Mission: Colton Justice. Jennifer Morey

upset. Don’t be sorry.” She warmed to his sensitivity. Had she ever met such a nice man before? “Your turn.”

      He chuckled softly. “All right. Well...as you know, I had a dad. He was demanding. Started teaching us at a young age. I could read junior high level by the time I was six. Forget the baseball bat and glove. It was all brains for my dad.” He glanced away, the memory not seeming to sit great with him.

      “No wonder you’re so successful in tech start-ups,” she said.

      He looked at her again. “He wanted me to be a lawyer. He was so disappointed in me I joked with him that I should star in a family drama movie where the mother or father tries to force their child to be a mini version of them.”

      “Are you bitter?”

      His discomfort eased in his eyes. “No. I’m grateful my father pushed me. I didn’t like it as a kid, but I wouldn’t have been as successful if I hadn’t been shown the way of the world from early on.”

      Her mother had done similarly with her. “I can’t imagine it’s unusual for fathers to want their kids to be raging successes.”

      “No. Mothers, too. My mother stayed home to raise us. She was the supporter and my dad was the enforcer. But I wish he would have let the kid in me discover things on his own. Teach. Don’t cram education down kid’s throats.”

      She nodded. She’d had a little of both worlds. “I didn’t start reading junior high level until junior high, but I was cleaning house and cooking dinner by the time I was eleven.” She sipped her coffee, taking her time, then putting the cup down. “Are you from Shadow Creek?”

      “No, Austin, but I’ve always liked Shadow Creek and moved here after college.”

      He must like smaller towns. So did she, as long as authorities cleaned out the people like Livia Colton. “What about brothers and sisters?”

      “I have a younger sister. She’s a lawyer,” he said.

      “Is she nice?” she asked in a teasing way.

      “Yes, as long as you agree with her.”

      Now Adeline laughed briefly. Most lawyers she knew or heard of bulldozed their way through life—Oscar aside. He seemed nice. They might have nice qualities to their personalities but hospitality workers, they were not.

      “She’s single. Incurable workaholic. But she makes Dad proud.”

      “You adore her, don’t you?” She could see his eyes and heard his tone.

      “Yes. She’s a lot of fun when she isn’t wearing her lawyer hat.”

      He had the same outlook as her and Adeline wondered how many other ideas they shared in common. “Isn’t your dad proud of you?”

      “I think he’s jealous. I followed my own path and I’m more successful than him.” He didn’t brag, only stated the truth. Adeline liked that. Straight shooters always appealed to her most. She’d mark that as another characteristic they had in common.

      “Maybe you should remind him he taught you to read junior high level by the time you were six,” she said.

      “I have. Except I wouldn’t say ‘I remind him.’ It’s more like ‘I accuse him.’”

      She smiled at his light tone. “But you love him, don’t you?”

      “Of course I do. I love my whole family. We just have hot buttons like every other family.”

      Adeline wouldn’t comment on that. She didn’t know what it was like to have a dad and feel love for the man. She felt nothing but disrespect for her dad.

      She checked on the deputy, amazed that she’d almost forgotten him. He’d finished eating his Danish and coffee. Was it a break and a snack or was this breakfast?

      “Our friend is going to be leaving soon,” she said.

      “Did you ever hook up with a guy?” Jeremy asked, apparently not finished quenching his curiosity. “You’re what...twenty-seven now?”

      He was thirty-four. Adeline remembered when Tess had told her about when she’d first met him, all bubbly with infatuation. Adeline had been a little green with envy over it, wanting that for herself but never having found it.

      “I’ve had boyfriends.” This was another thing she didn’t talk about.

      “Didn’t rise to the bar?” he teased.

      “I’m picky.”

      As he met her gaze, she felt him about to probe into why when their subject paid and stood.

      “He’s on the move,” she said.

      Jeremy had already put down cash to cover their ticket. She was relieved to be finished with their conversation, and wondered why it had begun anyway.

      * * *

      After three more hours watching the Nicholson’s house, it had become clear the man wasn’t going anywhere else. His two young kids had bounced out of the house when he’d pulled into the driveway and his wife waited with a smile in the open doorway, watching as the deputy knelt with open arms and his little girls crashed into him. Jeremy was a pretty good read on people and this guy didn’t strike him as a criminal or anyone who’d associate themselves with Livia, but appearances could be misleading.

      He’d driven Adeline back to his place.

      Parked in front on the stone slab drive area, he wasn’t ready to go inside. Once they did, she’d go off on her own. He’d keep her nearby for a while longer.

      “Let’s take a walk,” he said. “The sun is setting. There’s a lake not far from here. I want to show you.”

      After staring at him briefly, probably wondering why, she got out and said, “I need to change.”

      “We won’t go far. What you have on is fine.” The air had begun to chill but she had her coat. He started walking.

      “Tomorrow we should hang out by the station to see if there’s any connection between them and Livia,” Adeline said as they walked. “I need to find evidence to support a reason that deputy might hide any involvement in causing Tess’s accident.”

      “Okay.” He was more interested in the sky changing colors than another boring day watching a clean deputy. He was also much more interested in her. The spark that had been there when he’d first met her and returned when she’d come to his office had grown into something more. Something about her drew him in. When this day ended he might address that. Right now he just wanted to take in a sunset with her.

      “Nicholson may be working with someone who doesn’t live as nice as he does,” she said. “If he is as clean as he seems, maybe there is another who is not. That won’t explain why the deputy you dealt with brushed you off, though.”

      She seemed to ramble on. He didn’t think she was convinced any deputies were connected in any way to Tess’s accident. While that rubbed him wrong, he let it go. He heard the awkwardness in her voice, as though she talked just for something to say. She was affected by their day as much as him. That pushed away any opinion she had about the accident and gave him an alluring thrill instead.

      Spending time with her, talking, sharing, had kept a fire burning. Her passion talking about her family—her mother—made him curious. What about that upset her? Her mother had worked a lot of hours. Maybe she regretted not having more time together.

      Her upbringing was so different from his. Different from Tess’s, too. They’d both had two parents and siblings. Money.

      “No more talk about surveillance.” He stopped where the neighborhood ended, at a park with a lake. “Look.” He pointed to the setting sun’s reflection on the water, a painting of trees and a blue-and-orange sky.

      “Nice.” She watched with him as the colors deepened.