Read Online Rock Harbor Series - 03 - Into the Deep by Colleen Coble - Free Book Online Page A

shrugged then crawled on his hands and knees out from under the trees. Once in the open, he brushed the debris from his pajamas. He looked pale, and he was shivering. Bree whisked a solar blanket from her ready-pack and wrapped him in it. He clutched it around his chest, and she noticed his hands. Long, slender fingers like those of a pianist. They looked firm and supple and younger than his age.
    “I’ve got work to do. The lab is expecting me,” he muttered.
    “Let’s get you inside.” Bree took his left arm, and Cassie took the other. They walked him out of the woods and across the road to the house. Naomi called in the rest of the team and dismissed them, then called the ambulance.
    Bernard was shivering so hard by the time they got to the house, Bree was beginning to worry. They got him inside, and Cassie wrapped an electric blanket around him while they waited on the ambulance.
    “My discovery will benefit the world,” he muttered. “You have to finish it, Cassie.”
    “I will, Daddy.” Cassie thrust a cup of hot tea in his hands. “Drink this. It will help warm you.”
    “I can’t find my notes. Did you take them?”
    “No, you filed them away, remember?”
    He nodded. “I must find them. The research is so important.” He touched Cassie’s face. “You’re a good girl, Cassie. I never told you how glad I am you’re continuing my research.”
    “You told me, Daddy.” Tears spilled over Cassie’s lashes, and she stood and stepped away. “What am I going to do, Bree?”
    “I think you’ll have to hire full-time help for him. Either that, or—” Bree looked away.
    “Or a nursing home,” Cassie concluded. She rubbed the tears from her face with the back of her hand.
    Bree wished she could help. Mr. Hecko seemed a fine man, and she could tell he and his daughter were close.
    Bernard scratched his chin and looked up at Bree. “You look just like your mother when I first met her,” he said.
    Bree smiled. The poor guy must be mistaking her for Cassie, though they didn’t look alike as far as she could tell. “Are you getting warm now?”
    Mr. Hecko continued to stare at her. “I never thought I’d see you again, Bree.”
    How did he know her name? She’d never met him. Her attention caught on the gold ring on his pinky finger. A black slit ran through the center of the yellow stone and resembled the eye of a tiger. She stared at it, wondering where she’d seen it before. A sick feeling made her gulp.
    She stared into his face then glanced at Cassie. The younger woman wore a strange expression—maybe resignation? Bree looked back at Bernard Hecko’s ring. A familiarity settled over her. Her pulse thumped against the skin in her neck, and she felt almost faint as she remembered where she’d seen the ring—and Bernard.
    She remembered a man her mother called Uncle Bernard. Bree used to twist a ring just like that around on his finger. He said it belonged to a tiger named Meow. She still remembered the stories he told her about the big cat.
    Her gaze traveled back to his face. He was smiling at her. Her throat constricted. “You’re not . . . Uncle Bernard?”
    He smiled, and his eyes cleared even more. “I see you looking at Meow. You remember, don’t you? Even though it’s been so long, you still remember.” His voice quavered, and his eyes reddened.
    Bree gripped his hand. “Uncle Bernard, it is you.”
    He patted her hand. “It’s me, my girl. You haven’t forgotten your old man.”
    Her old man. What did he mean? Bree tried to pull her hand away. “I never figured out how you were related. Are you my father’s brother or my mother’s?”
    His smile faltered, but he tightened his grip on her hand. “Neither, Bree.” He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his wrinkled neck. He looked at Cassie. “I can’t tell her, Cassie. You’ll have to do it.”
    Cassie stepped forward. Her voice was resigned. “He’s your father, Bree. Our father.”
    Her father? Bree