Crystal glanced at Dorothy and then back to Brewer. For a second, she wondered if it was a good idea to discuss what her boss had just told her in front of their host. On balance, she decided Brewer deserved to know. “Your friend is MIA.” Keeping names out of the equation was for the best for all involved.
“What does that mean exactly?” Brewer asked, his gaze intensifying upon hearing the news.
“You know what it means,” she stated. “He didn’t show for work today and is no longer answering his cell.”
A muscle in Brewer’s jaw ticked. “We’re going after him. We have to find him. He’s in this mess because of me.”
Crystal wasn’t so sure, but Brewer’s loyalty to his friend was admirable. “Absolutely not.” Plus, she was pretty certain he had it backward.
She didn’t want to discuss this further in front of Dorothy. She turned toward the elderly firecracker of a woman. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Oh, where are my manners—please sit down,” Dorothy said, motioning toward the chair opposite Brewer.
“We should probably get—”
“Don’t be silly.” Dorothy waved her off. “If you had somewhere to go you wouldn’t have been sleeping out in the cold in Cranker’s boat. If he’d have caught you, I’d be plugging up bullet holes too.”
“How did you know where we were, by the way?”
“Got one of those Rings,” Dorothy said with a smirk.
“I didn’t see one on the door.” Crystal had looked too.
“It goes anywhere. It’s on a battery.” The older woman’s smirk widened. “I stick one on my camper out there, and it picks up what’s happening on the road.” She waved her hand like she was presenting her kitchen as a showpiece. “Don’t have much here to steal unless someone wants to pawn old coffee mugs.” She had quite the collection displayed in a box-type frame with enough cubbies for twenty or so cups hanging on the wall. “Got one from every state after my husband retired. Put my favorites up on the wall. We took to the road every summer.” She put a hand over her heart as she spoke. “Those were good times.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Crystal said.
“Thank you.” Dorothy fixed a cup of coffee for her. “Sugar? Milk?”
“A little milk if you have it,” Crystal responded.
“Sit down and I’ll get it.”
She took a seat. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Nah, I don’t get the pleasure of much company these days.” Dorothy went to work, looking happy as a lark. “Don’t get out much either.”
Brewer had been quietly stewing. Plotting?
“Grab something to eat while I pour the milk.” Dorothy started humming.
Crystal’s toes finally thawed out. She wiggled them to make sure they still worked. Thankfully, they did. She took one of the muffin packets marked Blueberry, along with a banana. While she wrangled with the packaging—she would never understand why manufacturers made it so hard to open bottles and packages—Dorothy set a cup of coffee on the table.
The senior citizen glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was a black cat with big eyes. For every second that ticked by, the cat’s eyes moved. “I better watch my show. If you’ll excuse me. I like to watch it first thing and I’m days behind. Go ahead and eat while I’m in the next room.”
The move was clearly meant to give them privacy.
Dorothy padded out of the kitchen and returned to her recliner. She clicked on the TV and turned up the volume to 80s boom-box blast level. Again, was she giving them the opportunity to speak? If so, Dorothy was an angel.
Brewer took the package out of Crystal’s hands and then ripped it open, using his teeth. He handed it back and leaned forward. “What happened to Trent?”
“That’s what my boss is trying to find out,” Crystal answered.
“I have to find him,” he said.
“Not a good idea.” She leaned in too. “Or do I have to remind you how dangerous it’s been out there for us?”
“Doesn’t matter.” He shook his head. “He wouldn’t leave me to rot either.”
“Have you considered the possibility he’s done that already?” Crystal regretted saying those words out loud the minute Brewer’s face dropped. She was walking a tightrope here with her witness. Push too far and he would disappear and go rogue. “Look, I’m not saying that’s what happened.”
“Sounded like you were to me.”
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” she continued. “It’s my job to consider every possible outcome.”
“He’s loyal.”
“Possibly,” she stated. “Either way, it’s still my role to think outside the box.”
“You don’t know him.”
“No.” But she could say that she knew of him. She also knew he was being investigated due to his involvement with Crane in the first place. That wasn’t what Brewer wanted to hear after finding out his friend had gone missing, though. He was under the impression that Trent was innocent in all this. Trent might’ve been. He might have been duped by someone he believed to be in legitimate business. He might have been helping a former associate down on his luck. “There is another possibility when it comes to Trent.”
“Which is?”
“He went into hiding.” It was plausible. “Your friend might have realized the hornet’s nest that has been stirred up and decided to disappear until it blew over.”
“I know where he would go,” Brewer said after a thoughtful pause. “Hell, I’m pretty certain he told me exactly where to meet him.”
“The place off the grid?” she asked after taking a bite of muffin. Questions were mounting, like whether or not the location would be compromised because Trent had been the one to give it to Brewer, but her growling stomach won out.
“Yes,” he said.
“Where is that exactly?” She realized they’d gotten rid of his cell phone, which was where the information was stored.
“East Texas,” he supplied.
“That’s vague,” she said.
“There was no map so I memorized the coordinates,” he stated like that was a common thing to do. His military training served him well. It was also serving them both right now because Crystal was certain Dorothy’s kindness had to do with his cargo pants and military-issue rucksack.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me as much as it should?”
The depths of Brewer shouldn’t shock her. Her physical reaction to him threw her off balance.
