Omaha, Nebraska

Nick hadn’t meant to scare Timmy and his friend. He was just in a lousy mood. He hadn’t slept much last night. And then instead of checking out of the hotel he found himself asking if the suite was available for another night. What the hell was wrong with him? Was he seriously trying to screw up his engagement?

“Don’t you have your Explorers’ thing today?” he asked when it looked like both boys were too guilty to offer an explanation on their own.

“Um…we, uh…” Timmy gave it his best shot, glancing over at his friend, expecting help. Nick didn’t think his friend would be capable of offering any help. The kid looked like he was about ready to jump out of his skin.

“Your mom doesn’t know you skipped, huh?”

Timmy finally gave up and nodded. “We have a good reason.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you do and you’ll need it when you tell her.”

“You’re gonna make me tell her? Ah, come on, Uncle Nick.”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules in this house. So who’s your friend?”

“Sorry. Gibson, this is my uncle Nick.” Timmy waved his hand between the two of them as if that made the introduction official and complete. “So where’ve you been the last couple of nights? I thought you were staying here.”

“I had a suite at the Embassy Suites.”

“The one down in the Market?”

“Yep.”

“Sweet. Does it have one of those minibars in the room with the five-dollar M&Ms and six-dollar Cokes?”

“Yeah, it does. So, Gibson, are you in the Explorers’ Program, too?” Nick was beginning to wonder if the kid talked.

“Yes, sir.”

Nick wanted to laugh. Instead, he smiled and shook his head. “You can call me Nick, okay?”

“Okay.”

“So what’s the deal? You two skipped just to sit around the house eating cereal and watching talk shows? Doesn’t sound very exciting.”

He glanced from one to the other, watching them exchange guilty looks that seemed to include a scuffed-up backpack. They were hiding something. Didn’t much matter what it was. Christine would be royally pissed when she found out Timmy was wasting her five hundred dollars, sitting around the house chewing the fat with his friend instead gobbling up all that explorer trivia.

Before either one answered there was a knock at the front door. Both boys scrunched down in their seats. Nick shook his head at them. Something was definitely up. This wasn’t just about skipping school.

“Don’t run out on me,” he whispered, pointing a finger at the two of them. Then he went back down the hall to the foyer. Kids! It was probably a delivery person and they’re practically pissing their pants for nothing.

It wasn’t a delivery person. The tall man with white skin, a hooked nose and black narrow-set eyes stared at Nick, probably surprised to find a man answering Christine’s door.

“Can I help you?” Nick asked, trying to place the guy. He knew he had seen him before but where?

“Is this the Hamilton residence?”

“Are they expecting you?” Nick asked instead. And then he remembered. It was the guy from Our Lady of Sorrow. The one rummaging through the monsignor’s office. The one Christine had had a verbal sparring match with. She couldn’t possibly be expecting him and she would never have invited him to her home.

“I’m Brother Sebastian from Our Lady of Sorrow,” he told Nick while his eyes tried to get a look beyond and behind Nick. He got the impression the man didn’t like having to explain himself, but he continued, “Timmy Hamilton and Gibson McCutty didn’t show up for class this morning.”

Nick waited, but that seemed to be all Brother Sebastian thought was necessary. As if that accusation deserved some sort of explanation from Nick.

“Wow,” Nick said. “And the school sent you to check on them? I didn’t realize schools did that.” There was something fishy about this guy, and Nick was definitely starting to piss him off.

“Mrs. McCutty told me her son spent the night here. Is he here?” He kept his tone clipped and even, but Nick could sense the underlying anger.

“McCutty,” Nick repeated like it required some thought. “I don’t recognize that name.” Tony wasn’t the only one good at evading a question without lying. He supposed priests and prosecutors weren’t all that different, twisting the truth to suit their needs.

“So the boys aren’t here?”

“I don’t see them? Do you?”

Brother Sebastian raised an eyebrow, the black eyes staring at him, but Nick didn’t flinch.

“Very well then,” he finally said then turned on his heels and left.

Nick stayed in the doorway, waiting for him to glance over his shoulder to see that he was watching. Yes, there was the glance and Nick waved, smiling despite Brother Sebastian’s scowl. Whoever this asshole was, he hadn’t come here to make sure Timmy and Gibson were okay. In fact, now Nick realized Brother Sebastian probably had something to do with the boys not going to their Explorers’ class. Of course, it had to be something like that. What red-blooded teenage boy wouldn’t want to go to a class where a pretty teacher taught them about swords and daggers?

Brother Sebastian climbed into a shiny black Lincoln Town Car, and Nick waited until he drove away. Then he closed and locked the door. When he came back into the living room both boys were staring at the entrance as if they had just escaped a firing squad.

“That was sweet, Uncle Nick,” Timmy told him. “You were awesome.”

Before they could go into any kind of victory dance, Nick gave them a look that wiped the smile off Timmy’s face and made Gibson slide back into the couch.

“What the hell did you boys do?”