Duchess dumped the stick she’d fetched for Free ceremoniously at my feet. I picked it up and threw it again for her. This time, Her Ladyship did not deign to fetch. She sat down next to NATO and bit his tail—gently enough to tell me that she wasn’t really looking for a fight. In response, NATO licked her face and cuddled up. Saskia took up position three or four feet from the pair of them.

“It can’t be easy,” Free said overhead. “Looking and looking for something you know you’ll never find.”

Something about her tone made me wonder if there was more to that statement than I could hear. I glanced toward Jude and he elaborated.

“Things you know you’ll never find,” he translated, “like the identity of one’s father, a way to be normal, or a family who cares when you hang-glide off the neighbor’s roof.”

Free held a hand to her heart. “Ouch. In case you didn’t pick up on it, K, the bit about being normal was for you.”

Jude was right. We were all looking for something. I’d been too focused on myself—and on the files and on Gabriel—to have thought about sharing what I’d learned about Ash. Now that I was thinking about it, I wasn’t sure if it was my place to tell him that Cady had been pregnant when Ash had disappeared.

Jude leapt abruptly to a standing position and bounded back and forth on the balls of his feet until he’d captured NATO’s full and undivided attention.

Play.

“We should give you something that you actually can find, boy.” Jude turned back to Free and me, like he’d never uttered the word father at all. “What say you, ladies? Up for a little Extreme Hide-and-Seek?”

Chapter 30

Free hid first. We ordered Duchess and Saskia to stay by the tree and let NATO loose. Sass and Her Ladyship were not always the best of friends, but I was fairly certain they wouldn’t get into it with each other today.

“Find her,” Jude told NATO.

Our boy practically shook with glee. This time, when he followed the trail, he’d find something. We’d make sure of it. As the K9 worked, nose to the ground, Jude and I fell into silence.

“So,” Jude said finally, drumming his fingertips absentmindedly against the side of his leg. “Gabriel Cortez. Intriguing fellow.” When I didn’t reply, he elaborated. “Might I be sensing some sexual tension?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Just tension, then,” Jude said quickly. “Right-o.”

NATO took a sharp right and began picking up speed. Jude and I hung back but picked up our pace as well.

“You have to be wondering,” I said, turning the tables on Jude and stealing a look at him out of the corner of my eye. “About Cady’s past. About what it means for you.”