I stripped off my damp dress and put on his t-shirt. It was gray and had FBI in huge black letters across my chest. It was also soft and smelled like laundry and Jed and was huge on me, reminding me how big the guy was. I laid my dress out over the shower curtain rod. It was too warm for the socks, so I kept them rolled up and dropped them back in the open duffel on the way by.

Jed was in an Adirondack chair, a foot propped up on the railing when I came out. He looked me over, but didn’t say anything. The dogs were at his feet, sprawled out. Eddie saw me but didn’t move more than a tail wag.

“What’s your dog’s name?”

“Boozer.”

The dog lifted his head at being called, licked his chops, then flopped back down. I’d guess he was a mutt, but had some kind of hunter in him. His fur was brown with patches of lighter fur.

“I got you some water.” He pointed to two glasses that were set on a chunk of log used as a little side table. There was also a dishtowel there, and since the other chair was dry, I assumed he used it to wipe them down after the rain. I dropped into the comfortable seat and took a big gulp of the water. It was cool and fresh, either from a well or a spring.

“Do we even have food out here?” I asked.

“We might be in the middle of nowhere, but there’s electricity. Propane. The freezer’s full of ready-made meals. We won’t starve. I know you’ve got a lot of questions, princess.”

He wasn’t asking so I stayed quiet.

“I’ll start at the beginning. I was recruited for the FBI in college, which you know.”

I nodded, setting the glass down.

“What you also know is that I was fired for taking bribes from corrupt officials and well… the bad guys.” He stood, turned and leaned against the railing so he faced me. “I wasn’t fired. I was assigned a new case. Macon Wainright.”

My head whipped up in surprise. “What?”

“He’s been under investigation for the past year, but it wasn’t getting anywhere. They needed someone on the inside. Someone undercover.”

“You.”

He nodded. “It’s not like any agent could do that out here. He—or she—would have to blend in. Have a believable story.”

Jed had been born and raised in the area. A cowboy before he’d become an agent.

“What’s the saying?” I said. “You can’t take the cowboy out of the agent but you can take the agent out of the cowboy?”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Something like that.”

“It’s just coincidence you grew up where your investigation was,” I said, thinking about how small of a world it was.