“Who heard it from you.” Nate shook his head. “You crossed a line.”
“Too bad. You’d do the same for me. You’re a hothead. You let your temper and this case get to you. You weren’t thinking straight. You don’t just throw away your career because your boss is trying to protect you from getting yourself killed. You’re one of his best agents, Nate. He said so himself. But part of what makes you exceptional at your job also makes you a liability. He’s just trying to help you find some balance. And just so you know, I wasn’t the first one to plead your case. Several members on the task force had already spoken to him.”
Nate looked out over the water and nodded. “I’ll call him tomorrow.” At least he wouldn’t be cut out completely. He could talk to the members of the task force, see if they had a break in the case. “Sorry for jumping down your throat. I know you were just looking out for me.”
“What’s wrong with that burger?” said a voice from behind Nate.
Obviously he’d been distracted if Joe was able to sneak up on him. “Nothing. They all look the same to me.”
“Bro, if you think they all look the same, you need to have your eyes checked,” Chase said.
“You eat that one then. I want one of those.” Joe pointed at a beef burger, which was how Nate ended up with two veggie burgers on his plate.
“Wow, you guys sure loved your burgers,” Ellie said to the judge and Joe, casting Nate an I told you so smile.
He didn’t have the heart to correct her or to tell her the veggie burgers tasted like sawdust.
She looked at the burger sitting on his plate. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“I shouldn’t have eaten the leftover pizza for lunch.” Before she could examine the burger further, he took an oversize bite.
Joe and the judge snickered. He’d had his suspicions, but now he was positive they’d known exactly what Ellie had tried to pull. When she turned her head to listen to Michaela babbling in the high chair, Nate shot the older men a look, making a zip it motion with his fingers.
Michaela, who must have been watching him, did the same thing.
“Sadie, did you see that? Michaela just made a zip it gesture with her fingers. Did you teach her that?”
“Nate did,” Sadie said, struggling not to laugh.
“So, who wants pie?” Hands went up around the table. “It’s okay, Ellie. I’ve got it.” Nate collected the plates and headed for the kitchen before she found him out. He went to open the door only to discover she was right behind him.
She grabbed the half-eaten burger off his plate. “I knew it.” She wagged her finger at him. “No pie for you, mister.”
“Hey, I’m the reason Zia Maria sent the pie. And it’s not my fault Joe figured it out. If Chase hadn’t distracted me, I would have heard him coming up behind me and closed the lid.”
Ellie opened the door. “Sure. Blame it on Chase.”
“It’s true.” He told her about Chase’s conversation with his boss as he followed her into the kitchen. Stopping short when he spotted Ryder. He was bent over, pouring dog food into a bowl on the floor. Ellie followed his gaze and winced, mouthing I’m sorry.
Ryder straightened, staring at him with a look of betrayal in his eyes. “You told me and my mom you got the people responsible for murdering my dad.”
“I’ll give you guys a minute on your own,” Ellie said, and slipped out of the kitchen. “Come on, Toby.” As if sensing his new friend was upset, the dog nudged Ryder’s hand with his nose.
“It’s okay, let him be,” Nate said to Ellie, setting the dishes on the counter. “We did get them. They’re going away for a long time. They won’t get out, buddy.” He’d be at every parole hearing to make sure that they stayed behind bars.
“Then why did you say you’d be working with the task force, getting updates on my dad’s case? Why are you going back undercover when I go home?”
“Because while we got the people directly responsible for your dad’s murder, I want the people who supplied the drugs to the gang he was investigating. I want anyone with the slightest involvement to pay. And I can promise you, however long it takes, I will bring them to justice. Every last one of them.”
“My mom lied, didn’t she? You didn’t want to take me. All you care about is the case. You don’t care about me.”
“No, that’s not true. Ryder, wait,” Nate said when the kid turned to walk away. He reached for him.
“Leave me alone!” Ryder yelled, shaking off his hand.
Toby turned on Nate, snarling, his teeth bared.
Nate put up his hands. “It’s okay, boy. I’m not going to hurt him.” But he had.
Chapter Ten
Nate moved his flashlight over the forest floor, looking for any sign that Ryder had come this way. He and Chase had been searching the woods for more than an hour. As Nate moved the decomposing leaves around with the toe of his boot his chest tightened, making it difficult for him to breathe. This felt all too familiar, and no matter how hard he tried to lock it away, the memory of searching the woods with Chase fifteen months ago came back to him in a rush.
They’d been searching for Brodie. They hadn’t known it then, but they’d been too late. No one but Nate knew that he had missed their scheduled meet two days before, not even Chase. Nate would carry the guilt with him for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter that he’d been in the middle of an operation and couldn’t get away—to do so would have put other lives at risk. He’d tried calling and texting Brodie to change the time, but Brodie hadn’t responded.
The last conversation he’d had with Brodie had been when he’d called Nate to schedule the meet. It hadn’t gone well. He’d told Brodie to back off, told him to let Nate and the NCSBI take the investigation from there. It was too big a case for one person to handle on their own—too dangerous.
Brodie had been angry and offended. He’d accused Nate of underestimating him, of thinking that he was better than Brodie. Brodie wouldn’t let them take the case from him. All he’d wanted was for Nate to run some prints through the NCSBI’s data bank. Brodie couldn’t do it without raising suspicions at the sheriff’s department.
Nate had agreed, hoping that once they had a face-to-face, he could convince Brodie to let others help. But Nate never got the chance.
“Nate?” Chase’s voice broke through his grief and his guilt. “What’s going on? I’ve called to you three times.”
“Did you see something? Hear something?”
Chase searched his face and then shook his head. “No. Nothing.”
“He must have taken the other trail.” Nate pulled out his phone. “I’ll let Hunter know.”
He’d called Abby’s husband, Hunter Mackenzie, as soon as he realized he had no way of tracking Ryder. The last known location of Ryder’s phone was the inn. The kid was smart. He’d turned it off. And that’s when Nate knew that Ryder hadn’t simply taken a walk to cool off; he’d run away. Hunter and his dog Wolf were two of the best trackers in the entire county. He was going to need them.