Chapter Thirty-Nine
Brady
Mabel’s diner glowed behind us like the last warm place on earth.
The New Hampshire mountain night had a biting chill that cut right through the lingering memory of the dry Nevada heat, carrying the scent of pine needles and heavy aviation fuel.
Through the front windows, the glass created a heavy barrier between me and the warmth inside.
I watched the kids clustered at tables, the teenagers balancing supplies, my mother crossing the room with a tray in her hands.
For a fleeting second, I caught sight of Elise kneeling on the floorboards beside a group of children, her dark head bent over a leaning tower of marshmallows and toothpicks.
And I ached.
Another helicopter swept low over the ridge, scattering every thought that wasn’t Evan. My father stood near the curb, speaking into his phone in a voice I recognized from boardrooms, press conferences, and family disasters. Controlled. Low. Clipped at the edges.
He was almost himself again.
I stood a few feet away with my arms crossed tight over my chest, watching strangers move through Firebrook Valley like they owned the streets.
Some wore state police jackets. Some had local badges.
Others had no insignia at all, but they scanned the shadows with the steady, lethal focus of men who’d seen hell, survived it, and wouldn’t hesitate to go back.
They communicated with small gestures: a brief touch to an earpiece, a nod toward an intersecting road, a simple glance that sent two men moving in perfect coordination without a single word exchanged.
Corisi’s people.
They were everywhere and nowhere, slipping between the visible elements of the search like an invisible grid running underneath the official operation. They locked down roads, watched incoming cars, and checked trunks. They swept the access points and studied every passing face.
They watched us.
They watched me.
They were completely unstoppable, somehow working alongside the law while operating entirely above it.
“You’re an interesting man, Brady Holliston.” The deep voice came from my left.
I turned toward the shadowed edge of the sidewalk. Dominic Corisi stood behind the light spilling out of Mabel’s and I couldn’t read his expression. His expensive dark suit looked completely out of place against the backdrop of our small town.
He was actually here.
Why?
My jaw tightened. “I’m sure the same is said about you, Mr. Corisi.”
“Dominic. Please. No need to be formal when I’m here to help you.”
“Are you?” I asked.
He pinned me with a heavy, steady gaze that sent a cold chill straight down my spine. A predatory stillness lived in his eyes, an absolute focus that makes a person calculate their exit options. Dominic had perfected that look. “You don’t trust me.”
I shrugged, keeping my stance loose.
Dominic continued, “I was told you default to trusting everyone.”
“Is that what people say about me?”
“They could say worse.”
The adrenaline was making me reckless, which is the only excuse I have for asking, “Like what they say about you?”
I hadn’t thought through the comment enough to consider how he might react, but the faint amusement that twisted his lips surprised me. “I’ve earned my reputation. But you—you’re not matching yours.”
This line of conversation was a dead end. I drew in a steadying breath, forced myself to calm down, and asked, “Why are you in Firebrook Valley? And don’t say it’s just to help my brother.”
A few feet away, one of his security detail shifted his weight slightly, as if my tone had carried through the crisp night air.
Dominic looked entirely unbothered. After a moment, he said, “You’re angry.”
“I’m beyond angry.”
“Yes.” His voice remained calm. “You are.”
I stepped closer before my common sense could stop me. Somewhere out there, Evan was either waiting for us or beyond waiting for anyone. The thought of my brother cleared away whatever patience I had left. “If I find out you had anything to do with Evan disappearing,” I said, “I’ll come for you.”
Dominic Corisi’s eyebrows rose, but not with concern. “And you’d lose.”
“Maybe.”
The air between us went dead still.
A subtle shift moved across his expression, his eyes darkening with an unexpected layer of understanding. “That’s not courage talking,” he said. “You think this was your fault.”
My jaw clenched tightly. “You don’t know me well enough to know what I think about anything.”
“You’d be surprised what I know.” His nostrils flared slightly. “Fortunately for you, at least temporarily, I’m invested in everything that happens in Firebrook Valley.”
“Why?”
Humor lit his eyes. “I love that you think I’d tell you.”
The words hit with enough precision to make me resent him for them.
The helicopter thudded overhead again, the heavy sound rolling down over Main Street.
Alternating red and blue lights flickered across the windows of Mabel’s.
Inside, the children kept moving. Someone laughed.
Someone else clapped. My mother set a hand on a teenager’s shoulder and leaned down to listen to whatever the kid was saying.
The contrast made me feel entirely sick.
Warmth behind me.
Cold in front of me.
Evan somewhere completely beyond both.
“What do you want here?” I demanded.
“Today?” Dominic said evenly. “To find your brother and uncover what happened to him.”
“And then?”
I didn’t know what the devil looked like, but I believe I glimpsed him in Dominic’s eyes when he said, “Deal with whoever’s responsible.”
“Why?”
He looked like he might withhold an answer, but then he relented. “Because I sent a message and clearly it wasn’t received, so I’ll send another.”
“So you don’t know who did this.”
“Not yet.”
I swallowed hard, the dread thick in my throat. “Do you think he’s alive?”
Dominic’s hard stance softened a fraction. “For the sake of whoever did this, I hope so.” After a moment, he added, “I heard you’re handling the press. Would you like my help?”
“No. I’ve roped my father in and it’ll give him something to do.”
He looked toward the road leading out of town, where flashing lights marked one of the checkpoints. “Don’t let this change you, Brady. I liked what I heard about you.”
My chest tightened. “Is that supposed to matter to me?”
“No,” he said. “But the world needs people like you.”
I shook my head in disgust. “The gullible?”
His eyes darkened again. “The good. Which is why, when we find Evan, and we will, all you need to worry about is being there for him. I’ll handle the rest.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. If there was even a slight chance that Dominic might be the reason we found my brother, I couldn’t keep goading him. “Thank you?”
Dominic’s attention turned back toward Cookies and Coffee. “It’s none of my business, but I’ve heard good things about your friend Elise.”
I stood straight and drew myself up to my full height the moment her name left his mouth. “Have you?”
He smiled. “From a trusted source. Alethea doesn’t like many people, but she likes you and Elise.”
If I wasn’t completely consumed by fear for my brother, I would have found the room to feel embarrassed that anyone knew how foolishly I’d believed in my own code-cracking skills. Sadly, my capacity to care about my own pride was running on empty.
“When the dust settles from this,” Dominic said, “have Elise contact me. Especially if she decides to branch out on her own.”
“Sure,” I said, because the future didn’t matter. Nothing beyond finding Evan did.
Behind us, Mabel’s front door swung open, spilling a brief cascade of warmth and chatter onto the cold sidewalk. A teenager leaned out with a stack of empty cardboard boxes tucked under one arm.
“Brady?” she called.
“Here,” I answered.
“Your father’s looking for you. He said he was heading back to the police station, but Cody Burke is there.”
My stomach dropped. I searched the immediate area, noticed my dad’s vehicle was gone, and let out a heavy groan. “I’ll head over there. Thanks.”
Dominic was already sliding into the rear seat of a waiting black SUV. He paused, gave me a single nod, and closed the door. An armored convoy that rivaled a presidential escort surrounded his vehicle and guided him straight down Firebrook Valley’s main street.
The urge to go back inside and check on Elise pulled hard at me, but she was entirely safe with Mabel.
My father, on the other hand, required immediate supervision before he managed to get himself placed under house arrest. Tim was a patient police chief, but even he had limits to what he could tolerate, and my father and Cody Burke were absolute professionals at testing them.