Chapter 8
Hudson’s mood rivaled the starless sky as he stepped out of the police station. “What do you mean Tessa’s gone?”
He stood from the low wall at the top of the steps. “Her paramedic friend picked her up while I was on the phone with the private investigator Pop hired.” Malcolm pulled his tie free as he headed down the stairs. “Has the department started anything formal yet?”
“Yeah.” Hudson shot past him. “They’re opening an investigation.”
The police weren’t the only ones who needed answers.
He needed answers from the pretty little thief who’d been present for everything he’d missed with Pop this past year—and everything he’d never get back.
Hell, even the detective had stories about Pop he’d never heard.
As they’d moved on to the crash itself, worries about how Tessa was holding up kept breaking his focus, and now she was his responsibility to… to do what?
Make sure Pop’s trust in her wasn’t a mistake?
Protect her from Frank?
What the fuck, Pop?
He paused at the bottom of the steps and pressed his hand to his ribs. Adrenaline had masked the ache, but now it roared like a beast again. “What did the private investigator say?”
Malcolm laced his hands behind his head and stretched. “Pop hired him to keep track of Frank’s travel. That’s it. His sources haven’t flagged any movement in or out of Belize in the past six years.”
Damn. Hudson was hoping for more information. He strode toward the parking lot. “Did Pop revise his will to include Tessa?”
Malcolm yawned. “I wondered the same thing. I have a call in to my dad. He’s in Iceland with my mom for the next two weeks.”
“Ask if the firm’s network has suffered any breaches.”
“Already inquired, and no.”
“Okay.” Hudson climbed into the SUV and slumped into the seat.
Malcolm pulled out. “Hungry? Diner’s still open twenty-four hours.”
“No.” The rumbling in his stomach disagreed, but everyone at the diner knew Pop. He couldn’t handle another story he knew nothing about.
“Want me to call the guys and get a game together on the beach?”
Rugby sounded like just the kind of outlet Hudson needed. He could blame sand in his eyes for his tears when he tackled someone. So, why the hell did he want to drive to the duplex instead and ask Tessa to tell him everything he’d missed these past twelve months?
He wanted her answers, but for reasons he couldn’t explain, he wanted her comfort too. But he couldn’t seek any of that. He had a duty and it wasn’t to the Navy this time.
“Let’s head home.” He closed his eyes as they passed a billboard for the fishing tournament. He’d made it home for it, alright, but not in time. “Tell me everything about Tessa.”
“She reiterated everything she told us in the car. She was tense the whole time, but cooperative. Frank’s record was as dirty as Tessa’s was clean, but that’s all the detective found on record about him.
She said they lived in so many cities and towns throughout the Midwest while she was young, she couldn’t remember them all. ”
“Or didn’t want to remember.” Hudson had traveled all over the world with his parents on humanitarian assignments.
He remembered every place they’d lived before they died in a car crash when he was twelve.
He breathed through the old wound that still hurt after twenty-six years. “When did Tessa come to New Jersey?”
“After they left the Midwest, she lived in a couple places in Florida. After high school, she convinced her mom to leave Frank and moved to Long Island, N.Y. where her bestie, Lia the paramedic, was headed. She worked with Lia until she was twenty-four. Her mother died in a car accident around the same time.”
“Let me guess. Tessa fled New York and came here after her mom died.” He understood that. Right now, he wanted to get behind the wheel and drive.
Malcolm nodded and pulled into a burger joint. “You look pale. You need food.”
Hudson didn’t argue. The words on the drive-thru menu wavered in his vision as they stopped to order. Damn, he was tired. Maybe eating would give him strength to face going home to a house without Pop. “Tell me what I don’t know about Tessa.”
“She said Sam had been more of a father to her in two years than Frank had ever been. She didn’t seem to be bullshitting.”
Christ. Had Pop needed a grandchild so much he’d adopted Tessa as his own while Hudson was gone?
Was that so bad?
Maybe in a few days or a few weeks it wouldn’t be, but right now, irrational, or selfish, it still made him jealous as hell. Confused too, since his curiosity about her trumped his anger.
What had been so important this past year that he couldn’t find time to come home?
Duty.
Dammit. He’d thought reaching the pinnacle of his career, that being the best of the best in his field, would be satisfying. He even knew the duty that went with it might cost him his life. He hadn’t factored in lost time.
Malcolm handed him a bag. Hudson pulled out a fry and popped it into his mouth. “What’s your take on Tessa?”
“She’s hot.”
“Yeah, I got that.” Damn, did he get it. “Did Pop tell you about her?”
“Nope. He never told you about her?”
“Briefly. I thought she was his age.”
Malcolm reached across the seat and grabbed a handful of fries. “Besides being hot and young, I think she’s scarred from growing up with a scumbag father like Frank.”
“Agreed.” Hudson didn’t buy for one second that Frank didn’t have something to do with why she flinched when he touched her cheek. And now she was his responsibility, whether he was ready for her or not.