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"Does Chance know about Jim?"
"No. I haven't been able to talk to him since all this happened. He's on a hunt. I was supposed to be with him, but Dr. Bellamy, the woman we knew as Helen Kepler, named me in her will, so I had to go to Little Rock instead of staying with Chance."
Tom put his arm around me. "I'm sorry you've had to go through all of this alone. I know there's a lot you're not telling me but call me if you need to talk. I'll always be here for you, Everly."
I knew he meant it, but the words were so similar to what Jim had told me that I burst into tears again. I was just regaining my composure when Laurie drove up.
"Why is Tom here?" she asked as I opened the front door. She stepped in to hug me and knew something was wrong. "Did something happen to Chance?"
"No. Come on in. I need to talk to you."
Tom made her a cup of coffee, and we all sat down in the living room. Tom pulled his chair over in front of her. "Laurie, I'm sorry. I have some bad news."
"Is it Mom or Dad?" she asked.
"Neither," I said. "It's Jim. He's dead."
"Jim? Jim Stafford? You must be wrong. I just saw him a few days ago. He texted that he was helping you with something at the bank. I'll call him." She pulled out her phone and started to dial. I took the phone out of her hand.
"Don't, Sweety. He's gone. I was there when it happened."
I saw anger, hurt, and confusion all flash across her face. "I don't understand," she said.
"Honey, I'm so sorry," Tom said, moving to the sofa and putting his arm around her. "The four of us—Everly, Chance, Jim, and I, all got involved in something illegal that was going on in the woods around here. You know Jim worked for DHS, and that's why he was here. Everly and Jim got a lead on the people behind it."
"Laurie, Jim stepped in front of me and saved my life, but he was shot in the process. He didn't suffer. I was with him when he died."
She sat for a while sipping her coffee and saying nothing. "Are you OK?" I asked.
"This isn't funny, guys. Why would you do something like this?"
"Laurie, I wish this was a joke, but it's not. Jim's gone," I said.
I made dinner for us, and we ate in silence. None of us had much of an appetite.
"When will Chance be back?" Tom asked after he helped me clean up the dinner dishes.
"Day after tomorrow."
"Are you sure you'll be OK here by yourself?"
"I'll be OK. Will you drive Laurie home?"
"I'll take care of her. We'll talk about the memorial service once she's in a better frame of mind."
I hugged both of them and walked Laurie to Tom's truck. I went back inside and made sure all the doors were locked. Now that the man behind the problems at the lab was in custody, I should have felt more secure, but it was tough to remember that. I missed Glenda. That reminded me to send an email to Driscoll to find out when I might get my weapons back and ask if we were free to go to Dr. Bellamy's cabin whenever we decided to tackle that again.
I tried to look at this situation from the DHS’ side. There would be multiple charges against the men who worked for Randerran that survived. I wondered if they learned the location of the building where Randerran held us captive. That was the only location involved that Cassie and I hadn't been able to give them.
I put on Chance's sweats again and worked on my lists until I fell asleep. I needed Chance. It was weird. I'd never felt a physical need for another person like I did with Chance. We were going to have to figure out the business thing because whatever life threw at us, we needed to face it together.
Sleep didn't come easy, but I got a lot of good things on the lists.