Chapter 6
Graham
Something was wrong.
Quinn had been at the bed-and-breakfast for a week and not only had the tone in town shifted, but so had the energy in my family. I wasn’t sure whether I’d imagined the change, but it became clear when two of my brothers were missing from family dinner on Sunday night that something was off.
Family dinner was nonnegotiable in the Ramsey house.
Even when we were teenagers sneaking off to parties, or in college out of the state, we called in or sent messages to Mom so she’d know we were still part of the tradition.
But last night, two of my brothers had been missing, and no one said a word about it.
So tonight, I called a meeting.
Hearthstone Security and Investigation was started by my brother August, and most of us worked for the company in one capacity or another. Everyone but the oldest, Roman.
The conference room was small but comfortable, a blend of modern and rustic with brick walls from the old building paired with sleek glass panels.
A heavy reclaimed-wood table dominated the center of the room.
The overhead lights were dimmed low, and the glow from the wall sconces made the space intimate.
August sat at the head of the table, his thumb absently tapping the surface.
Roman sat across from me, looking calm and curious.
Reid was stiff in his chair, arms crossed, a familiar tightness in his jaw that meant he was trying not to say something.
Fox was the quietest of us all, he always was, eyes flicking between us like he was watching a chess game he didn’t want anything to do with.
“I thought we should talk about what’s going on,” I said as the silence stretched on.
Reid and August glanced at each other. Fox looked up at the ceiling.
Roman was locked on me.
Then, he sighed. “I agree.” He wrapped his arms over his muscled chest. “I know Hailey was missing her uncles on Sunday.”
Hailey was my niece, Roman’s daughter. She was always at the house with Mom when Roman was working at the fire station. He’d lost his wife shortly after Hailey was born.
Reid flinched. “It’s not like we didn’t want to come.”
August pushed a hand through his dark blond hair. “Things are a little complicated right now.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Since when do we not talk about things?”
Reid let out a long breath. He was the youngest, the security company’s private investigator. “Things have been…tense. With the trial getting so close.”
Scrubbing a palm over my chin, I studied my brother.
As much as Reid knew how to interpret body language, and was once an excellent interrogator when he worked for the police department, he often struggled with controlling his own tells.
His face was like an open door to his emotions: eyes dark and tired, body hunched inward with his knee bouncing erratically.
“The entire town is struggling,” I said softly.
Reid held my gaze. “It’s different for us, and you know it.”
My heart sank. I took in Reid and August. Of course things were different for them. I just didn’t know how bad the struggle was. No one had come to me.
My face heated. “I’m sorry things are hard for Lark, Reid.” I turned to August. “And how’s Emersyn?”
August tensed. He stared down at the table. “She’s strong, you know that.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“But…” he continued. “It’s getting harder. Emersyn is expected to testify. And her brother…”
He trailed off, and I tried not to let my own complicated emotions show. I carefully kept my features loose and unresponsive.
“I’ve been worried about Jake, too,” I confessed.
August’s hands clenched. “Emersyn doesn’t need to be worried about him on top of everything. He’s been doing so well the past couple of years, but it’s like he’s spiraling all the sudden.”
I hung my head for a moment, gathering my thoughts. Ever since Jake’s outburst at the survivors support group, I’d been worried.
And the incident with Quinn the other day didn’t help things.
When she’d flown down the stairs, that envelope in hand, she’d looked terrified. Truly scared in a way I hadn’t known she was capable of. Every fiber of me wanted to know what was in the manilla envelope that had terrified her like that, but she wasn’t my business.
At least she wasn’t supposed to be.
“Everyone is on edge. The town hasn’t been very receptive to Quinn’s presence. I’ve personally witnessed threats toward her.”
Confusion flickered over my brothers’ faces.
“The defense attorney?” Roman asked, brows raised. “I didn’t know people were threatening her.”
I jerked my chin down in a tight nod. I didn’t want to be too specific that Jake was the one throwing around such threats.
Suspicion glinted in Roman’s eyes. “Is something else bothering you?”
I tried to not react to the very accurate question. Roman might be the brawn of the family, the fire chief who took after our father rather than working for the security company, but he was as intuitive as our gentle mother.
“Nothing really,” I tried to say with indifference.
I didn’t want to explain the way Quinn’s fear was still seared into my brain. I didn’t want to bring up that there was something that had made her scared, and she was hiding it. Because that wasn’t their problem, and it certainly wasn’t mine.
“Do you really think someone threatening this defense attorney would act on it?” August leaned forward.
I squared my shoulders. “I don’t know, but I think we should try to look out for her.”
August and Reid shared another look. Reid practically bristled.
I held up a hand. “Not entirely, just keep your eyes and ears open around town for hostility. She’s staying at Mom and Dad’s, and we don’t need trouble coming to their door if we can avoid it.”
“But in your professional opinion, do you think these people are really that unstable?” August pressed.
“It doesn’t matter what my professional opinion is,” I snapped, a sudden anger heating through me. My brothers had always put too much trust in my abilities anyways. “I personally know that people are capable of anything and shouldn’t be underestimated.”
I glanced around the conference room, an uncomfortable sensation sinking into my veins. I’d always felt a part of the team here. My brothers and I had been through a lot together, and I’d always considered them a safe place.
After another long, almost agonized silence, Reid spoke again. “This whole thing with this defense lawyer is—it’s hard. You know what Anderson has done to the people we love. What he’s done to Lark—” His voice caught on his wife’s name. “And Emersyn.” He nodded toward August.
“Lark doesn’t even know if she can come to the house right now because of that lawyer. Emersyn is afraid to run into her too. It’s making this time so much harder, when my wife doesn’t feel like she can come to our family dinners because of the guests who might be at our mother’s table.”
I bit the side of my cheek. “I’m not trying to defend her,” I said with forced calm. “But I don’t think we’re going to convince our mother to kick her out, so we are going to have to find a way to deal with this.”
Reid and August didn’t respond.
Roman sighed, long and hard. “You all have a point.” He looked over at August and Reid. “She’s a guest at the bed-and-breakfast, and we have to protect it.”
Reid rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Roman’s gaze. “I know, I get it. I just wish we could convince Mom to—”
“We’re not going to,” I cut in. “I’ve already spoken to her.”
“We’ll figure this out. Together,” Roman continued. “Reid and August, let us know how we can support Lark and Emersyn. I get it that it’s hard, but this is how it’s going to be for the next couple of months.”
Reid shifted on his chair. “I understand.”
“We don’t have much left if we don’t stick together. Especially when things are difficult.” Roman’s attention focused back on me. “Why don’t you talk to Quinn and let us know how she’s doing, and if she feels safe. We will figure it out from there.”
I nodded, though part of me wanted to refuse. It was my idea, after all. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “I can do that.”
The meeting dissolved after that, chairs scraping against the floor, the low murmur of my brothers’ voices fading as they filed out of the room. When the door clicked shut behind the last of them, the silence left behind felt too loud.
Something was coming undone, and I couldn’t tell where it started—with the town, with Quinn, or with my brothers and me.
Quinn was such a distraction.
Roman was right, though. We had to stick together. But even as I gathered my notes and stood, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was already on the outside of it.
And for reasons I didn’t want to name yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about the woman in the middle of it all—and how quickly this town could turn on her.