Vivian peeled off her garden gloves with sudden energy. “She might just want to be alone after getting such awful news. I can understand that. I didn’t realize you and Thomas were friends. I’m so pleased that he and Melanie have decided to get married. Have you met her?”

“Not yet, no,” Jo said.

“She’s lovely,” Vivian said. “Lowell and I don’t know Thomas as well as we do Carolyn and Alex, but…” She bit back tears. “I let myself forget for a split second.”

“Alex was a good man,” Lowell said quietly, as if he was giving a eulogy. “Smart, driven-it’s hard to believe all that energy of his is gone now. He’ll be missed.”

Vivian nodded. “We enjoyed his visits here. He and Carolyn were wonderful together. Such bright, intelligent, gifted people.” She smiled awkwardly, tears shining in her pale eyes. “I can see Alex now down at the pond. He wasn’t one for relaxation, but he enjoyed watching the ducks.”

“Come, dear,” Lowell said softly, taking his wife’s gloves and placing them atop the leaves in the wheelbarrow. “We haven’t had lunch. Let’s take a break and forget about work for the rest of the afternoon. Elijah, Jo-if there’s anything we can do, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Vivian turned stiffly to them. “We have no reason to be concerned for Nora’s physical safety. She’s an experienced day hiker and has been eager to try out the skills she learned in your class, Elijah. Of course, she should have delayed this trip under the circumstances, but the fight-or-flight response can be very powerful after such a shock.”

The wind picked up again, blowing leaves out of the wheelbarrow. Vivian seemed to force herself to resist going after them and continued about the characteristics of fight-or-flight syndrome, which Elijah took as his cue to leave.

He headed back down to the guesthouse. The sky was clear and a deep blue above the gray landscape.

It’d be cold tonight. If Nora Asher wasn’t prepared, she’d be in trouble.

And if Devin had gone with her?

Elijah shook off the thought. If Devin had any sense, he would be back at the lodge doing his job and working out terms with A.J. for any money he’d “borrowed.” But he was eighteen and smitten, and that didn’t make it easy, as Elijah knew from personal experience, to have any sense.

A few minutes after he reached the duck pond, Elijah saw Jo coming down the lawn at a fast clip. She’d always been able to move quickly. How many times had he given up the chase when she’d provoked him as a kid and he’d gone after her?

Finally, at nineteen, he’d caught her. Held her. Loved her. Vowed never to let her go, never to disappoint her, never to hurt her-but he’d done them all.

He wasn’t one to look back, but Jo being in town was messing with his head.

She didn’t slow her pace until she stood next to him and grabbed him by the upper arm. “What the hell’s going on?”

Elijah felt her fingers digging though his canvas jacket into the muscles of his arm. Her eyes were steady, focused-not shining with the sincerity of the eighteen-year-old whose heart he broke but with the determination of the dedicated, experienced federal agent she was now.

Time to get his head screwed back on straight. Fifteen years had passed since he’d left Jo in Black Falls and headed to basic training. He’d covered a lot of ground since then.

His father was dead, and now Alex Bruni was dead.

Elijah reminded himself he had a job to do.

“Jo,” he said calmly, not at all nastily, “I’m not some nut who’s threatened the vice president’s family.”

She didn’t release him. If anything, she tightened her grip. “No, you’re the Special Forces soldier who doesn’t know what comes next in his life.”

“I’m the guy who could get your hand off me if I wanted to.”

“You don’t want to.”

He grinned suddenly. “No, actually, I don’t.”

That got her, and she let go. “Fifteen years in the army turned you into a real wiseass.”

“Your nose is red. Been crying?”

She sighed. “You don’t let up, do you? It’s the cold. I’m not used to it anymore. Did you know Ambassador Bruni?”

He shook his head. “I know he stayed at the lodge a few times. Not much impresses A.J., but an ambassador checking in got his attention. Then Bruni and the Whittakers became friends. What about you? Did you know him?”

“Not really, no. I’m not sure I was ever in town the same time he was. Elijah, the Whittakers said Nora took a wilderness-skills class you taught at the lodge. A.J. must have blackmailed you into that one, but never mind. It’s supposed to get into the low twenties tonight. Is she prepared to handle a hike in these conditions?”

“She bought all the right equipment, and I taught her what to do.”

“But she’s never actually pitched a tent on a frigid mountain.” Jo stated the obvious, then bent and picked up a small stone, rubbing it between her fingers. “I tried calling her cell phone, but I just got her voice mail.”

“Her father’s worried?”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

Elijah picked up his own stone, immediately skipping it out across the cold, quiet water, away from the two ducks on the far shore. It skipped once, twice, three times. “What’s with you and Nora’s father?”

“Thomas? Nothing, really. We ran into each other cross-country skiing in February and realized we’re both from Washington.” She continued rubbing her stone, as if it might suddenly produce a genie and grant her three wishes. “We stayed in touch.”

“He’s from a prominent Virginia family.”

“Yes, he’s quite the gentleman.”

“Ah. No wonder you two didn’t stick. You like your bad boys.”

She ignored him and tried skipping her stone across the pond, but it went straight in. “I never have gotten the hang of skipping stones. You must have shown me how to do it a million times.” Using the toe of her running shoe, she scraped another stone free from the dirt. “Just to set the record straight, there was never anything between Thomas and me.”

“So you didn’t hit the self-destruct button because he got engaged?”

“I fell for a prank and intercepted a barrage of airsoft pellets. If I’d wanted to self-destruct, I could have picked a more efficient way than getting nailed with a fake gun.” She scooped up her stone and rubbed the dirt off it. “Elijah, if what you’re up to has anything to do with Ambassador Bruni’s death, I need to know.”

“Why?”

She narrowed a look at him and didn’t answer.

He asked, “Have you checked with your friends in Washington about what happened this morning?”

He noted a thinning of her lips as she curved her arm, reared back and tried again, flinging her stone with ferocity if not much finesse. It skipped once. An improvement. But she still didn’t meet his eye.

Elijah put two and two together. “You tried checking with friends. No one took your call.”

“It’s not that simple.” She rubbed her hands together, brushing off the dirt from her rocks. “Elijah, people in town say you’re not satisfied with the official explanation of your father’s death. If you have reason to suspect it wasn’t an accident-”

“I’m just here skipping stones.”

She steadied her gaze on him. “Take whatever questions you have to the police, Elijah. Let them get the answers.”

Her words hit him in all the wrong places. He picked up another stone and shot it across the water, getting close enough to the ducks for them to move toward the opposite bank.

He turned to Jo, looked her straight in the eye. “Maybe I’ll buy your dad a cup of coffee and tell him I’m thinking about sleeping with you again.”

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her fleece jacket. “Go ahead, Elijah. Give me your best shot. I’m not a besotted teenager anymore.”

“Not a teenager, Jo. Still besotted.”

“Ha. Don’t you wish.” But he thought he heard just the slightest catch in her voice. She glanced around at the stone guesthouse, which, like everything on the estate, was bucolic, perfect. “Nora’s sense of trust must have taken a hit when her mother had an affair and then married one of her father’s best friends.”