The call ended and Jenna sucked in a breath, willing her heartbeat to slow again. She couldn’t get worked up. She couldn’t go tearing off to Delaware because she was worried about her aunt. A man had called looking for her, but that didn’t mean it was the Flanagans, or any of their people. It could be simple. It could be her old landlord, or the car dealer, or any number of people.
Aunt Maggie was her next of kin, and though it’d been a long time since she’d filled out paperwork asking for a next of kin, she would have used her aunt back in the days before Sam was killed and she’d decided to run.
Noah came inside with Alice. He was looking at her instead of Jenna, and that gave her a moment to smooth her expression into something she hoped looked normal.
“We found a bird’s nest, didn’t we?” he asked the little girl.
Alice nodded. “Bird. Ness.”
Jenna pasted on a smile. “Really? That’s wonderful.”
Noah’s gaze narrowed as he looked at her. “Is something wrong?”
“What? Me? No, not at all. Why do you ask?”
Oh shit, she was babbling. And Noah wasn’t stupid. His gaze stayed narrow as he put Alice on the floor. She immediately went over and seized her blocks then brought them back to hold them up to Noah. He took one, praising her, and she took it and toddled away again.
“Something’s wrong,” he said.
Jenna squeezed her hands together, willing herself to stop giving off whatever vibe it was that had his hackles raised.
“I called my aunt. I’m worried about her. That’s all.”
“Is she sick? Do you need to go to her?”
She shook her head. “She’s not sick. She’s eighty-one, and I worry. She just sounded a little tired. That’s all.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Okay.”
Jenna spread her hands, the knot in her belly uncoiling a little. “She’s the only family I have left. I get a little uptight sometimes.”
Noah poured another cup of coffee then turned and leaned against the counter. “When’s the last time you visited her?”
“It’s been a while. She came to Vegas after my parents died.”
“Six years ago.”
She swallowed. “Yes. I talk to her often, though. Sometimes we video chat, but a lot of times I just give her a call.”
“Where does she live?”
She thought about lying, but at some point there would be too many lies to keep up with. “Delaware. Near the Maryland border on the south. Not super close, but close enough for a quick trip. I know that’s what you were thinking. And I intended to, but I haven’t been here all that long and I didn’t have time yet.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
She crossed her arms. “It feels like I do.”
Why had she said that? Way to make him suspicious.
“You don’t, Jenna. It’s not my business.” He sipped the coffee. “You just looked… spooked. That’s the word. You looked like something worse than worry was bothering you, so I asked.”
She squeezed her arms around herself.
“You don’t have to tell me,” he went on. “Unless it affects me and Alice somehow, I don’t need to know.”
Part of her wanted to tell him. To unburden herself and share her fears with another soul. One who had some professional expertise when it came to protection.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t risk him throwing her out. Maybe she should go before he could, but it shocked her to realize that she didn’t want to.
For the first time in months, she felt like she could breathe just a little bit easier. And she liked being here. With him. If she left, she’d never see him again. That thought made a fresh knot of pain pull together inside.
Jenna drew in a breath and faced him as calmly as possible. “I’m fine, Noah. I worry about my aunt, and I worry about the future. But I’m fine, and I’m happy here with Alice.”
And you. That part remained unspoken.
He nodded. “Okay. Good.” He set the coffee down and headed for the stairs. “I need to get my shoes and start work on the bushes.”
She didn’t have it in her to make a joke this time. Instead, she slumped at the table and ran her thumb back and forth over the lid of her laptop while watching Alice stack blocks.
The blocks toppled in a heap. Just like the pieces of her life.
Chapter Ten
Monday morning, Noah strolled into work and dropped his bag at his desk. Then he strolled over to Sky “Hacker” Kelley’s desk and braced his hands on the flat surface. Hacker kept typing.
“What do you want, Easy?”
“Information.”
“I take payment in gold coins and dragon’s eggs.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “I’ll owe you, buddy.”
Hacker sat back, one finger beneath his chin, and waited.
“It’s my nanny. She had a phone call on Saturday that seemed to spook her. She said she was talking to an elderly aunt, but she seemed pale and out of sorts for a while afterward.”
“And you want to know who she was really talking to.”
Noah nodded. “That’d be a good start.”
Hacker reached out and crooked his fingers. “Okay, gimme.”
Noah took the piece of paper he’d written Jenna’s number on from his pocket and handed it over.
Mal wandered over with a donut in his hand. “Checking out the nanny, huh?”
Noah eyed him. “Don’t judge. You dug into Scarlett’s background.”
He took a big bite of the donut and nodded. “Yep. That was the night she saw a guy in Buddy’s who recognized her. Then she told me about her ex stalking her. I had to dig then.”
“Definitely.” Noah raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know if I should be doing this, quite honestly, but what do I really know about Jenna? I hired her to watch Alice, for God’s sake. What if my instincts are wrong and she’s a fucking loon?”
Hacker shrugged as he typed. “If you’re wrong, then it’s time to retire.”
“I’m not old enough to retire.”
Hacker didn’t say it, but Noah thought it—if his instincts were that off, how could his teammates trust him in the field with their lives?
“She’s not a loon,” Mal said. “She’s good with Alice.”
“News flash, people can be crazy and good with kids at the same time,” Noah replied.
“She has too much empathy to be crazy,” Mal said.
“How would you know?”
“I went to the Early Bird often enough. I saw her pay for food out of her own pocket for people who didn’t have the money. She’s empathetic as hell. I mean I guess she could have taken one look at your handsome face and lost her marbles, but if she’s not boiling bunnies, then I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Noah sputtered. “Boiling bunnies? What the fuck?”
Mal waved a hand. “Some old movie I watched with Scarlett. Fatal Attraction. The woman was obsessed with the guy, and she boiled his rabbit.”
Hacker was laughing. “Man, you’re a sick fuck, you know that?”