He literally felt himself blanch. Youre going to stay?
Pain flickered over her features. Maybe. She inhaled deeply, bracing her hands on the back of a chair. The will stipulated that I could sell the business, but only after a year. That means running it myself for twelve months, or
hiring someone else to do it.
So youre here to hire someone?
No. Im here to run it.
For one year?
Look, Jett, Im not going to get in your way, okay? Im not going to cramp your style. She hesitated. I I saw you down at the ferry dock this morning, with your son She wavered again, as if not quite trusting herself to say the next words. And your wife.
Perspiration prickled across his lip. Hed made a mistake starting this conversation now. He set the mug down, getting up in the same movement, and he stalked into the hall. Ill just go wait outside for Officer Gage.
Jett? she called after him.
He halted, hand on the doorknob.
Whats his name? Your son?
A strange emotion tore through him, raw and wild. Part of him didnt want to give the name up to her, give any part of his boy to her. Troy, he said quietly, still facing the door. Troy Rutledge.
She was dead silent for a long moment. Troy was my fathers name.
Your father was a good man, Muirinn. I was proud to name my son after him.
I it just surprises me.
He turned. Why?
Half the townthe union hardlinershated my dad for crossing that picket line, your own father included. They called my dad a scab, called me terrible names at school, humiliated my mother in the supermarket. They hated my father enough to blow him and eleven others up with a bomb.
It was a bad time for everyone, Muirinn. Jett paused. But no matter what people said, you know that I always cared for your father. If Troy ODonnell hadnt introduced me to model airplanes, to the idea of flying, I might have become a miner, not a pilot. He was the one who told me, when I was ten years old, that I could do something better with my life than go down that mine. He was a friend, Muirinn. I was twelve when he died, and I was also devastated by his murder. It ate my father up, too, regardless of what he might have said about your dad.
Emotion seeped into her eyes, making her nose pinkmaking her so damn beautiful. Thank you, Jett, she whispered. I I needed to hear that.
Its not for you, he said quietly. Its for a man who knew honor, knew his home. Knew how not to deliberately hurt the people who cared for him.
She stared at him. Do you really still hate me that much?
Wind rattled the panes. Rain smacked at the windows. I hate what you did, Muirinn, to the people who loved you.
He closed the heavy oak door behind him with a soft thud that seemed to resonate down through her bones.
Muirinn slumped into a chair at the kitchen table, and buried her face in her hands. If shed known it was going to be quite so rough to see him again, she wouldnt have come. If Jett only knew what shed gone through since shed left Safe Harbor. He didnt have a clue just how much his ultimatum had cost her back then how much it had cost them.
She shouldve told the lawyer to just go ahead and hire someoneanyoneto run Safe Harbor Publishing, and to put the word out that the company would be up for grabs within twelve months.
But at the same time, Muirinn felt in her heart that Gus had wanted her to come back. Why else would he have insisted she be given the small compass along with the terms of his will? Shed told Gus that she was pregnant, having a baby alone. He might have been trying to show her a way home, to remind her where her family roots lay.
Muirinn scrubbed her hands over her face quickly as she heard tires crunching up the driveway, telling herself it would be okay; she wasnt trapped here anymore. She could go back to New York anytime before the twelve months were up if things werent working out. She could hire a publisher at any point she chose. She was the one in control here.
Smoothing errant tendrils of hair back from her face, Muirinn adjusted her sweater and went to meet the police.
Could have been kids, Officer Ted Gage said as he stared at the papers scattered under the desk, thumbs hooked into his gun belt. Incidents of vandalism often flare up during the summer holidays. His gaze tracked round the room. Kids probably thought Guss place was still empty.
So youre not sending crime scene techs or anything? Muirinn asked from the doorway.
He shrugged. Thats for the movies. We only dust for prints in major crimes. And nothing was stolen
Not that I know of, she interrupted.
That footprint is pretty big for a kid, Gage, said Jett. Id say about a size 12.
I can point you to several kids with feet that size, he said around the gum between his teeth.
Well, why dont you see if you can match one of them up to this print?
Thats a lot of lab time and resources for a possible mischief or vandalism charge. He
glanced sideways at Muirinn, a whisper of hostility beneath his deceptive easy-breezy style. Unease fingered into Muirinn.
Look, he said suddenly. Ill send someone around later. Depending on our caseload.