He shook his head, stumped. And uneasy. None of Casey’s former clients knew his name or even what he looked like. The only unexpected visitors who might worry him were feds. He and Em had been careful, real careful, but you could never know if your name was on some watch list someplace, some database. Plus if Emily fucked up and got busted, he couldn’t honestly say he trusted her not to sell him out for a reduced sentence. Hell, he’d probably do the same to her.
But since when does the ATF skulk around in ski masks and shitty old trucks?
“I got no clue, man. Maybe we ought to give the whole town a good cruise, see if we can’t spot that pickup in somebody’s driveway . . . ?”
Miah sighed, crossing his arms. “Maybe. If the alternative’s waiting for them to come back.”
“Maybe it was just some dumb-ass burglar, casing the place. Maybe you scared him out of thinking he’d ever try that shit here again.”
“We can hope. But I won’t sleep easy until I know for sure.”
Miah took a seat on the arm of the couch, posture weary. He was dressed in dirty jeans and there was dust in his black hair.
“Go shower,” Casey said, waving him in the right direction. “Once Ware is gone we’ll have a beer, talk this over.”
Miah nodded and hauled himself to standing. “Best idea I’ve heard all week.”
Casey clapped Miah on the back as he passed, thinking his friend was becoming more like Don every season. More serious, and burdened by more pressure. The casino chaos couldn’t be helping, nor the looming inevitability of Miah becoming the sole captain of this ship.
Regarding any other person on earth, Casey would’ve thought the notion was stupid, but he wondered if maybe Miah needed setting up, romantically. If he was stuck working himself into the ground the way he was, he ought to at least get to tumble into bed with a warm female body every night. Shame that probably half the eligible women in town were his ranch hands. No doubt he’d have some ethical boundary about—
The click and squeak of the office door snapped Casey’s head to the left. Ware appeared first from the hall, followed closely by Abilene, the baby in her arms. They were talking softly but trailed off as they reached the den.
Ware cast Casey a cool glance, then told Abilene, “I can see myself out.”
“Okay.”
“Tomorrow afternoon?” he asked.
She nodded. “Two o’clock.”
He touched the baby—or her clothes, anyway, the collar of her tiny shirt—then turned and headed for the front. Abilene watched him go, and Casey watched Abilene.
“Tomorrow?” he prompted, once the front door had hissed shut.
“Yeah.” She seemed to snap out of a trance, bouncing the baby. “It went well. I said he could see her again.”
“Did you let him hold her?”
She’d been studying the baby’s face but looked up at that, expression curious. “Just for a minute—he gave her back pretty quick. I’m not sure he’s ever held a baby before. He looked a little freaked-out.”
Casey bet that was a first in itself—James Ware showing fear. That novel and fierce jealousy burned the back of his neck, and in a petty way he was glad to hear that the guy wasn’t a natural with the kid. That maybe fatherhood was earned by how many hours you put in, not just whose DNA went into the mix. That made him think of his own dad, and his mood darkened.
“Miah saw your ex’s truck in the lot,” Casey said. “And he said it’s not the same one he saw on Wednesday night.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“Doesn’t absolutely mean it wasn’t him . . . But I have my doubts now.”
“I had some of my own. He told me it wasn’t him, and I’ve never known him to lie.”
What was to be done about it, though? Nearly nothing aside from hoping someone spotted that other truck . . . But there had to be dozens of dark, midsized, older pickups around town, to say nothing of the county at large. Not so much needle in a haystack as needle in a needle factory.
“You didn’t eat lunch,” Casey said, setting the mystery aside. She’d been too nervous, earlier.
“No, and I’m starving.”
“Feel like a trip into town? Grab something at the diner?”
She considered it. “I guess I could, now.”
“Course you can. Celebrate your freedom—no more reason for house arrest that I can see.” Her ex knew where to find her now, and it seemed perhaps he wasn’t, in fact, crazy enough to stalk her.
“Okay, then. Let me just get Mercy’s stuff together.”
“Great.” He accepted the baby so Abilene could head upstairs. She returned with a diaper bag, and they swung by the kitchen and chatted with Christine, filling her in about the meeting while Abilene fixed a bottle.
“It’ll feel nice to get yourself off the rez for an hour or two, I bet,” Christine said.
“Maybe a little. No offense.”
She smiled and waved the thought aside. “It’s no fun feeling trapped, especially with a new baby. When Miah was tiny, I used to look forward to my sister visiting, so I could get a little time to myself. I remember driving into town and just wandering the aisles of the drugstore, elated just to be someplace else. Anyplace else. I’d offer to take her now, in fact, except the vet’s coming in twenty minutes.”
“No, it’ll be good for her to get a change of scenery, too,” Abilene said, and kissed the baby’s head, with her palm on Casey’s shoulder. His face went warm and he was glad everyone was focused on Mercy.
“Dinner’s at eight,” Christine said, turning back to the laptop open on the table.
“Would you tell Miah where we got to?” Casey asked. “I owe him a beer and a talk.”
“No problem.”
Abilene took the baby and they headed out.
“I wonder when my car will be fixed,” she said as Casey was unlocking his Corolla.
“I’ll ask my brother. Hopefully this weekend.”
“And when do you think I could go back to work?” She got the baby strapped into her seat. Casey’s car would look weird without it, he realized, once Abilene was driving again.
“Let’s hold off until after a couple more meet-ups, okay? But if the next two or three go well, and we can get you some childcare sorted out, I’d say there’s no point in waiting. But . . .”
“Yeah?” She buckled her seat belt, eyeing him.
“Maybe stick with babysitters you know really well, okay? Just to start. Just to be safe. Me, or maybe Kim.” Raina had the time and was equally trustworthy, but he couldn’t picture her taking care of a baby. He tried imagining Duncan’s attempt as well, and nearly laughed aloud. Though perhaps the two of them together might be able to survive it, some night when Casey and Abilene were both closing. He’d be tempted to videotape it, just to see Duncan’s expression when faced with a filthy diaper.
“I miss work,” Abilene said, once they were moving.
“It misses you. Or Duncan and Raina miss the two of us, I’m sure. Though before you say it,” he added, noting her darkening expression, “don’t feel bad. It’s only a week, and I’m sure they’re more than happy to help while things settle down for you.”
“Everyone’s been so nice about it all.”
He shrugged. “It’s what friends do.” And he was proud to count himself a part of that group, he realized, after all those years of only looking out for number one.
“You’re a very generous motorcycle club.”
He laughed. “And you’re very generous, even applying that term to us. Bikes just happen to be the thing we all bonded over when we were kids. The bunch of us are well overdue for a nice, long group ride, too.” Duncan made things tricky; he rode just fine, and being with Raina, he ought to be invited on such an outing. But if he went, Miah likely wouldn’t. Church would come up with a million work-related excuses, no doubt, so maybe some weekend soon they’d just have to trick him into it. He seemed to be getting over his shit with Raina, at least.