Yes, Quinn had had to deal with this kind of pain much younger than she had, and the knowledge of that had only increased her respect for the man. And the proof of his utter happiness with Hayley—and Hayley’s own joy, after losing her father just as she had, and her mother’s long illness and death—now gave her some hope for her own future. Someday.

She watched as he flipped the pages of the volume, her mind straying into the story it held. But then, about halfway through, he stopped. And then he looked down at his dog.

“Found it, boy,” he said softly. The dog’s tail thumped against the wood floor. “Good thinking,” he murmured then. “It wouldn’t fall out in a quick search, or be seen by someone just riffling pages...”

“What?” Amanda asked, almost breathlessly.

Quinn looked up at her then. “Your father knew you read these periodically, right?”

“Yes, he did. It always made him smile because it was part of...us.”

Quinn nodded. “And so he knew exactly where to hide—” he held the book out for her to see “—this, so you would eventually find it.”

And in a small hole, carefully cut into about a half inch thickness of the book’s pages near the binding—not disturbing a word of the text, she noticed—something was nestled, secured by a single layer of clear tape.

A flash drive.

A cold chill rippled down her spine. The memory formed as clear as if her father were here before her right now. It had been one of the few times when he used her full name, and that alone had gotten her attention.

If anything bad ever happens, Amanda, remember where you always found comfort, in those stories.

She’d thought he meant things like losing her mother’s ring, or getting a bad grade. But now...

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “He told me. I didn’t realize it until just this moment, because I didn’t understand, but he told me where to look...if anything happened to him.”

Quinn’s arm came around her, steadied her. “Then let’s see what he wanted you to find.”

Chapter 5

Adam spent a mostly sleepless night in the small motel near the University of Washington Medical Center where his appointment was. The appointment was fairly quick, although he’d had to wait nearly an hour. The results were what he’d expected. The only thing left to try for real improvement was the joint replacement. Major surgery and a lot of rehab. Again.