Page 54 of Blackwood

“I can explain.”Can’t I?

Hart stared, his handsome face contorted into a mask of confusion. “How did you get here? Are you still doing that pine beetle study thing? The research?”

“Oh, so you’re a researcher,Sidney?”

There was no way out of this. Both men wanted an explanation, and what was more, they deserved it from me.

I straightened my back and walked into the foyer. “Okay, so you know I’ve been looking for my father.”

“You have?” Hart shook his head, his light brown hair flopping over his ears.

“Yes.” I gave him the frankest look in my arsenal. “Hart, I’m sorry, but when I met you, I lied to you. My name isn’t Sidney, and I’m not doing research on southern pine beetles. My name’s Elise, and I was asking you questions about the woods around here to see if you had seen any trace of my father or anything strange.”

He ran a hand over his clean-shaven jaw. “This is sort of a mind-blown moment.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just that I didn’t know if I could trust you.” I glanced to Garrett as my cheeks heated. “I didn’t know if your family had anything to do with my dad’s disappearance.”

“Disappearance?” He looked from me to Garrett, then back again. “What are you talking about?”

“Maybe we should all sit down?” I motioned toward the dining room.

“No. Go on.” Garrett’s tone edged on dangerous.

“Okay.” I met his fierce gaze. “I looked up your family. I found Hart was a student at a university just a few hours away. I figured he would be my best bet to ask questions about the property without raising suspicion. So, I pretended to be studying the woodlands for my thesis. Hart was kind enough to answer my questions and talk to me.”

Hart smirked, the look almost as devious as the one his brother often wore, but with a hint of innocence from a perfectly placed dimple. “I talked to you because you were hot, not because I’m kind.”

Garrett thrummed his fingers on his bicep, irritation rolling off him in waves.

I hurried along. “So, I asked him about the woods, if he’d seen any beetle activity or human activity because I, um, I said that beetles were attracted to man-made things like houses, shacks, cars, any of that.”

Garrett drew his brows together. “Hart, you fell for that shit?”

Hart shrugged. “Did you hear the part where I said I would have told her anything she wanted to hear? Look at her.” He scanned me with open interest.

“Stop looking at her like that.” Garrett’s voice held a chill.

“Hart is the reason I knew to search here. He saw my father’s car on your property. That’s why I’m here. I swear, Garrett, that was it. I wasn’t trying to trick him or you, I just didn’t know who to trust.”

He stepped toward me, his arms still crossed. “So you still don’t trust me?”

“No, I do.” I rested my hand on his forearm.

“Then why didn’t you share this information?”

I dropped my eyes to the floor and chewed my lip. “I intended to. I just didn’t, but I should have. I guess I was embarrassed about the lies, so I was holding off for as long as I could.” I caught his eye again. “And there’s one more thing.”

Hart whistled. “Sorry to interrupt, but I still have no clue what’s going on.”

Garrett ignored him and zeroed in on me. “What’s the other thing?”

“I snooped in Lillian’s room” —His jaw tightened even more, so I sped my explanation— “and I found my father’s Braves cap and a memory card with photos on it.”

“Photos of what?” Hart asked.

I shook my head. No way I could explain it all. “Probably better if I just show you.”

Garrett pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your dad’s car has been on the property this whole time, yet you didn’t say a word?”

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