It was well past dark when Jack finally drove her back to town. The elation of having identified—and survived—Dave’s killer seeped away like the last rays of light over the little one-steeple church. Without asking her, he drove to a hamburger drive-through and ordered two double cheeseburgers, fries, and Cokes.
Mia couldn’t believe how hungry she was and what a genius Jack was for knowing it.
“Dave and I were always starving when we cracked a case,” he said as he bit into one of the burgers. They sat with the car heater on in the parking lot of the restaurant.
“Did you always load up on burgers and fries?” Mia couldn’t remember tasting anything as perfectly delicious as the burger in her hands.
“We did. We’d get so caught up in the puzzle and going down all the rabbit holes and dead ends—especially when we got close at the end—we’d forget about eating and then when it was over we’d be starving.”
“Working with my brother wasn’t always horrible,” Mia said.
“No.” They ate in silence for a moment. “In fact, Maxwell was right. There’s no way we could’ve been as successful as we were if we didn’t mesh well together.” He lifted up the bag of fries. “Right down to the brand of grease we loved.” He laughed. “This was as close as I could get to The Varsity. That was usually where we ended up.”
“So what happened?”
He pushed his burger away and looked at her and she could see he wanted to talk but he also didn’t want to. She waited.
“I found out something a few days ago,” he said, “when I was at Diane’s house. I guess I shouldn’t say I found out because it was more like it presented itself to me. I can’t explain it. You know how sometimes your mind is putting things together and you don’t realize it until bingo! There’s this fully formed thought in your head?”
“Kind of.”
“Seven years ago, I was in Iraq,” he said, looking now out of the car window into the night. “I was in a platoon with five other guys. We were the Band of Brothers, you know?”
He rubbed his eyes and picked up his burger but put it back down. “One night, we were out on patrol and one of the guys…” He cleared his throat. “We called him Beaner. All of us had nicknames. Anyway, one night we were going out and Beaner told us orders came down and we needed to change the coordinates of our meet-up that night.”
Mia put her hand on his knee.
“We hit the IED full on. Because I was sitting with Beaner in the back, we were thrown clear.”
“Oh, Jack…”
“Two of the guys were killed outright. Davey and Fatso. Davey had been driving. He wasn’t twenty years old. Fatso was a new father. Ketchum lost a leg. Grub and Marley got PTSD so bad from the incident that both of them are sitting in VA hospitals right now afraid to walk down the hall by themselves.”
“But you and Beaner were unharmed?”
Burton looked at her. “Well, yes and no. I called it in. Beaner just kind of sat there, stunned. I had to physically drag him under the truck in case there were snipers in place to mop up the aftermath.”
He ran a hand over his face. “I can still hear Ketchum screaming, honest to God.”
“Did you ever find out why Beaner changed the coordinates?”
He nodded. “Yeah. He didn’t want to go by a section on the grid where there was this girl he was screwing. Seems he’d gotten her pregnant and made some promises. Fill in the blanks.”
“Where is he now?”
Burton gave a mirthless laugh. “You’re not going to believe this. He got testicular cancer four months later and was gone two months after that.”
Mia took his hand. “There’s a reason you’re telling me this story now,” she said.
He nodded, not looking at her. “Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “I swear I never realized it before, but turns out your brother and Beaner were…a lot alike. Same height, same build, same coloring and they acted alike, too. I saw a group photo with Beaner last week at Diane’s and for a minute I thought it was Dave.”
Mia didn’t speak and Burton looked at her. “I hated Dave for no good reason other than I couldn’t connect the dots on a guy I thought committed the worst crime in the world and then got off the hook.”
“Well, he did die.”
“I know. There’s that. I’m not sure Dave and I would ever have been friends. But I hung something on him that didn’t belong there. And he didn’t deserve it.”
Mia squeezed his hand. “I forgive you, Jack,” she said. “And I know if Dave were here, he would too.”
He looked at her and she watched his face soften as if he could feel the absolution touch him. “Thanks, Mia,” he said. “On top of it all, it was through Dave that I found you and that amazes me every day.”
Mia turned her face away so that he wouldn’t see her smile. They ate quietly for a moment.
“Oh!” she said suddenly. “I have news. My mom is dating Bill Maxwell. She doesn’t think I know.”
“Your mom and Maxwell?” Jack frowned as if trying to visualize it.
“I know. Pretty weird, huh? I caught the tail end of a phone conversation between them.”
“How long has it been going on?”
Mia shrugged. “I have no idea.” She wiped her fingers with one of the paper napkins. “But while we’re being all contrite here,” she said. “I want to formally apologize for giving you the slip this morning.”
“My fault,” he said. “If I’d’ve trusted you more, you wouldn’t have kept the call from Trish a secret from me.”
“I know you were just trying to protect me. You did what Dave would’ve done.”
“Except treating you like your brother would is just about the last thing on my mind. You have to know that. I didn’t stop us from going further the other night because I didn’t want you.”
“Then why?”
“I…I felt like I was taking advantage of you in your grief and your…gift thing.”
“You need to let me drive that. I’ll let you know what I can and can’t handle.”
He twisted in his seat to face her and took both her hands in his. “Mia, I’m going to promise you that from this moment forward I will not put you in a position where you feel like you can’t tell me the truth. Okay?”
“Does that mean we’re still in business together?”
Jack ran a hand through his hair. “God. Do you want to be? Tonight didn’t knock that little fantasy all to pieces for you?”
“I made some mistakes,” Mia said, frowning as she reviewed the day. “I didn’t see stuff I should’ve. I’ll be better next time.”
“You know you nearly died about half a dozen times this week?”
She turned to him in earnest. “You talked to Karen tonight. She was the one who put the tail on me, wasn’t she?”
Jack sighed. “She evidently thought you knew more than you did.”
“That’s for sure. And the rent-a-thug?”
“I didn’t have a chance to ask. I probably never will, now. But the truth will come out.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. I know you liked her.”
“I didn’t see it. She totally fooled me.”
“But you figured it out. You found me and you knew it was her. You solved it.”
“In a manner of speaking. If you hadn’t gone all equine kung-fu on her ass, I might not have solved it in time to save you.”
“But you did and I am. So I’ll ask you again. Are we, or are we not, in business together?”
Jack opened his mouth as if to speak and then looked out the window and started to laugh. He laughed until he began to choke as he gave himself up to the hysteria. Mia pounded him on the back fearing he’d swallowed an ice cube.
“I take it that’s a yes?” she said.
He wiped the tears from his eyes, his face still red as he turned to her. “Yes,” he said with a grin, “it is. I know for sure I’m crazy now but it is most definitely a yes.”
“Good.” She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. “That just might be the first thing we’ve ever agreed on.”
“God help us both,” he said, shaking his head.