Free Mystic Hearts by Cait Jarrod

the case,” Jake said. “I’m messing with you, man.”
    Willis
returned and stared at Jake with beady eyes, waiting for the stick to sail
through the air again.
    Steve
rested his back against a tree and sipped his beer. “Your dog never tires.”
    The
river’s steady flow, gentle and inviting, sent a peace over Larry, hypnotizing
him. He breathed in the woodsy scent, letting his worries slip away. “I wish I
could say the same. I’m beat.”
    “Debrief
us,” Jake said. “Then I’ll fill you in on the Director’s phone call.”
    Larry’s
eyebrow arched. The peaceful moment vanished. Was more happening than a few odd
lights? “As you already know, I went to Greenwood Manor to check on the
mysterious glow per Paul’s request. Before I could investigate, I came across
an Allen Mathews staring at Charlene through the kitchen window.”
    “Did
you run his history?” Jake asked.
    “I
did, and confirmed he worked on the manor. There’s no information before this
year.”
    “Not
a lot to go on. Hell, he could be a spook.” Jake drank some beer. “As long as
you have a positive ID that it’s Mathews and not her ex, Andrew Smith. By now,
he knows Charlene received a reward for helping with the recovery of the bonds.
He’s a piece of work, capable of anything.”
    “Even
so, by now he would have made a move,” Steve said.
    The
rage that roiled through Larry just by thinking how Smith left Charlene and
Henry in a dire mess had the ability to turn him into a loose cannon, something
he’d best heed and control. “Any sign of Smith since he bailed on his family?”
    “Negative,”
Jake said.
    “He’s
too yellow to come back,” Steve growled. “Hell, any man deserting his family is
a douche bag,”
    “Don’t
count on it.” Uncertainty flashed over Jake’s expression, and the pulse in his
neck ticked. “Stranger things have happened.”
    “If
he’s smart, he’ll stay away,” Steve said. “They’re better off without him.”
    Steve
had a point, yet Andrew Smith was Henry’s father. The boy deserved to have his
dad in his life. Larry grimaced… maybe not. If Larry’s dad hadn’t been part of
his, he’d been a lot happier, his mother, too.
    The
niggling sixth sense that had kept him out of harm’s way shouted loudly in his
ear that nothing was as it seemed where Charlene was concerned. What am I overlooking? “Why bring up
Smith?”
    A
loud splash and they watched as Jake’s dog chased after a Mallard duck.
    “Has
he ever caught one?” Steve asked, walking closer to the bank’s edge.
    “Once.”
Jake tilted his head. His expression went dark briefly. “Pamela had a
premonition.”
    A
momentary shock silenced them.
    “Really?”
Steve stepped toward them. “Since when does she have them?”
    “Willis!
Get back here!” Jake yelled and whistled until the lab climbed the embankment
and shook. “Can’t say She believes someone is after Charlene. I asked her not
to act like a mother bear. If she did, Charlene would never relax.”
    “Which
brings us back to, why did you drive Charlene home?” Steve’s gaze narrowed and
sharpened.
    “Are
you interrogating or debriefing me?” Annoyance filled Larry’s tone.
    “Whatever
it takes?” Jake picked up the stick and tossed it. “Last time, boy.”
    Willis
flew into the water two feet below the bank.
    He
didn’t like the tone in their voices. “Both of you are assholes,” Larry said,
butting up to the rock.
    “We
know,” Steve said, “and you’re easy prey, man-by-the-book. But seriously, why’d
Charlene leave her car at Greenwood Manor?”
    “Because
of her shaky equilibrium. She couldn’t drive.”
    The dog jumped onto the bank, dropped
the stick, and shook.
    “Whoa. Willis, not here,” Jake
commanded.
    The
dark-eyed lab looked at his owner, walked in a circle, and lay down.
    “Equilibrium?”
Steve raised a questioning brow. “Is that code for drunk?”
    The
laced wine more than likely caused her loss of balance, but with