”
Hez chewed his lip for a moment. They’d met twice and spent less than thirty minutes together. Could she really tell he’d changed from just that? “Maybe not. But I’m not sure it matters. She still blames me for Ella’s death. She’ll never forgive me for that.”
“Did she say that?”
“I could tell.”
