“You need to fucking talk to her,” said Tobias bluntly. That was Tobias’s style, direct and to the point. With his deep-set dark eyes and fearsome physique, he played the intimidator well. But he’d do anything for his brothers—including tell them when they were being idiots. “We have a business to run here. Planes to keep in the air. Honeymoons to not ruin. You need your head in the game, bro.”

“You’re right, and I will. The next time I run into her, we’ll talk.” Ben propped his boots on the desk, where he and Tobias were going through applications for a mechanic. So far, they’d been getting by on their own, but they needed a full-time airplane mechanic to take care of their little fleet. They also needed someone to take bookings, and possibly another pilot.

A pile of fuel receipts caught his attention; he had to organize the damn things. Their need for an assistant was getting dire. Honestly, they needed an assistant to help them hire an assistant.

“I thought you were over Julie like, ten years ago.”

“I was.”

Tobias glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. “Was?”

“Am. Was and am. Still am.” He shuffled through the receipts. “Even more so now. Much more.”

Tobias looked as if he was trying not to laugh. “Got it. Loud and clear.”

Will, their oldest brother, pushed open the door of the little office. At his heels was Chase Merriweather, Merry Warren’s half-brother, who was Will’s new intern. He had the look of a golden retriever in human form; Ben always pictured a playful, eager puppy whenever he saw Chase.

“We have to talk.” Will dropped his long body into one of their metal folding chairs.

“That seems to be a theme today,” Ben said gloomily. “What is this, an Oprah episode?”

Will shot him a puzzled look. “This is about Mom and Cassie. I heard from them today. It’s happening. They’re going to come here for a visit.”

They all got very quiet for a moment.

They’d gone twelve years without seeing Janine Knight or their sister Cassie. Mom had always been fragile and volatile. Sky-high one day, deep in the dumps the next. And Ben had always been the son closest to her, the one who could coax her out of her dark moods.

And then had come the night of the murder. The night Ben had the task of telling his mother her husband was dead. And he’d fucked it up.

That night…he’d never forget it, never forgive himself.

After that, she’d fled Jupiter Point, taking Cassie with her. The four Knight brothers had scattered in various directions. Ben had joined the Air Force, Tobias had joined the Army. Only Will had stayed to take care of their youngest brother, Aiden, who was barely eight at the time.

Ben missed his mother fiercely, but at the same time, his stomach churned at the thought of seeing her again. He cleared his throat. “How long are they coming for?”

“To be determined. Cassie says she thinks Mom can handle it, but she’s not sure.”

Ben grunted, fiddling with the pile of resumes.

Will glanced at him curiously. “Got something to say, Ben? You never really talk about Mom.”

Because there was nothing to say. Informing your mother that her husband had just been stabbed to death in the kitchen…yeah, everyone did that kind of thing. And Mom’s terrifying reaction—that was totally normal.

“It’s all good,” he said, with an approximation of his usual carefree manner. “I hope she comes. I miss her.” That much was true. There’d been a huge hole in his heart ever since she’d left.

Will nodded, moving on. “I got something else too. I think I found something about Dad’s murder. I tracked down—”

“We tracked down,” said Chase proudly.

Will raised a skeptical eyebrow, but nodded in agreement. “Chase and I tracked down all the surviving soldiers who were with Dad during his last mission. I thought one of them was dead, but it turns out he’s been living under a different name.”

“Why?” Tobias frowned at their oldest brother. “Why a different name?”

“I’m not sure. I’m still trying to locate him.”

“We’re trying to locate him,” Chase corrected.

Ben and Tobias exchanged an amused glance. Having Chase around was like living with a puppy still being trained. No better trainer than Will, in Ben’s opinion. Will had raised Aiden, so he had the proven parenting skills.

“One thing,” Will added softly. “The last known address of this particular soldier is only a hundred miles away. He’s probably changed his name again, and moved again. But it does raise the possibility that the killer is more local than we thought.”

Silence settled over them all. The idea that someone local—someone from Jupiter Point, the most peaceful, charming tourist town you could imagine, whose biggest claim to fame was stargazing—the idea that someone from around here could have committed murder was shocking.

