A handsome guy who looks a little like Ross smiles at me. “Hi, I’m Merc.”
“Luna.”
“We were planning to meet Ross for lunch or something,” Merc says, “but it looks like first we need to rescue him from the claws of the law.”
Very funny.
“Well, I can see what caught our brother’s attention,” one of the women says, grinning at me. “You’re a pretty one. Hi, I’m Octavia.”
My face heats up. “Hello.”
“We call her Tati,” the other woman says. “I’m Gigi. And that bear of a man over there is Matt Hansen, Octavia’s husband.”
The man in question has a beard, shaggy dark hair and piercing brown eyes. He sort of grunts at me and nods. “What did that idiot get himself into this time?”
“He didn’t do anything wrong.” I glare daggers at this Matt. “If you’re not here to help him, then you can go back the way you came.”
He grins then. “Oh, I like you. Turns out the boy has good taste after all.”
“Didn’t think you liked him,” I mutter, sullen.
“Jury’s still out on that one,” Merc chuckles.
“I don’t hate him,” Matt says. “But he’d better not open his big mouth and say nasty things to my wife, or anyone else for that matter, or I’ll rearrange his pretty face.”
I gape at him. This is the family Ross counts on? “Ross has changed,” I whisper. “And I thought you could help him, but...”
“We will.” Merc smirks. “Don’t mind Matt. He’s a savage but his heart is in the right place. In fact, he’s already talked to his cop friend, John Elba, to look into this case.”
“John Elba?”
“Old friend of Matt’s,” Merc says. “He’s been keeping an eye on Ross, in case something like this went down.”
“Many people around here have it in for the boy,” Matt nods, “and you’re right, he’s been trying to change. John promised to look into it. He told me he talked to Ross recently, told him to call if he needed anything.”
“I doubt Ross trusts any cop, or any person to help him when he’s in need,” I say in a small voice, embarrassed that I judged this Matt too harshly, too quickly. I seem to do that a lot.
And he seems to care for Ross in his own rough way.
“Yeah, there’s that,” Matt agrees. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. Tell us exactly what you know.”
“Ross trusts you,” Merc says to me. “The man’s in love with you.”
“You don’t know that,” I breathe, startled.
“Don’t I? He thinks he’s so tough, but he’s easy to read.”
“Maybe it was because I took care of him when he was unwell,” I say. “Taking affection wherever you find it isn’t wrong, but it doesn’t mean he feels anything for me.”
“Girl.” Merc shakes his head. “I tried to take care of him. Octavia tried. He doesn’t want us around. I mean, not in the way he wants you. Guy loves you.”
He’s never spoken the words outright. But I’m the one who told him that actions trump words, and he showed me how he feels many times over. Time to stop bothering with details and see the bigger picture.
“I told you what the sheriff said. That’s all I know.”
“Circumstantial evidence at best,” Merc says, but he looks worried. “He has a history of small offences, and that won’t help his case.”
I wipe my palms on my thighs. “I have a theory. There’s a group of guys who had it out for Ross. They kept jumping him and beating him up. Then there’s a guy called Jenner who has been imitating Ross. Studying him, sort of.” I frown. “It was so weird.”