“Let me see your phone,” he said before extending his hand.
Would he give her the wrong coordinates? Ditch her?
Time would tell. She had a feeling time was about to be up.
NO DOUBT TRENT was in over his head because of Brewer. He pulled up coordinates on Crystal’s phone after she handed it to him, nabbed a screenshot before handing it back. Those coordinates were an hour south of Trent’s location. She would be safe there.
In the meantime, could he lose Crystal?
After getting to know her, the thought of placing her in danger sat like a hot branding iron against the center of his chest. No one else would die because of him.
He handed back the phone. “That way you’ll have the location in case we get separated.”
Crystal eyed him. Based on her expression, she’d read between the lines. “Are you counting on that happening?”
“No,” he defended. Too fast?
His answer was written all over her face. “I don’t intend to let you out of my sight. So, I won’t need these coordinates.” She deleted the screenshot.
He had to give it to her, she’d caught him red-handed. “I’d feel more comfortable if you’d let me give you the coordinates.”
The look she gave him could have shot daggers at him. “We both know that will lead me off the trail.” She paused long enough to take a sip of coffee. “My coffee hasn’t had time to kick in yet, so I’m real cranky right now. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend you didn’t just try to pull the wool over my eyes. Okay?”
“Got it.” More than ever, he was impressed with Crystal. No one had read his intentions so easily. The fact should’ve freaked him out more than it did. Crystal was unique, a one-off. She wasn’t the norm, or he wouldn’t have survived this long. He chalked up their connection to thinking along the same frequency and promised himself it wouldn’t happen again.
The TV shut off, and the hum of the chair’s motor in the adjacent room replaced it.
“I’ll be darned if the one person who shouldn’t win always seems to,” Dorothy exclaimed from the next room. She padded into the kitchen and sized up the breakfast table. “Neither of you have eaten squat. Unless you’re telling me you’re not hungry or there’s something wrong with my food, eat up.”
“The muffins are amazing,” Crystal said, turning her attention away from Brewer and toward their host.
“I have to admit, I assumed you were homeless,” Dorothy said. “The way our military is treated after their service is inexcusable.”
It made sense why she’d left the food basket now. Her husband had served. She’d had a ringside seat to the sacrifices that entailed. Hell, military wives deserved medals as much as their spouses. They brought up children as single parents until their husbands came home on leave and messed with the schedules. They acted as head of the household before stepping aside, in most cases, to give their husbands room to make decisions. And it worked the other way around too. Military husbands were just as deserving while their wives were away. The burden of running the house fell onto the parent at home. Being away, missing family was another issue. Brewer had seen that side and heard his buddies talking about it while on missions together or in the mess hall.
Military service wasn’t always an easy life.
Being single had its benefits. Brewer didn’t have anyone back home to answer to or miss for that matter. He didn’t have to worry about whether or not his kids were listening to their mother since he didn’t have those either.
His life was uncomplicated.
Was it lonely?
Brewer could admit to himself that the past year had felt like he was missing the boat. The feeling went against everything he’d convinced himself he prized. And he didn’t buy into the whole I need a relationship to complete me.
Brewer was a complete, fully formed human. He glanced down at the metal shin underneath his pant leg. At least, he had been fully formed once. Now he felt more like patchwork, but that was a whole different mental slippery slope he didn’t need to go down right now.
“Who wants a breakfast sandwich?” Dorothy’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“I don’t want to eat you out of house and home,” he countered, even though a sandwich sounded better than good to him. He’d trained himself to get by on very little food, to conserve when the situation called for it. He could survive on a couple of muffin packets. Being back on US soil, he’d gotten spoiled by having coffee every morning. Without it, he became a cranky pain in the neck. One of many signs he was getting weaker, not stronger. And another reason he didn’t need to think about entering into any serious relationship. He’d come back broken. Who needed that in their life?
“It’s no trouble.” Dorothy eyed him up and down. “You’ll need two.”
Brewer cracked a smile. “Then, yes, ma’am.”
He made a mental note to have groceries delivered to replenish her supplies. Her generosity was much appreciated. It was the very least he could do.
“How about you?” Dorothy asked Crystal. “Will you be having one or two?”
“One is good,” Crystal said after thanking her. “Can I help?”
“No.” Dorothy waved her off. “It’ll give me something to do besides sit in front of the box.” She referred to the TV. “Doc says I should exercise more.”
“I’m not sure this counts,” Crystal said with a laugh. “But we’ll take it.”
Seeing a light in Crystal’s eyes was a powerful draw. She was even more beautiful when she smiled if that was possible.
Dorothy turned around and winked before getting to work on the sandwiches.
“We’re being spoiled,” Crystal said. “Would it be all right if I poured another cup of coffee?”
“Help yourself,” Dorothy said, looking pleased with herself.
It dawned on Brewer why the woman might peek out her window or spy on others, help strangers. Everyone needed a purpose. Without purpose, it was easy to get lost like a boat in the sea during a hurricane.
Being in the military had given Brewer purpose until the incident. He refused to call it an accident or blame it on bad intel. The incident had been his fault. He’d made widows out of two young women. Dorothy seemed to have had a long life with her husband before he passed. Hadn’t the others deserved the same?
Because of him, several children would grow up without their fathers.
And now Trent was missing. He had a family. Had his wife and kid disappeared too?