Page 97 of Hidden Nature

“The woman you were thinking about before?”

“No, we’re putting her off. I’d put this one by because he tried to take his own life. You know how I feel about that.”

Sam gave her a sad, sober nod. “I do, babe. Biggest sin there is.”

“It is, it surely is. But when I started thinking, started looking things over, I realized I was judging. It’s not for me to judge, and howhe died doesn’t matter. It’s cheating death that does. It’s pulling him back from his journey taking him home that matters.”

As he ate, Sam nodded again. “You’re wise, babe. Tell me about him.”

“He’s thirty-one, works as a hotel bellman.” And hotel bellmen pocketed plenty of cash money. “Works in a hotel over in Uniontown. His wife left him. She works at a law firm, and got her fancy lawyer to fix it so he only got to see their little boy—just two years old at the time—every other weekend. In his despair, he hanged himself. Hanged himself over a woman who didn’t want him.”

Pausing, Sam laid a hand over his heart. “I wouldn’t have to take my own life if you left me, Clara. I’d just die of a broken heart.”

“As if I ever would or could! His daddy found him. He was staying back with his parents because the wife got their place in the divorce.”

“Fancy lawyers.” Sam shook his head in disgust as he ate.

“His daddy got him down, and turns out he was a paramedic. He brought him back, and they got him to the ER. He had to go for a psych eval, get some treatment. That was back last April. That’s ten months.”

“And we’re trying to find ones with some time between, like the dentist.”

“He still works at the hotel. He’s got his own place again. And I feel good about it, as he appears to have made his peace. I don’t like the thought of us letting him go when he’s covered in darkness.”

Reaching out, Sam squeezed her hand. “You have such a good heart. We never did a suicide before.”

“I think it might add to things. Hearing what he saw and heard, maybe felt, since he died in the deepest of sins. Are you up to a drive to Uniontown?”

He smiled at her. “You know I am.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. I checked the weather. Snow’s maybe coming, but not until tonight. We should have clear sailing.”

“We’ll finish breakfast and set sail.”

Nash learned his newest client worked for one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the country. And reading that made him feel woefully uninformed.

And yeah, she could arrest people.

She—they—had the authority to enforce all laws in the state—anywhere in the state. The only agency that had that scope.

Maybe the focus was public lands, waterways, fish—which struck him funny—wildlife. Add search and rescue. But if she ran across someone robbing a bank, she could slap on the cuffs.

And he found that fascinating.

He supposed he’d found her fascinating. The way she’d handled the dog, how she’d had her plan in place—every detail—before she’d hired him and Theo.

She looked fragile, and that was probably the eyes, but she didn’t come off that way.

Thorough, he thought again. Add in decisive, straightforward.

He started to look for some personal information, and stopped himself.

“Can’t do it. Feels wrong.”

Instead he laid out the samples he’d gotten for the kitchen.

“Time to pull the trigger, Littlefield.”

He spent nearly an hour debating with himself, told himself he’d finalized. When Theo came in, and Tic went wild, he got up.

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