Operation Blind Date. Justine Davis

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СКАЧАТЬ nodded. “Word of mouth is the best advertising, and the only kind we rely on. Well, and now Cutter, since he seems to have such a knack.”

      Laney laughed. “I still can’t believe Quinn really decided to help me because of what Cutter did.”

      “It took us all a while to realize the dog knows what he’s doing. And the Foxworth crew is an unlikely bunch to put their trust in four paws, but they’ve learned he’s usually right.” Hayley shook her head. “Sometimes I think he’s not really a dog, but some magical being in disguise.”

      “He certainly communicates better than any dog I’ve ever known.”

      “He knows a lot more human than we know dog, that’s for sure,” Hayley agreed with a laugh.

      Laney picked at a thread that had worked loose on her shirt. “Teague was very kind.”

      “He’s a good guy.”

      “He really seemed to understand how I feel. Because of his sister.”

      Hayley went still. “He told you about Terri?”

      Laney nodded. “How she vanished while he was deployed, and was never found. And how he feels guilty for not being here to protect her. Of course, his parents didn’t help, blaming him.”

      For a long, silent moment Hayley just stared at her.

      “What?” Laney finally asked.

      “Teague,” she said, “never talks to anyone about that. I don’t think even Quinn knows as much as you just said. I certainly didn’t.”

      Laney stared in turn. “You didn’t?”

      Hayley shook her head. “I knew his sister had disappeared, but I had no idea he felt like that, or worse, that his parents blamed him. No wonder he’s not close to his mother now.”

      “I think she was the worst,” Laney said. “I got the idea his father just shut down after.”

      Even as she spoke, her mind was racing. She believed Teague never talked about his sister, it would explain the painful sound of his voice. She’d had the feeling then he hadn’t talked about it in a while, but she hadn’t realized “a while” meant never.

      And yet he had told her.

      It was disconcerting, to say the least.

      “Teague is the most cheerful guy I know,” Hayley said. “Always with a quip, the one who lightens the mood. I knew there was another side to him, deeper, but he hides it so well....”

      She focused on Laney. And the speculation in her vivid green eyes was hard to miss.

      Oh, don’t go there, please!

      Her sudden internal recoil startled her. Shouldn’t she be flattered that the guy let down enough to share an awful, painful story? That he felt enough empathy for her, and her situation, to do something he never did, share a part of himself he always kept hidden?

      If she was honest, she had to admit she was flattered. Problem was, maybe she was too flattered. Teague was an attractive guy, she’d been alone a long time now, and he came with as much of a guarantee as you could get with a guy these days; the benefit of a thorough background check by Foxworth.

      Instead of a casual, thoughtless “he seems like a nice guy, go for it” tossed off by an unthinking friend.

      It stabbed at her again, the guilt, sharp and merciless. How on earth had Teague survived this for so long? Hayley said he was the most cheerful guy she knew; how did he do it? Was it just a facade, or had he really found a way to...obviously not forget, but live with it?

      “It’s that guy thing,” Hayley said, shaking her out of her thoughts. “Compartmentalization. They really are able to do that, much better than I am, anyway.”

      Laney drew back, eyes wide. How had she known exactly what she was thinking? “You are as perceptive as your dog. And I trust you to realize I mean that as a compliment.”

      Hayley laughed. “Oh, I know. And it is a compliment, to be compared to that rascal in the perception department, since he’s uncannily good at it.”

      Hayley’s cell phone rang, and from her instant smile Laney guessed the lilting, lively bit of music was assigned to Quinn’s calls. She answered, and Laney tactfully turned away, giving her some privacy. But Hayley mostly listened instead of talking. When she finally spoke, it was only to say “I’ll tell her.” Then a pause, an even wider smile, followed by “I love you, too.”

      She tucked the phone back into an outside pocket on her bag. Then she turned to face Laney straight on.

      “We have a lead,” she said.

      * * *

      “I can’t believe you guys did this so quickly.”

      Teague glanced at Laney, who was sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV once more. They were on their way to SeaTac airport with recent photos of Amber in hand. Quinn was a big believer in HUMINT, human intelligence, or as Teague called it, boots on the ground, a holdover from his corps days. But it was Hayley who had quietly convinced Quinn to add another facet to their approach in non-hazardous situations: letting the involved party participate if that was what they wanted. No one, she said, was as invested in the case as the person themselves, and the urgency and emotion they displayed sometimes nudged people over onto their side, into empathy, by the sheer force of it. It made sense, and Teague had seen it work a couple of times now. He’d already had a lot of respect for Hayley after how she’d handled their actions the night she’d become collateral damage in their operation, and this only added to it.

      Laney Adams, he thought, was cut from similar cloth. She might have been crying at first, but not since, and there was a steely determination in her, now that she knew she wasn’t alone. He suspected it would be wise not to underestimate her, now that she had a course set. And she’d made it clear she wanted to be involved every step of the way.

      He’d reluctantly volunteered to be the one to pick up Laney. It only made sense, given he was the one who had brought her problem to them. And he didn’t quite understand his own reluctance. He hadn’t been happy about pouring his guts out to her about Terri, but it had seemed necessary at the time. He wasn’t much for looking backward and dwelling on things he couldn’t change, a lesson learned in the hardest of ways with his sister. But he was still uneasy, and if it wouldn’t have been odd enough to draw attention, he would have opted out.

      He’d even thought of suggesting Hayley, using the girl thing as an excuse, but Quinn had so obviously assumed he’d want to be handling this one that it made him stop and wonder why he didn’t.

      Maybe it was just that this one reminded him too much of Terri. True, Amber was an adult, not a sixteen-year-old girl, and there had been some contact, at least, via the texts, and they had a clue who she might be with....

      Yeah, right. Cases are exactly alike, he thought wryly.

      That excuse shattered, he wasn’t sure where that left him. Except in the car alone with Laney Adams, who unsettled him far too much. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, that was likely what had him wishing someone else would be doing СКАЧАТЬ