Page 153 of Homecoming

“One step at a time. I’ll take this to the detective on the case and see what he can do immediately.”

“Keep me posted? I’m invested.”

“Of course.” Dan reached across the table to shake his hand. “Appreciate it.”

“Are you kidding? Getting to work with you is the best thing to ever happen to my career.”

“You’ll hear from me again. A good investigator is hard to find.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“Wow. That’s great. Thank you.”

“Thank you on behalf of the entire Ballard family.”

Dan tossed a twenty on the table to cover their coffee and breakfast sandwiches and went out to the car, where Walter was waiting for him.

“How’d it go, bossman?”

“Pay dirt. I need to see the detective on the case.”

As Walter drove him to Bar Harbor, Dan felt his heart beat fast with the kick of adrenaline that came with blowing a case wide open. There was nothing more thrilling for him than to find something concrete that would exonerate his clients, especially when they were his beloved wife’s brothers.

Speaking of his beloved, he put through a call to her, hoping she was awake.

“Morning,” she said, yawning.

“It’s almost afternoon. Did I wake you?”

“No, I’ve been up for a while. Guess what?”

“What?” he asked, smiling because he always did when he talked to her.

“Renata and Myles are in love, they did the dirty and she says it’s all thanks to us.”

“Wait.What?”

Her laughter was one of his favorite things in this life. “She said we inspired her to want what we have and to take a chance on Myles.”

“Well, that’s quite a compliment.”

“It made me weepy when she said it.”

“I’ll bet it did, but I’m not surprised. We are kind of epic, after all.”

“Yes, we are. I’m so, so happy for her. I worried for a while that she might never take another chance after her last relationship ended badly.”

“This is great news. I really like Myles. He seems like a great guy.”

“He is a great guy, and she already knows that for sure because they’ve been friends and coworkers for years.”

“I’m glad you were in town when this happened.”

“Me, too. Where are you?”

“On my way into Bar Harbor with some new information for the police that should bode well for your brothers.”

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