“He interviewed me after Hayes killed Antonio Alvarez.”
“He thought the dead rabbit was a good joke. I let him know I didn’t. While I was at it, I told him we’re brothers.”
Warmed by the solidarity, Zach warned, “You may be sorry.”
“I got an ass-chewing from my lieutenant, who thought I came on too strong.” A smile flickered on Bran’s face. “I told him it wasn’t that strong, not considering that what I really wanted to do was to knock out Delancy’s front teeth.”
Zach laughed. “I appreciate the thought. More on Tess Granath’s behalf than my own. He really leaned on her.”
His brother’s smile widened. “Yeah? You should have seen her when she planted her hands on his desk and got in his face. The guy was shrinking back. That woman is no pushover.”
“No.” Zach thought about yesterday in her office and how seriously he’d thought about kissing her. Maybe she’d have slapped his face.
She was the first woman to catch his eye since he arrived in Clear Creek. He liked that she was fiery, too, and gutsy. And smart. And...
You don’t always get what you want.
Their food arrived. As he started eating, Zach told his brother about the meeting with the undersheriff.
Bran nodded. “Yeah, the unit gets activated now and again. Last year I investigated a Sauk County deputy accused of soliciting sex from teenage girls—he’d picked them up for things like shoplifting—in exchange for not filing a report.”
Zach shook his head. “How’d it come out?”
“His ass is in jail now.”
“Good.”
After a momentary lull while they both worked on their burgers and fries, Bran asked, “Where are you living?”
Zach told him about the apartment and then about the house and his plans to tackle the roof this coming Sunday and Monday, assuming the weather didn’t include a torrential rainfall.
“You lined up help yet?”
“No.” Zach stared at him. “Why?”
“I can give you a couple days.” He shrugged. “Heck, I can probably round up a couple more guys if you can use them.”
“I’m not real popular right now in the department, in case you didn’t notice.”
Bran shrugged it off. “Not everybody is on Hayes’s side. And I have friends who aren’t cops.”
“I can bring coolers with drinks, maybe order pizzas for lunch.”
“We might do better than that.” Bran took a big bite of his cheeseburger, chewed and swallowed. “I told you I’m engaged. Paige likes to do things like organize a potluck. A friend of mine is a newlywed, too. He’s a firefighter,” he added as a seeming aside. “His wife and Paige have hit it off. Let me see if Isaac and Stella are free.”
Stunned, Zach set down his burger. “I was going to hire some labor.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to. I helped another buddy re-roof his place. I’ll see if he’s free, too.”
It couldn’t be this easy. Bran was acting as if they were family in fact not just in theory. Zach felt a strange ache beneath his breastbone. He resisted the urge to rub it with the heel of his hand.
No, he thought, it wouldn’t be as easy as Bran was making it sound. The roofing part, sure, maybe. But neither of them had forgotten the divide between them.
So what? Take what you can get.
“You ordered materials yet?” Bran asked.
“Yesterday.” Enthusiasm for his new project had carried him that far. “It’s set for delivery Saturday.”
Bran nodded and took out his phone, tapping it a couple of times. “You’re in luck. Google is optimistic about the weather.”
“Thank you.” Zach heard the huskiness in his voice. The emotion. “I, uh, didn’t expect...”
“What are brothers for?” Bran asked.
Zach half laughed. “I don’t actually know.”
“I don’t have any experience, either, but I think a roofing job qualifies.”
Zach lifted his glass. Bran did the same and they tapped rims.
* * *
THE RINGING OF her phone brought Tess out of a heavy sleep.
Dad, she thought on a burst of fear, scrambling across the bed toward the nightstand even before her eyes were open.