That afternoon was simultaneously one of the best and most uncomfortable in Alex's life. Ernesto came into the shop before he and Jake had finished their conversation to say that Kai had arrested Flores and that Eliot would be leaving in the morning. They decided to wait for him in the gift shop, but the hours went by and Eliot never showed up. Alex had mostly calmed down after their fight, but as time wore on he found himself growing angrier and angrier at his brother. What could possibly be more important than spending his last few hours on the island with his family? Jake didn't say anything, but Alex knew he had to be feeling it too. Especially with everything he'd said about being left behind.

If Eliot didn't say goodbye before he left, Alex would chase him down and drag him back to apologize. He wasn't going to put Jake through that again.

But the afternoon stretched into evening, and the only one to show up at the shop was Ernesto. "Kai said she'd take care of booking Flores," Ernesto told them. "I'm to make sure you three stay out of trouble."

"Us two," Jake said. "Doesn't seem like Eliot's coming back."

"I'm sure he'll be here," Ernesto said.

Jake shrugged. "Either he'll come or he won't, but he's on his own for supper. I'm not waiting any longer. Where can we get something to eat?"

"I know a great place," Ernesto said. "It's just off—"

"No," Alex interrupted. "Jake, don't eat anything this guy tries to give you."

"You liked the soup!" Ernesto argued.

Alex glared at him and led the way to the door. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere safe."

His concern was mostly an act; he just didn't want to go too far from the gift shop. They went to the hotel bar and ordered some food and drinks, earning several stares and double-takes from the staff who knew Alex, and enjoyed a meal that was 80% pleasant and 20% awkward small talk. After a while Ernesto and Jake ended up deep in a conversation about Filipino art as they finished off another round of drinks, showing each other pictures on their phones and comparing various artists Alex had never heard of. For once, he was happy to listen without contributing. Jake had always been the smartest of them, and to hear his expertise recognized and appreciated by Ernesto filled Alex with pride.

But after a couple of hours, Alex had to admit that they were wasting time in waiting for Eliot. Anyone going to the gift shop would have had to pass by the bar, and Alex had been watching. He noticed Jake doing the same and gave him a tight smile. "I'm sure he'll stop by before he leaves tomorrow," Alex said. Lied, really. He knew the odds of Eliot returning as well as Jake did.

"It's fine," Jake said. Lied, probably. "At least I got to hit him a few times."

Alex ran his tongue over his swollen lip and grinned. "Not just him."

Jake shrugged and returned the smile. It felt good, smiling at each other, and Alex didn't want it to stop. "Where are you staying?" he asked.

"Oh..." Jake glanced away and finished off the rest of his beer. "Uh, I haven't gotten a hotel yet."

"Where's your luggage?"

"I... don't travel with luggage."

Ernesto frowned. "You came to the Philippines with out any luggage? Without finding a hotel first?"

Jake gave another shrug. "I like to keep things interesting."

"Hmm," Ernesto said. "You come here without getting a hotel, Alex moved here without checking out the gift shop he'd bought... I'm sensing a family trend."

Alex glared at him before looking back to Jake. "You never did say what you're doing here."

"Sure I did. I'm here for work."

"What kind of work?"

"I'm a librarian."

Something tugged at his thoughts, telling him That makes perfect sense, but it didn't. What business would an Oklahoma librarian have in the Philippines? "You here chasing down a late book?" Alex asked.

"I'm here to recover something," Jake said. "For the library. We sometimes hold onto artifacts and historical documents for different countries."

Alex thought of the tiny library in his hometown and squinted at his brother. "Which library do you work at now?"

"The Metropolitan Public Library."

"The—isn't that in New York?"

"I work at the Portland branch."

Alex blinked, trying to picture his brother working in Portland. He'd always known Jake was meant for something more than Hometown Oklahoma, but he'd pictured him someplace like Paris or Vienna. Someplace old and European, where Jake could study his art and his history and his languages and share all the knowledge he had stored up in his head. Not Oregon.

But he'd said he liked it, so... "That's great," Alex said. "Really. I'm glad. And if you don't have a place for tonight, I've got an air mattress."

Jake gave him an odd look. "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"I just... I mean, I did punch you in the face within seconds of seeing you."

"You're not the first person to do that," Ernesto said.

Alex shot him another half-hearted glare. "Yeah, well... I could talk to Cory too, maybe get you a deal on a hotel room."

"No," Jake said. "No, an air mattress is fine. I'd... I'd prefer that."

Alex smiled. He preferred that too.

Ernesto said good night and promised to return in the morning so he could say goodbye to Eliot, not noticing the look that passed between Jake and Alex. Neither of them said he'd be wasting his time, though Alex was sure they were both thinking it. Alex led the way back to his shop and set up the air mattress on the other side of his room, tossing Jake a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt to sleep in.

"This ain't a slumber party," Alex said, settling into his bed after Jake refused his offer to take the air mattress. "I don't want to stay up all night telling stories, alright?"

"Fine by me," Jake said. "I doubt you've got any good stories anyway."

"I was a DEA agent," Alex laughed. "I went deep undercover with some of the most dangerous people on the planet. My slowest day on the job is more exciting than your best library story."

Jake snorted. "Try me."

He did, and Jake followed up with a story from his days with the oil company. That reminded Alex of something Evelyn did when she was 7, which turned into a detailed account of Jake's fellow librarian, Ezekiel Jones, and his short-lived quest to prank the rest of the staff. Apparently their coworker, Baird, had a hidden talent for practical jokes, and Jones's hair ended up a violent shade of green before he gave up his attempts at getting her back.

It was well after midnight by the time they called a truce and fell asleep, and when Alex's alarm went off at 6 the next morning, he barely resisted the urge to throw it across the room.

