Page 44 of Tied Over

I shook my head because no, I hadn’t packed mine either. This wasn’t some kind of law-enforcement procedural retreat we were on. It was supposed to be a vacation.

“Wait,” I said, darting over to where Stella was watching everything, sitting next to Hayden, eating. “Hey, is it okay if you stay here with your Uncle Hayden while I go with my partner to pack up Luke?”

Her big brown eyes were locked on my face. “He’s gonna be mad at me now. He said if I didn’t play with him, he’d play with Margo.”

Hayden, whom she wasn’t focused on, put his hand over his mouth.

“Well,” I began, smiling at her, “because you were so brave and talked to me, Stella, Luke is going home to his house and you won’t see him anymore.”

“Really?” She sounded so cautiously hopeful, it was heartbreaking. “He’s going home?”

“Yes, he is.”

She turned to Hayden then, who instantly dropped his hand and smiled at his niece. “You won’t let him come anymore?”

“No, honey,” he said, and though his voice was rough, it sounded strong. “He won’t come here again. Not ever.”

“Will you stay with me while Jed goes with his partner?”

“I will not move from this spot,” he assured her, looking up at me.

“Thank you, Uncle Hay.”

He nodded, but his eyes narrowed like he was in pain.

“Hey,” I said to Stella, “do you have a cell phone with your mom’s number in it that I can borrow and call her?”

She had it in her pocket, a cute flip phone covered with an inordinate number of shiny jewels.

“Wow,” I teased her, taking it slowly, putting it on for her benefit. “This is fancy.”

Instant glare from her. “I bet it’s nicer than yours.”

“It’s nicer than everybody’s,” I baited her, and she suddenly giggled, which was the best sound I’d heard all day. “I’ll be right back.”

Before I could go, she got up and slammed into me, hugging me as hard as she could. And yes, I was hurt, but not hurt enough to stop a scared seven-year-old from loving on me.

After putting my hand on her back, leaning over and reassuring her that she was going to be all right, I had her sit back down next to Hayden and then joined Bodhi as all the adults converged on Stella.

Bodhi led the way, his grip tight on Luke’s bicep, the hold the uncomfortable one we all knew how to do with dangerous fugitives. And not that Luke was scary or deadly. Bodhi simply hated him and what he’d done. I followed behind them, scrolling through the recent calls on Stella’s phone, finding her mom’s number easily.

“Hi, bunny,” was the warm greeting from her mother. “Are ya bored already? I can put more books on your phone.”

There was no way to begin without scaring the hell out of her. If I said who I was—terror. If I explained what happened—the same. I went with my go-to. “Ma’am, let me begin by saying your daughter is fine. She was not hurt.”

Catch of breath. “Oh my God, who—”

“My name is Josiah Redeker, but please call me Jed, and Stella loaned me her phone so I could call you.”

She was on the verge of tears; I could hear it in her voice. “Who are you?”

“I am a deputy US marshal, and I’m staying with your former in-laws at their home on Mercer Island. There’s been a situation, but again, your daughter was not hurt. She’s very smart, and she trusted me to help her.”

Deep breath in, deep breath out, trying to keep herself calm. I appreciated the fact that she was working very hard not to fall apart.

“Ready?” I asked gently.

“Yes, I’m ready.”