Chương 4
“Family disputes are usually worse than strangers,” Ortiz said.
“I’m beginning to understand why.”
She gave me a sympathetic look.
“I have three sisters.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It is.”
For the first time that day, I laughed.
It did not last long.
We drove back in a line, my truck behind Dan’s SUV and the cruisers behind me.
When the roof of the lake house appeared through the trees, I saw Ryan standing in the driveway.
Jessica was beside him.
My niece Chloe stood several feet behind them with her arms wrapped around herself.
She was fifteen now and had grown almost as tall as her mother.
The sight of her tightened something in my chest.
I had forgotten, in the clean satisfaction of deciding to enforce a boundary, that children would be watching adults make a mess of it.
Dan parked near the edge of the gravel.
The deputies stopped behind him.
Nobody used lights.
Ryan walked forward before any of us reached the porch.
“What the hell is this?”
His voice carried far enough that several relatives came to the windows.
Dan stopped ten feet from him.
“Daniel Miller, county sheriff.”
“I know who you are.”
“Good.”
Ryan pointed at me.
“She called you?”
“Yes.”
“This is a family disagreement.”
“That may be.”
“Then why are cops here?”
Dan’s voice stayed level.
“Because the property owner asked for assistance removing people who are present without her permission.”
Ryan actually laughed.
It was not the confident laugh from earlier.
This one was shorter and louder.
“Come on.”
Dan waited.
Ryan looked from him to the deputies.
“My wife gave us permission.”
Dan nodded toward Jessica.
“Ma’am, do you own this property?”
Jessica’s face had gone pale.
“No.”
Ryan turned toward her.
“You told me this was your family’s lake house.”
“It is.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I had promised myself I would stay quiet unless necessary.
Apparently that promise had lasted eight seconds.
Jessica’s mouth tightened.
“I meant family in the sense that—”
“You meant I usually let you use it.”
“Emily, please.”
Ryan swung his attention toward me.
“You’re saying you own this whole place?”
“Yes.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes.”
His eyes moved over the house.
It was not enormous.
Three bedrooms, two baths, cedar siding, a narrow dock, enough woods on either side to keep neighbors comfortably out of conversation range.
But property around the lake had become expensive, and Ryan knew construction well enough to understand what he was looking at.
“How?”
The question escaped him before he could make it sound less insulting.
I almost answered.
Then I stopped.
“I bought it.”
“With what?”
Jessica whispered, “Ryan.”
“No, I’m asking.”
I looked at him.
“My money.”
His face reddened.
“You work for the government.”
“So?”
“So government clerks don’t buy lake property like this.”
Deputy Ortiz looked down, suddenly interested in the gravel.
Dan rubbed a thumb beside his nose.
Jessica closed her eyes.
I could have let the comment pass.
Maybe I should have.
Instead, fatigue and resentment beat judgment by half a second.
“I’m not a clerk.”
Ryan gave an impatient shrug.
“Whatever you are.”
Dan glanced at me.
He knew me well enough to recognize the decision forming before I made it.
I reached into my wallet.
I did not hand Ryan my identification.
I simply held it where he could see the name and rank.
His expression did not change immediately.
That almost made the moment worse.
His eyes moved across the card once.
Then again.
He looked at me.
“Colonel?”
Nobody spoke.
From inside the house, someone dropped something metal in the kitchen.
The clatter seemed absurdly loud.
Jessica stared at the identification.
“You said you got promoted.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t say to what.”
“I couldn’t discuss the position.”
Ryan’s mouth worked slightly before sound came out.
“You’re in the Army?”
“Yes.”
“You told us you worked for the government.”
“I do.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It is factually the same thing.”
Dan coughed into his fist.
I suspected he was hiding a laugh.
Ryan was not amused.
“You let everybody think you were some office worker.”
“No.”
I put the card away.
“Everybody decided that.”
Jessica stared at me as though I had personally constructed the misunderstanding for entertainment.
“For eleven years?”
“I told Mom and Dad when I enlisted.”
“They said you were doing federal training.”
“They knew more than I realized they understood.”
Jessica shook her head.
“No.”
There was something almost frightened in the word.
Not fear of me.
Fear of having to rearrange years of assumptions.
Chloe had moved closer.
She looked at my civilian clothes, then at my face.
“Are you really a colonel?”
Jessica turned sharply.
“Chloe, go inside.”
“But—”
“Inside.”
I watched my niece retreat through the doorway.
That bothered me more than Ryan’s insults.
Dan stepped back into the conversation.
“Mr. Mercer, the ownership issue appears settled.”
Ryan ran a hand over his hair.
“All right.”
Dan continued.
“Colonel Carter has withdrawn permission for everyone here to remain on the property.”
The use of my rank made several people inside begin murmuring.
I wished he had simply said Emily.
“She can’t just do that,” Ryan said.
“She can.”
“We have food everywhere.”
“You’re welcome to pack it.”
“My parents drove six hours.”
Dan’s expression stayed neutral.
“That doesn’t establish a right to occupy someone else’s residence.”
Ryan looked at me.
“This is insane.”
I did not answer.
“You’re going to ruin an entire family weekend because your feelings got hurt?”
That one found its mark.
For half a second, I wanted to prove him wrong by backing down.
I hated that instinct immediately.
Jessica stepped toward me.
“Emily, can I talk to you alone?”
Dan looked at me.
I nodded.
We walked around the side of the house toward the narrow strip of yard between the deck and the pines.
May you like
Even there, we could hear people inside opening cupboards and calling for children.
Jessica stopped near the outdoor faucet.