But no place was immune to evil deeds or to misfortune. Ben knew that. He’d learned it when his world had fallen apart at the age of eighteen, and then again in the Air Force.

He cleared his throat. “Any other leads you guys have found?”

Chase shot him a grateful look, thrilled to be included in the “you guys.”

“There were a few anonymous tips called into the police station back then. I’m going to sift through them.”

“We’re going to—”

Will laughed and squeezed Chase’s shoulder affectionately. “Actually, I’m going to tackle the tips on my own. I have another fun job for you.”

An uneasy expression came over the kid’s face. “Like when I filed all your notes? And organized your desk? Got your computer up and running?”

“No, an actual fun job. I have a line on Cindy Tran, who used to work with me at the Sheriff’s Department. She disappeared and I’m worried about her. I heard she might be in Las Vegas, so off you go.”

Chase did a few air pumps while Will headed for the door. “Anyway, think about the best way to welcome Mom and Cassie back. Ben, you always knew her best, see what you can come up with. I’ll be gone for a few days, then we’ll come up with a plan.”

The door fell shut behind them. In the sudden quiet, Ben looked over at Tobias, who wore a dark scowl as he stared at his phone.

“Worried about Mom?” Ben asked him.

“No, I’m trying to decide if Sarah wants a pink bike or a red one.”

Tobias and his new wife, Carolyn, had recently adopted her younger sister, Sarah. Watching big tough Tobias turn into a father figure for a little blond pixie was hilarious.

“Pink seems too on-the-nose girlie,” Tobias continued, rubbing the back of his neck. “But some girls really like pink. I shouldn’t not get her pink just because it’s too predictable. Seems kind of unfair, in case that’s what she wants.”

As he spoke, his frown got more and more dire. That frown was the reason Ben ended up taking most of the flights. No honeymooners wanted to be scowled at.

“Have you tried asking her?” he suggested.

Tobias directed his glare toward Ben. “You make it sound so easy.”

Ben lifted his eyebrows at him. “It’s pretty easy. You just open your mouth and let the words come out.”

“A-ha.” Tobias pointed a big finger at him.

“A-ha, what?”

“Pretty much exactly what you should do with Julie, that’s what. If it’s so easy, what’s stopping you?”

Now Ben was the one scowling, while Tobias grinned like a maniac. And there they were, right back where they’d started. Go figure.

“I ought to kick your ass,” Ben muttered.

“You could certainly try. But that wouldn’t help straighten things out with Julie.”

“She fucking left town without a word. What’s there to straighten out?”

“This is Julie. Julie. She’s a sweetheart. Something must have happened. Did you try to reach her?”

“Of course. She never answered her phone. Savannah never called me back. I even went and knocked on the Reinhards’ front door.”

“What’d they say?”

“Not much,” Ben muttered. He could still remember the pitying look on Priscilla Reinhard’s face. He must have looked pathetic, begging for answers about why his girlfriend had kicked him to the curb. “They promised to pass along her new phone number and address when they had it. I tried again before I left for Miramar. The housekeeper said they hadn’t heard anything. And that was it.”

Tobias leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his neck. His gold wedding band caught the light, and Ben actually wanted to punch him. How’d he get to be the lucky one with a happy family?

Ben was supposed to be the one already married with kids. It was always supposed to be him and Julie. How had things gotten so screwy? A year ago, all the Knight brothers had been single. Then Will had fallen head over heels for Merry, a reporter at the local newspaper. Tobias had fallen deeply and suddenly for Carolyn Moore, an art history teacher.

Now Ben was the single one, flirting his way through Jupiter Point. And Julie was back and—

Stop it.

Love is a mind-altering substance, Ben reminded himself. No need to be jealous. The single life is the way to go.

“The Reinhards were always jerks,” Tobias said. “The only decent thing they ever did was let Julie stay on after her mom died. You know there’s only one way to get this straightened out, brother.”

“Swear to God, if you say ‘talk to her’ again, I’ll—”

“Talk to her.”

“Ah hell.”