She’d found her husband in the garage, and he was indeed dead. He’d gone to get something out of the garage refrigerator in a robe and lightweight slippers. Near as they could tell, he’d inadvertently stepped into a puddle of water just as he’d opened the fridge and electrocuted himself.

Sheer, dumb bad luck.

An hour later Aidan and Mitch were still on-site, sitting in the rig working on the report, when a uniformed Hudson climbed up into the shotgun seat and met Aidan’s gaze.

They hadn’t spoken since several nights ago, when tempers had gotten hot and Hudson had called him a damn hypocrite.

“Need a minute,” Hudson said.

“Later.” Aidan tried to get around his brother, who swore beneath his breath and blocked Aidan’s path.

“I shouldn’t have called you a hypocrite,” Hudson said quietly. “Or implied that you don’t think of me and Jacob as family.”

Shit. When Hudson got a stick up his ass to discuss something, he never cared who was listening. But Aidan was very aware of Mitch trying to eavesdrop, because the lot of them were like a bunch of schoolgirls. “Okay,” he said. “Good talk, thanks.”

Hudson didn’t budge.

“We can do this later,” Aidan said grimly.

Hudson dropped his head, swore again, and then looked up. “How about a peace offering?”

None was needed but Aidan was hungry. “Sure. A loaded breakfast burrito would do it.”

“I’ve got something better. I’m not going to make you drop trou and prove you’re not wearing the latest delivery.”

“Shit,” Aidan said. “I completely forgot.”

“—because you spent the night at Lily’s.”

Behind Aidan came Mitch’s intake of breath.

“Okay,” Aidan said, and he shoved Hudson out of the truck. “Turns out I do have a moment. A moment to kick your ass. What makes you think I spent the night with Lily?”

“Heard it,” Hudson said smugly, all remorse gone.

“From who?” Aidan demanded. “Who’s talking about what I do on my own damn time?”

Hudson flashed a grin. “Me. You didn’t come home. And I saw your truck in front of her building when I did a drive-by last night.”

Shit. “Oh,” he said brilliantly.

“So I assume you’ve been working on letting her in, showing her by example?”

“Seriously,” Aidan said. “You need to stop taking those night classes.”

Hudson smiled, but the smile quickly faded. “Now that you’re talking to me … let’s hit on why I’m here.”

“Oh, for chrissakes—”

“I need to know why you don’t want me to contact Dad.”

“Not this shit again—”

“I went to Gray,” Hud said.

Aidan tensed. “What?”

“Yeah. And he told me it’s your story to tell, not his.”

Aidan relaxed marginally.