Page 41 of Once a Hero

“Following me again, aren’t you?” Jake asked.

Beatrice didn’t reply.

“Thank you for your vote of confidence.” He chuckled. “You’re assuming I know where I’m going.”

“Do you?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. There’s no path through there. Even with GPS.” He held up a phone.

It wasn’t his burner phone. In fact, it might be his partner’s phone—the one that Kenichi couldn’t track.

Beatrice didn’t want to tell him about the dock.

In fact, she wasn’t sure if Jake wanted to get in a boat after his harrowing experience. Then again, he wasn’t her.

“The cabin is a rental. Long-term rental,” Jake added.

“Are you plying me with information so that we invite you in for coffee?” Beatrice asked.

“You have coffee? Fresh?”

“Ken made it somewhere between Eureka and here.”

At the back of the van, Kenichi made a loud noise. Like he didn’t approve the invitation or something.

Oh yeah. They had to hide everything again.

“I’ll just stand right here and talk to you,” Jake said. “But I’d like a cup of coffee, if you don’t mind. I ran out.”

“Ken, please?” Beatrice didn’t look away from Jake.

“I hope there’s no poison in the coffee,” Jake joked.

Or at least it sounded like he was joking.

Beatrice almost smiled.

Jake was looking intently at her.

Inside the van, Kenichi made an even louder grunt. “No coffee for you!”

“What now?” Beatrice asked.

“I’ll live.” Jake seemed amused.

“I mean what are you thinking right now?”

Jake stepped closer to the van, lifted his sunglasses above his head. “So what’s all this plumber getup?”

He must’ve noticed the embroidered company name on her shirt. She couldn’t remember what it said, so she glanced down to make sure she had the name right.

Plunging Needs Plumbers. No hyphen.

Kenichi had thought of everything. What would they do without his brain?

“If you have to ask…” Beatrice said.

“Tell you what. If you have an extra shirt my size, I could be part of the team.”

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