Chapter 24
TOO MANY WORRIES
“Sorry to stop out like this so late,” Blaze said an hour later.
“Not a problem,” Clay said. “Just cleaning up. Had a wedding end thirty minutes ago. Something else going on with Arden?”
He supposed he was glad his brother pushed off his honeymoon until the end of the summer.
“Hey,” Ash said, moving out from the kitchen with a plate of food. “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing,” he said, looking between his brothers. If he had known Ash was here, maybe he wouldn’t have stopped out.
No, he still would have because he needed to cool his ass down after the last kiss with Arden.
He had her. He could have picked her up and brought her to her room, shut the door and locked it, then had his way.
She wanted it. She all but said it.
But he didn’t want it that way.
Not when she was reeling from the day she’d had and not when he was ready to kick ass.
If anyone could understand what he was going through, and even help, it was his brother Clay.
Ash? He’d have to let this brother in on it now also.
Which meant Ford would have to be next. Not that his brother the sheriff would get involved in this within city limits, but it might not hurt to have that family support either.
“Might as well tell him,” Clay said. “Because by the look on your face you’re ready to inflict damage, not patch someone up.”
“Feels that way right now.”
“Want a drink?” Clay asked.
“One won’t hurt,” he said, going behind the bar and pulling the draft on a hard cider. Less alcohol than the beer that was on tap. He just needed something to put in his hands before he punched a wall and wouldn’t be able to do his job.
Clay poured himself one, Ash doing the same, the three of them sat on the barstools, no rush or hurry to clean up and get out of there when he knew they both must have been working all day.
That’s what family was. And that was why he was here.
“Blaze has a woman in his life,” Clay started with.
“You do? How come I don’t know that?” Ash said, giving his arm a shove. “And what happened to your hand? You’re always careful with your money makers.”
He snorted. “Fixing a slashed tire,” he said.
Clay lifted his eyebrow. “Yours or Arden’s?”
“Hers.” He filled his brothers in on the events of the day, then added the first note so that Ash was caught up.
“What does Tate think of it?” Ash asked.
“I don’t know. I left to get Gracie. That is Arden’s daughter. She asked me to pick her up at daycare so she could finish up the report. It’s not like I can call and find out.”
“Ford could,” Ash said.
“I won’t ask and he won’t reach out for something like this. It’s out of his jurisdiction.”
“No, it’s not. It’s Warren County,” Ash argued.
“County and city don’t always play nice,” Clay said. “You know that, Ash.”
“Yeah, well, you live just outside the city,” Ash said. “So you could call Ford and it’s still his county even if the GFPD covers it also.”
His brother wasn’t wrong. “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Not at her place. So far whoever this is, is keeping it out in the open.”
“And not getting caught,” Clay said. “Could mean a couple of things.”
“I think they are just blending in. Both times it’s happened, her car has been in blind spots. It’s not as if the notes were exactly after the fights.”
“So you think it’s not the ex?” Clay asked.
“I don’t know what to think, but Tate would have told her if Billy didn’t have an alibi because of the visitation tomorrow. She’s still going.”
“Did she talk to her ex?”
“Yep. The guy is a real dick. Just the way he talks to her. But he told her the new girlfriend’s last name.”
“Give it to me,” Clay said.
“Tina Morris.”
“You’ve looked into the ex already?” Ash asked.
“Yeah, nothing on him. Or nothing that held. Doesn’t mean people don’t change and flip when their back is against the wall. We’ve all seen it.”
“More than once,” Ash said.
“Don’t need to tell me.”
He’d lost count of the fighting and violence in the ER. Mix drugs and alcohol in there and smaller rural areas weren’t immune to it.
Matter of fact, it seemed as if some of the violence was bleeding over from Albany and downstate.
Nothing was left untouched or unsoiled.
“I’ll see if I can find anything out about this woman. I can do it now if you want to swing to my place.”
“You don’t mind?” Blaze asked. “It’d ease my mind.”
“I’ve got the time,” Clay said. “Let me lock up and I’ll finish here in the morning. Let me go let Meredith know.”
“She’s in the kitchen,” Ash said. “Finishing up there, but was almost done putting the food away that was left behind.”
“Anything good?”
“The caterers left it,” Ash said. “Not a ton, but I’m going to take some with me when I leave.”
He followed Clay to the kitchen, saw Meredith putting covers on some containers and handing another bag to Ash.
“Hey, Blaze. Do you want some food too? Ash is taking some to the firehouse. There isn’t enough room for it here.”
“Sure,” he said. “But don’t go out of your way.”
“Here’s a bag. I’ve got lots of them and was going to give one to Reenie tomorrow. I’ll take this to your parents and one for us. I’ll let you guys talk while I visit with your parents.”
“Thanks,” he said. He’d seen the lights on in the big farmhouse, knowing his parents were still up even though it was nine thirty.
He should have just called or waited, but he couldn’t sit still.
Too much was weighing on his mind. Too many worries. Too many fears.
He didn’t know if he’d ever felt this for anyone who wasn’t a family member.
He climbed in his SUV while his brothers got in Ash’s truck and drove to his brother’s house a little past his childhood home.
The minute they were inside, Clay had his laptop out. Blaze pulled up the screenshot of Tina Morris’s Facebook page and slid his phone across the table.
Clay was punching away at keys, Ash giving him the eye.
“What?” he asked.
“I thought you told me everything. We’re the closest.”
He smirked. “You just like to think that.”
“No,” Ash said. “We know it.”
Ash wasn’t wrong. Clay and Ford were just bonded in another way and always had been, even though Blaze was closer in age to Ford.
But Ash had needed to lock onto someone other than Gale, and Blaze had taken the youngest under his wing when he was home.
For the years he’d been gone, Ash still talked to him daily. And maybe he needed that shoulder and familiar voice from home too.
When the situation with Kristen was getting to be too much, only Ash knew the most. And Ash was the one who drove the hour to Albany to sit and have a beer with him in silence.
The support he had from the men in this room, the rest of his family, it was something he was trying to give Arden.
Something it didn’t appear she had, though she’d said her parents helped her.
He was wondering how much since she rarely talked about them.
Or maybe he hadn’t asked.
There was so much the two of them didn’t know. So much more to learn.
“I’m not finding anything on her,” Clay said.
“Do you have the right person?”
He moved closer and looked at Clay’s computer. “This is her. She’s twenty-eight, lives in Saratoga, works for the state. Looks like she’s got some accounting job. I crosschecked her title, you can see the basics here like anyone else can.”
“Decent job. Makes me wonder what she’s doing with Billy.”
“No criminal record. Has one older brother. I hate to say she’s vanilla, but that’s what I’m seeing on paper.”
“It’s never that simple. You know that as well as I do.”
“I’ll dig deeper,” Clay said.
“We are missing something,” he said. “Because if it’s not Billy or Tina, then who could it be?”
“What else do you know about Arden?” Clay asked. “You said her last job was at social services. Did she piss anyone off there? Or at the hospital? I’m guessing she’s crossed paths and pissed a lot of people off.”
Blaze put his head back. “Not sure why I didn’t think of that. Or she didn’t either. I’ll find out. I’m working the next four days.” He looked at his watch. “I’m sure she’s sleeping now. No way I want to bother her with this.”
She’d looked as exhausted as she’d said she was feeling.
It killed him he couldn’t fix it when it was his job to heal people.
But her wounds... they were just too deep for him to reach. For now.