Birthright

stove, a dishrag dangling out of the waistband of faded jeans, while he whipped what looked like a garden fork in a mixing bowl.
    It was an odd enough picture, but odder yet when he considered he’d been admitted to the house by some guy in his underwear with gray-streaked hair down to his butt, who had gestured vaguely toward the kitchen before crawling back onto a ripped-up sofa.
    Doug had stepped over two lumps on the floor, which he assumed by the snoring were people.
    If this was the kind of place Callie chose to live in, he was going to have to go a long way before he understood her.
    “Sorry to interrupt.”
    Jake kept beating the eggs. “If you’re looking for Callie, she’s in the shower.”
    “Oh. Guess I figured you’d all be up and around by now.”
    “Late start today. Coffee’s fresh.”
    “Thanks.” There were several mugs and cups lined up on the counter. Doug chose one at random and reached for the pot.
    “Milk’s on the counter if you want it. That’s fresh, too. Just picked it up on the way back from the dig this morning.”
    “You were working all night?”
    “No.” Jake stopped beating the eggs, turned to flip the bacon. “I thought you’d come by to see how she was doing. But I don’t guess you’ve heard.”
    “What do you mean how she’s doing? What happened?”
    Instant concern, Jake noted. Blood could run thick. “One of our team drowned last night. In Simon’s Hole. We don’t know how. Cops’re looking into it. Callie and I took the night shift. Top off that blue mug, will you?”
    “You’re awfully cool about it.”
    Jake glanced up from the skillet. “We’ve got a team to keep together. People make up that team, and Callie and Iare responsible for those people. She’s taking this hard. I’m not going to do her any good if I do.”
    He looked up as the ceiling creaked. She was in the bedroom now, Jake thought. So he had another minute or two. “Somebody killed that boy,” he said quietly.
    “You just said he drowned.”
    “I think somebody helped him. I think two people are dead because Callie’s digging up the past—one that doesn’t have anything to do with the site.”
    Doug stepped closer to the stove, lowered his voice as Jake had. “Ron Dolan and this guy were killed because Callie’s looking for whoever took her out of that stroller in 1974? That’s a reach.”
    “Not as much as you think. She’ll be down in a minute—doesn’t take her any longer to pull on a shirt and pants—so I’ll cut to the point. I don’t want her alone, not for so much as an hour. When I can’t stick with her, you will.”
    “You think someone’s going to try to hurt her?”
    “I think the closer she gets, the more they’ll do to stop her. I’m not going to let anyone hurt her, and neither are you because you were raised in a culture where a brother—especially an older brother—is schooled to look out for his sister. The fact that circumstances robbed you of that task during the formative years will make you, as an adult male, only more determined to step into the role at this point.”
    “So I’m going to help you look out for her because my culture demands it?”
    “That, and because the blood connection’s already kicked in with you.” A little baffled by it, Jake concluded as he studied Doug’s face. A little embarrassed by it, but it’s kicked in. “Because she’s a female, and it’s your nature and upbringing to stand up for a female. And because you like her.”
    Doug supposed that covered all the bases. “What’s your excuse?”
    Jake shoved the skillet off the heat. “My excuse is coming down the stairs right now, and will shortly start nagging me to put cheese in these eggs.”
    He tugged the dishcloth out of his jeans and used it as a pot holder on the handle of the skillet while he poured off still sizzling grease into a empty can of pork and beans.
    “I’m leaving it to Leo to wake up the slugs we’ve got spread all over the house,” she said as she came in. “Doug,” she added after a moment’s surprise. “Um. How’s it going?”
    “Jake just told me about what happened. Are you all right?”
    “Yeah, a little fogged up yet.” Still looking at him, she held out a hand. Jake put a mug of coffee into it. “I heard you were out of town.”
    “I got back yesterday. I came by the site, but you were busy.”
    “Oh. Well. You put cheese in those eggs?” she asked Jake, and was already opening the refrigerator to dig