Jo tapped the eraser end of her pencil on her desk blotter and returned Major’s glare as she waited for Kevin’s brother. She couldn’t wait to join Sam and Wyatt in the field to search for the bones of the lost hiker—and to clear her conscience by telling Sam about the private investigation she’d been conducting into her sister’s disappearance.
Not telling him in the first place seemed so stupid now, but when she’d first arrived in town she had no intention of staying and no intention of opening up about her life. But she’d grown attached to the town. Attached to Sam. They’d formed a solid working relationship and friendship based on trust, and the more that trust grew, the more she felt like a traitor. It just became harder and harder to tell the truth, which was a shame because now that she knew Sam, she knew he’d be on board with doing everything he could to help her. He probably still would… once he forgave her.
“I’m here to see Detective Jody Harris,” a male voice wafted from the reception area.
Kevin’s brother. Right on time. Jo put the pencil down and stood as Reese led a tall, slightly nervous, dark-haired man around the post office boxes into the bullpen.
Reese gestured toward Jo. “Sgt. Jody Harris.”
Jo stepped forward and held her hand out as Reese retreated back to the reception desk. The man switched a white plastic bag from his right hand to his left and clasped her hand. His handshake was warm and firm. His eyes held a hint of pain mixed with curiosity. “Brian Deckard. Kevin’s brother.”
“Thanks for coming. I’m sorry about your brother.” Jo was sincere. She wondered if Kevin had been close with his brother. He’d never mentioned him, and Brian looked much older. She saw a slight family resemblance around the chin, but where Kevin was blond with light eyes, his brother was dark-haired with brown eyes. Half-brothers, maybe? Or maybe they didn’t look much alike. Jo didn’t look much like her sister, Bridget, but that was probably due to Bridget’s haggard appearance from poor lifestyle choices. Still, she knew there were many siblings who bore no resemblance to one another.
Brian dropped her hand and glanced around the room. “Thanks. Me too.”
“Have you been to the hospital? I visited him a couple days ago. I wasn’t sure if there was an update.” Jo hoped Brian would have optimistic news. The last time she’d visited Kevin the doctors had seen no change, but she was still hoping for him to pull through. Although they hadn’t actually bonded from the start, Kevin had been a great officer. After all, he had taken a bullet for Lucy.
“Not really, but the doctor said there is some brain activity. I guess that’s a good sign, but he also said it could be a long road.” Brian scrubbed his hand through his cropped brown hair. “I think he was bracing me to not get my hopes up.”
Jo scowled. “Don’t think that way. Kevin is strong. He’ll pull through.”
“I hope so.” They were silent for a few seconds as Brian’s gaze flicked around the room. Then he held up a bag as if he just remembered he was holding it. “Oh, I brought these things. Some of his belongings that he had when he was admitted to the hospital. Seems like they should be at the police station. His badge. Computer stuff. Police T-shirt. It’s all laundered.”
Jo accepted the bag with a heavy heart. “Thanks. We’ll keep these for when he comes back. And he will be back. Kevin’s a hero in our eyes.”
“So I heard. What exactly happened?”
Jo didn’t see the harm in telling him what went down that night. The investigation was closed, the events a matter of public record. No sense in revealing the gory details, but she’d tell him enough to give him some closure on the events that put his brother in that hospital bed. “We were confronting a murderer, about to arrest him, when things went sideways. Our K-9 dog, Lucy, was in danger and Kevin jumped in front of her. He put himself in harm’s way to save that dog.”
“And the guy who shot Kevin is dead.”
“Yep.” Brian didn’t look like the vigilante type, but maybe it was a good thing he didn’t have someone to focus his anger on. Or maybe not. Would she feel better if she knew her sister’s abductor was dead?
Brian gave a wan smile. “Kevin and I weren’t that close. He didn’t talk about his work much, but he did mention Lucy. He really liked her. I hope she wasn’t harmed.”
“She’s fine. We love having her here at the station.” A hissing came from the direction of the filing cabinets, and Jo glanced over. Major turned in a circle, fluffing his tail at her before curling in a ball. He tucked his face under his tail but left one watchful eye slit open, aimed in Jo’s direction.
Brian didn’t seem to notice. He was looking around the room again, his gaze stopping at each desk. Probably trying to picture his brother seated at one of them.
Jo pointed to Kevin’s desk in the corner. “That one is your brother’s.”
Brian walked to Kevin’s desk. Pens were scattered on the desktop. A keyboard sat in the middle, with a lined legal pad next to it. No one had the heart to remove anything from the desk, so the pad still had notes Kevin had taken to be typed into the system. Brian traced the writing with his forefinger then looked up at Jo.
“Was my brother working on any undercover investigations?”
Why would he ask that? A police force as small as White Rock’s didn’t conduct undercover operations. Those would be done by the county sheriff—unless it was personal, like Jo’s investigation into her sister’s disappearance. Or the off-record investigation she and Sam conducted into the death of their fellow officer, Tyler Richardson.
She was sure Kevin wasn’t investigating anything. Not for the department, anyway. Sam would have told her. But there had been a time when she’d suspected Kevin was up to something. And just before the shooting, the killer had said something about Kevin working for the wrong side. But that had just been crazy talk by a cornered suspect, hadn’t it? Of course it had. Kevin had jumped in the path of the bullet to save Lucy. And the last few months before that Kevin had proved himself more than trustworthy and loyal. “We don’t really have much call for undercover work here. Why do you ask?”
Brian shrugged. “It’s just that he seemed a little vague when I talked to him. Like he was working on something secret that he couldn’t tell anyone about. It was probably nothing.”
Yeah. Probably nothing. Because if Kevin had been working on some secret investigation, surely Sam would’ve told her, right? And besides what would he have been investigating? They didn’t have much call for undercover work up here in northern New Hampshire. Kevin probably didn’t want to spill any specifics to his brother, and he took that as being secretive.
“Well, I guess I should be going. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.” Brian shook her hand again and exited, leaving Jo clutching Kevin’s bag.
She hurried to Sam’s office to put the bag in Sam’s closet so that it would be ready for Kevin’s return.
She shoved the bag on the top shelf and grabbed a lime-green vest from the rack. With that task out of the way, her thoughts turned to assisting in the search and seeing with her own eyes that the bones were those of a lost hiker and had nothing to do with the monster who had taken her sister.