Six Single Dads' Nanny (Love by Numbers 5)

“Good god,” Cade commented.

“I hired the best lawyers I could, presented all the evidence that was insurmountable and proved beyond a doubt that her death was self-inflicted. I was found innocent of her death by a jury of my peers, and I believed that would be it, but Eva’s brother continued to accuse me of the crime. The community leaned more towards him and made my life a living hell, claiming I’d gotten away with murder, and things started to get really awful for Trey and I. Eventually, I had to travel a route akin to the witness protection program, taking on a new persona and moving to a new city, just to keep us safe. Your boss was designated to see to it that I was merged into the community safely,” he said, looking at me.

He took a deep breath and I noticed his eyes glance towards the hole in the wall outside the den. “But, it would seem I didn’t escape my past as much as I believed I had. We’ve been here five years successfully, but today someone delivered an anonymous package to Jordan containing pictures of me standing over Eva’s dead body. She believes I committed that murder as well. She left and I haven’t been able to get ahold of her since.”

I sat staring at Harrison, or Adam. It was a lot of information that I felt like should have been communicated to us much sooner, but I could tell he was telling the truth. A man can lie about his name, age, childhood, and past, but he cannot truly hide who he is. I’d spent enough time with Harrison to know exactly what the man was about; we’d been naked in the same room for god’s sake. He wasn’t the kind of man that would hurt anyone, and looking at the pain in his face, I could see that he had been haunted by the notion that anyone would think he would, most of all Jordan.

He looked at me. “I need you to go to her place and check on her. She wasn’t in a good place when she left, and I’m concerned for her. She won’t answer my calls, and given the circumstances, I can’t blame her.”

“And that?” Cade interjected, motioning towards the wall.

“She kept calling me all the same, horrible things the people back in Florida would call me, and I lost my cool a little bit. I honestly think it was a bout of PTSD. I punched the wall to just let some of my frustration out, but it freaked Jordan out, and she ran,” Harrison said. “I hate myself for it. That I caused her any fear.” He dropped his head. “I doubt I’ll ever forgive myself.”

I stood up. “Just, relax. I’ll go to her apartment, I’m sure she’s there, and I will explain everything.” I put a hand on Harrison’s shoulder. “We believe you, right?”

The guys all nodded and agreed immediately.

“He couldn’t hurt a fly,” Lowe said.

“Well, maybe just a fly,” Rogan added.

“He’s bad in bed,” Cade said in a high-pitched voice, under his breath as though it wasn’t him.

Harrison cracked the first smile he had since we all arrived. He set a hand on top of mine. “Thank you.”

“I’ll check Jordan’s place and then call Ethan and get him up to speed,” I said. “You need to go back to sleep, you look dead,” I told Harrison. “You three, go home. We’ll reconvene tomorrow, and I’m sure everything will be fine.”

I wasn’t as certain as I sounded, but there was a need for leadership for the moment, and with Ethan not there and Harrison a wreck, it seemed the task had fallen to me. We dispersed and I immediately made my way to Jordan’s apartment. I used my copy of her apartment key and let myself in.

“Jordan?” I walked through her apartment, making a mental note to immediately start trying to upgrade her hodge-podge furniture any chance a birthday or holiday would allow. Christmas was on the horizon and seeing her place made me want to just get her a whole new apartment. “Jordan?”

It wasn’t a large place, and it became evident fairly quickly that she wasn’t there. Between the travel to Harrison’s, having a conversation with him, and remobilizing, the sun was peeking out into the sky, and morning was upon me. I could see that some of the items in the apartment had been rather hastily handled, and I came across the pictures of Harrison that had been sent to Jordan anonymously. I took out a pair of latex gloves I always had on me just in case, and I pocketed the envelope that had Jordan’s address written on the front, and the pictures. Whether from the sample of the handwriting or fingerprints on the pictures, there had to be a way to determine who sent her the items. I took one final glance around the apartment and then made my way out. She clearly wasn’t there, and we were probably going to have to dip into our bag of resources to find out where she was.