“Let Jack investigate instead of Trevor. He’s too new at this.”
Henry scratched his chin. “I spoke with your father’s boss back in Gifford. Newt moved over from Boston PD about three years ago. We might want to look at his past cases. See if someone from one of them targeted him.”
Nathan’s heart pounded. Dad’s words came back to him. Dad was digging into a cold case and had pulled on “dangerous threads,” he’d called them.
“Right now, the only person I trust is you, son.”
Why couldn’t his father trust his old friend Henry Gibson? Sheriff of Grayback County.
“Do you think someone targeted him? Followed him all the way to Montana to take him out?” Nathan couldn’t wrap his mind around it—if only Dad could have shared more, but it sounded like that’s exactly what Dad had been trying to tell him could happen. He squeezed his fists. He was torn about what to do. How much to say. He thought he could even hear the ripping sound in his chest. Henry would take notice if Nathan didn’t calm down. He forced his breaths to slow.
Henry scratched his ear. “I suppose time will tell. Could be someone here, someone who had a bone to pick. After all, your dad was a detective here before he left.”
Nathan studied the sheriff. Could that be the reason his father left to begin with? To protect his family? Or was Nathan imagining ghosts where there were none? Grasping at too many nonexistent straws? “What else did Dad’s boss say?”
Henry pursed his lips and shrugged. “Nothing important.”
“I hope you’ll keep me in the loop on the investigation.”
Henry eyed Nathan. “An old phrase comes to mind when I look at you and listen to you. Like father, like son. You sound just like him.”
Though Henry’s lips remained flat, Nathan caught the smile in his eyes. Guilt suffused Nathan.
“You got something on your mind, son?” Henry called him son. Now he’d turned mentor instead of boss.
“Before he was shot, Dad was telling me a story. He asked me to keep it to myself. But now I don’t know what to do.” Why would he have asked that of Nathan, knowing it could put him in such a predicament? Or maybe Dad hadn’t fathomed this would happen. But it had.
How would Henry react if Nathan shared that his dad said he couldn’t trust anyone, not even Henry?
The man crossed his arms, and wisdom seemed to flood his eyes. “If he asked you not to share, he must have had a good reason. Because you’re bringing it up to me, I take it that you’re battling whether you should keep what he told you a secret.”
Nathan nodded subtly and could no longer hold Henry’s gaze. Instead, he stared out the window at an older large sedan struggling to park in the slim spots. What could he say?
Henry tapped his chin and studied Nathan. “He put you in a tough spot.”
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Nathan frowned. “That’s why I need to look into a few things.”
“You do what you want in your free time, because I’m giving you a week off. Spend it here with your father. Or spend it getting your head together. Trust your gut on how much to share. That’s all the advice I can give you, son. Sometimes being the best law officer you can be means listening to your instincts. Newt didn’t share whatever it was with me. He shared it with you. Now you carry that burden alone. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, some leeway, let’s say, because you’ve earned my trust. I’ll be here if you decide you need help carrying the burden.”
Nathan couldn’t have asked for more from Henry, and his words only increased Nathan’s confusion about Dad not telling the man.
Trust your gut.Dad had said that much as well.
Henry squeezed Nathan’s shoulder again. “I’m going to head back to my county. Take care of yourself, Nathan, and keep in touch.”
Henry turned and walked down the hall toward the elevator. Nathan released a long, hollow breath. His world had been turned upside down, and he was struggling to claw his way back to a standing position.
Nathan had wanted a chance to crack the case of his life. This ... this was the case of his life. His father’s shooting. A case he wasn’t allowed to investigate. Only now did he realize that deep down he wanted to crack a case to get Dad’s attention. He’d never realized how deeply he craved that until this moment. How deeply he wanted Dad’s approval, even after all these years. Now with his father’s life hanging in the balance, it all seemed trivial.
“Like father, like son.”
Maybe Nathan would look into his father’s cold case. He would take up his father’s mantle. And he wouldn’t tell anyone because . . .
“Lives are at stake.”