Except it wasn't his alarm... it was his phone. It buzzed on the table beside his head, angry and insistent. Alex groaned and rubbed his eyes, glaring at the name on the screen as he answered it.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I'm outside," Kai said. "Open up. It's important."

"What's wrong?" Jake mumbled, lifting his head from his arms. He was lying on his stomach, his borrowed blanket tangled in his legs, blinking as if the faint light from the phone had blinded him.

Alex grunted and kicked off his own blanket, running a hand through his mussy hair as he stomped toward the door. Kai hurried in as soon as he unlocked it, storming all the way to the back of the store and then rounding on him as he stumbled after her. "Where is he?" she demanded.

"Who?"

"Eliot." Kai was dressed in her usual professional attire, her long hair swept up in a high pony tail, her makeup perfectly applied. In short, she looked far too alert and put together than she had any right to be at that time of the day.

"Not here," Jake grumbled from his mattress. He dropped his head back to his arms and added, "Never showed last night."

Alex frowned. "What's going on?"

"Flores escaped," she snapped.

"From jail?"

"Yes, Alex, from jail. He was there last night, and today he's gone."

Jake scrambled off his mattress and hurried to stand beside Alex. "What does that have to do with Eliot?"

"He's the only other person with a connection to Flores," Kai said.

A bolt of concern shot through Alex. "You don't think Eliot had anything to do with Flores's escape," he said, purposefully phrasing it as a statement rather than a question.

Kai spread her hands wide. "I don't know. I don't want to think it, but the only thing I know about him is that he contacted a known smuggler under a fake name."

"So did you," Alex pointed out.

"Yes, and then I arrested him." Kai gave him a long look, as if trying to send her thoughts directly into his brain. "Who is Eliot working for, exactly?"

Alex glanced at Jake. "He said it was a freelance operation."

"That doesn't help."

"It wasn't him," Alex said fiercely. "He's here to help."

Kai faced him again, her expression softening. "Look, Alex, I know you don't want to hear this, but you don't know him either. A lot of things can change in 30 years."

"No," Alex said. "He wouldn't—"

"She's right." Alex turned in surprise, frowning as Jake crossed his arms. "We don't know Eliot anymore. We don't know his motives or who he works for—all we know is that he's not here now."

"Because he's a coward," Alex snapped. "Because he doesn't want to face us after leaving, not because he's working with a smuggler."

"I'm just saying—"

Alex slashed his hand through the air to cut Jake off. "No. I can't believe you two—jumping to conclusions like—Kai, you're better than this. You're a better cop than this."

"Alex, listen." She stepped closer to him, and he was angry enough to consider backing away. But her eyes were sharp enough to hold him, to keep him pinned while she explained the doubt that Alex refused to recognize in himself. "Nobody's accusing Eliot of anything. But he's my only lead. I just want to talk to him."

"Sounded pretty accusing," Alex muttered.

Kai shook her head. "You know how this works. We get a lead, we follow it, regardless of our feelings. That's why you don't work on a case when you have a personal connection."

"Right, 'cause we've never done that before."

"Alex," Kai sighed. "Just—"

A heavy knock at the front door cut her off, and Alex was both concerned and reassured when she reached for her gun. "Put that away," he grumbled, stepping past her to cross the room. He glanced at the oar leaning against the wall beside the door, waffling for a moment over whether he wanted to arm himself or prove a point about how ridiculous Kai was being.

He went with proving his point. If anything happened, Kai was already prepared to act.

Alex opened the door mid-knock and found Eliot standing with his fist raised, wearing the same clothes from the day before and looking even more alert than Kai. He sent a quick glance around the room behind Alex, assessing the scene inside the shop in seconds.

"Good," Eliot said, pushing inside. "She's here."

"Where the hell have you been?" Jake asked.

Eliot raised a hand in a brief greeting before turning his attention back to Kai. "You're not hurt, are you?"

She blinked in surprise. "No? Why?"

"Because Flores attacked me yesterday."

Alex shut the door for the second time that morning and followed Eliot into the room. "He attacked you?"

"Well, he tried." Eliot glanced over his shoulder and touched scab over his left eyebrow. "This is from Jake. Flores never landed a hit."

"Hold on," Kai said, her brows furrowed. "When did he attack you?"

"Yesterday. A little after we split up."

Kai shook her head. "That's impossible. One of the officers saw him just after 10 PM."

"He was in my room 20 minutes after you arrested him," Eliot said.

"That's not possible."

"Uh, actually..." All eyes in the room turned to Jake, who was still leaning against the doorframe of Alex's bedroom with his arms crossed. He disappeared into the room and returned a moment later with a piece of folded paper in his hand. "It might be possible. Anybody here heard of the Ring of Harmony?"

Nobody answered, and Jake shrugged. "Of course not—it's never that easy."

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.

"Remember when I said I was here for an artifact?" Jake said.

Alex nodded. "For your library."

"Yeah... well, sometimes the artifacts I'm sent to retrieve have... uh, side effects."

"What kind of side effects?" Kai asked. Alex glanced at her; her tone was getting dangerously close to the one she usually reserved for him. The kind that said Tell me everything you know before I beat it out of you.

"I'll tell you," Jake said. "But you have to promise not to laugh. I swear I'm being serious."

"Just say it," Eliot growled.

Jake took a breath. "Okay. The Ring of Harmony is a magical item. Based on what you're saying, I'd guess it has the ability to transport its wearer, or maybe allow him to be in two places at the same time. I'd have to do more research to be sure."

For a moment nobody moved. Nobody did anything except stare at Jake, waiting for him to finish his explanation with an actual explanation—something that made sense, something that didn't sound like it had come out of a fantasy TV show. But he didn't, and so everyone just stood there and waited, silent and staring.

And then Alex started to laugh.