“Listen, is she after money, you think?” asked Eli, ever the suspicious lawman. “Maybe she’s here to rip all three of us off.”

“She’d be entitled to some kind of money. At least from her birth father,” J.P. insisted. “Whomever that turns out to be.”

Which reminded Cord, not that he’d really forgotten… “Uh, I have to tell you something,” he said, looking directly at Eli. “Tina was getting Carly’s laundry from her backpack—and found a whack of bills. Twenties, fifties and up. Plus a high-end laptop.”

Eli almost choked on his coffee. “Whoo, boy,” he sputtered. “What the hell is that about?”

“Well, considering the filthy crap clothes she was wearing,” J.P. began, “and the fact that she was hitchhiking…”

“Yeah,” Cord said. “Doesn’t connect.”

“Unless she managed to steal from one or more of her rides?” Eli shook his head. “I could look into it, but I’d need to know where she’s from, where she was living. And where she’s been since she took off from wherever it was.”

“Okay.” Cord picked up his pen. “Writing that down.”

“Now,” J.P. began. “As to DNA testing…”

“Can we leave it for the moment?” Eli asked. “Till we know her a bit better, till we’re sure she hasn’t got an agenda of some sort?”

Remembering that scene eighteen years ago, the two of them, Reba and Eli, all entangled, Cord wondered whether Eli had an agenda himself, a personal reason for his request. Did he suspect he stood a good chance of being the father? If so, like J.P., he might not be ready to face it—either way. “We also need to know that she’ll agree to testing.” Cord turned back to his note-covered napkin. “DNA. Is she okay with the test? And if not, why not?”

“At the moment, it’s hard to tell whether she wants one father or three,” Eli said. “Maybe she’d like to keep us all hanging. See what she can get…”

J.P. snorted. “But it practically sounds as if she could buy us all out. How the hell could she come up with that kind of cash without stealing—”

“Shut up.” Eli nudged him, which had Trooper lifting his head warily. “Oh, hi, Brynne. I think we’re ready for our check.”

She paid no attention to him and bent down to hand the dog one of the promised treats she kept in the kitchen. “Oh, Troop, you are totally the best of this bunch.”

He gobbled his biscuit and wagged his tail appreciatively.

“You know what?” she said to the dog. “You’re not only smarter, you’re better-looking and a lot nicer than some of the customers here.”

Cord grinned at that. “Check, please. Some of these customers actually work for a living.”

They always took turns settling up, with Eli paying this time around. Cord noticed that he left a substantial tip.