Orlando got up and walked over, resting his head on Jericho’s knee. He put a hand on the dog’s head, rubbing around his ears. Orlando’s tail thumped the floor.
“How’s his training going?” Hudson asked.
“He’s nailed the air scent training,” Jericho said, “but I don’t think he’s ready for avalanche rescue again. It’s too soon, and every time he hears a snow bomb go off, he starts to shake—sort of shuts down. But he’ll make it back.”
“And you?” Sully asked, his voice quiet.
Jericho looked up, frowning. “What about me?”
“Orlando wasn’t the only one trapped in that slide,” Sully said softly.
Jericho lifted a shoulder, his hand pausing on Orlando’s head. “I was fine. Iamfine. I was out at the Copper Mountain Ski Resort today, working with their dogs.”
“So you’re really not joining Moose. Why not?” Sully asked.
“I just...” He glanced down at his dog. “We’ll see how Orlando does hunting down Mars. I’m not a fan of using him to hunt a killer, but in this case, they don’t have any other dogs up here that can do that, and, well ... anyway.”
As if reading his mind, Sully said, “So, who’s on the task force? I talked to Deke a few days ago, and he said he was bringing in a specialist to track down Mars.”
“I don’t know that you’d call her a specialist,” Jericho said, reaching for a can of root beer on the table. “It’s Harley Tatum.”
Silence.
Hudson put down his pizza, reached for his napkin, and even Kennedy paused, her fork hovering over her plate. Sully leaned back, folding his arms, a smirk spreading across his face. “Really?”
“Calm down. She’s just here to track down Mars.” He opened the root beer and took a drink.
“Which means you two are workingtogether.” Hudson folded his arms, his smirk matching Sully’s.
“Harley Tatum?” Malachi’s eyebrows shot up. “The daughter of Sheriff Tatum? I didn’t know she was back in town.”
“I don’t think you’d call herback in town.” Jericho set down the can and finger-quoted his last words. “My guess is that she’s not sticking around.”
“Last time I saw her was for Gabe’s memorial,” Hudson said. “I don’t blame her for leaving. She’d already left before her parents died, and after Gabe, she really didn’t have a reason to return.”
Hudson didn’t mean it like a blow, but his words hit Jericho like a punch to the sternum. He even put a hand to his chest, an ache sweeping through him. “I probably should’ve come home for Gabe’s funeral.”
“You were deployed, if I remember.” Sully’s tone was soft. “So was I.”
“And she didn’t have a funeral for her brother,” Hudson added, his voice low. “Just a small memorial with a couple of friends. Winter, Echo. I went, and Topher was there. Gabe’s girlfriend, Sunni. It was at Harley’s parents’ house, overlooking the lake.”
“I always loved that place,” Jericho said, without thinking. His brothers looked over at him. “What? My window overlooked it. I mean, who has a geodesic dome for a house? The northern lights used to reflect off the glass. It was cool.”
“Pretty easy to see inside,” Sully said.
Jericho gave him a look. “Hello. It was through the trees and I’m not a creep. Sometimes at night, the dome would glow like a big spotlight. It was ... like I said, cool.”
Never mind the fact that on dark winter nights, Harley would turn on that light, the one that looked like a daisy or something, and it would shine out into the night. An invitation, maybe.
And like a sappy lovesick thirteen-year-old, he’d turn on his too.
Aw, who was he kidding. He did it all the way to the end, right up until his world imploded, two weeks before he left for boot camp.
Now he glanced at Orlando, who was lapping up water. “What happened to the house?”
“She owns it, I think,” Hudson said. “Rents it out as an Airbnb.”
Sully reached for another slice of pizza. “What’s she doing now?”