Wonderful. Clarence Wolfe in a philosophical mood was more than Angus’s temper could take. “Okay. You can sit here, but let’s enjoy the quiet.” Angus was more careful with his next sip.

“My sister died when we were kids. She was a teenager and just a couple of years older than me.” Wolfe drank thoughtfully, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Met some asshole in a chat room, thought he was her age, and met him for a date. He was an adult. Her body was found in our safe little town.”

Angus set his head back on the rough bark. “I’ve read your file, and it’s not the same as my situation. Your loss stinks and I’m sorry, but it wasn’t your fault.” The idea that Wolfe wanted to talk about the past and his feelings only demonstrated how desperate Angus must look right now. His face heated.

“It feels like my fault.” Wolfe twisted the coffee cup in his hands, his focus on it now. “I know, logically, that I was a kid younger than she was. That I didn’t know about the dangers of the internet, and I really didn’t know that she snuck out of our house that night. But still, she was my sister, and a monster took her. Hurt her. Killed her. It’ll always feel like my fault, no matter what my brain says.”

“My sister’s death was my fault,” Angus said quietly. “Without my job, without my obsession with Lassiter, he wouldn’t have turned his attention to me and then to my sister. She was innocent, Wolfe. A freaking kindergarten teacher with a fiancé. She just wanted a good life. I got her killed.”

Wolfe nodded. “She sounds like somebody who’d want you to hide away from the world and drink yourself to death.”

Pinpricks climbed up Angus’s throat. “Jesus, Wolfe. Don’t give me the what-would-your-dead-sister-want-for-you speech, okay? That’s just bullshit. What my sister would’ve wanted was to teach school, have a couple of kids, and then coach softball. Not to end up with her heart sliced out.” He wanted to puke. The sugary drink rolled around in his stomach.

“Nobody wants that, Force,” Wolfe said. “Stating the obvious isn’t going to get you back on track. If you’re running on fear, you’ll fuck this up. Considering you’re one of the few people I like in this world, I’d hate to have to kill you if Dana is threatened again.”

It’d be nice if Wolfe was joking, but he probably wasn’t. “You’re right,” Angus said. “So take Dana and get the hell out of town. Go to an island somewhere until I find this guy and just be safe. In fact, take Mal and Pippa with you.”

The quiet ticked around them for a moment.