Zach nodded. It made sense. At least, he supposed that it did. Family things rarely made sense to an outsider.
“OK. You want me to talk to her—”
“No.”
“No?”
“You talk to her, you’d have to tell her that I clued you in, and then she’ll know that Lissa clued me in, and then it’ll be exactly the same as if the Wilde family sat down and discussed the problem. James would be furious.”
“Your sister’s name is James?”
“It’s an old family joke. See, when she was a kid, like I said, she was always so logical…”
“Yeah, fine,” Zach said impatiently. “So, you want me to protect her? And get enough on this guy to take it to the cops?”
“Exactly.”
“Without letting her know I’m doing it?”
“I knew you weren’t as dumb as you look, Castelianos.”
“Very funny. Look, Caleb, getting the goods on this man is one thing. Protecting a woman without letting her know I’m protecting her is another.”
“Not if you work your way into her life. Get to know her. Find out what’s happening from the inside out. That’s the only way this’ll work, man.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “I can see you’ve got this all planned.”
“Well, I gave it some thought, yes.”
“And?”
“And, she’s a Realtor.”
A Realtor. A lady Realtor. Hadn’t he had enough of those lately?
“She’s a Realtor,” Caleb repeated. “You’ve got a condo in a building somebody’s always talking about.” He spread his hands wide. “Tell her you’re thinking of selling.”
“Caleb, look. I don’t see how this can work. I mean, she’ll see right through me. “
“Are you telling me one of my sisters is up to outsmarting the great Zacharias Castelianos?”
“That’s it. Play dirty.”
“I can’t make light of it, man. This guy who’s obsessed with her, who knows what he’s capable of? This Steven Young—“
Zach sat up straight. “Who?”
“Young. Steven Young.”
A chill danced along Zach’s spine. He knew that name. Knew it? He’d never forget it, but maybe it was a common name. Maybe the world was full of Steven Youngs and full of beautiful women who were Realtors.
“Where does your sister live?” he said, trying to sound as if he were asking the question casually.
“Yeah, well, that’s the one hard part. Jaimie—“
Jaimie. Jesus, her name was Jaimie…
“Jaimie lives in D.C., but I figure you probably still spend a lot of time there… Zach? Something wrong?”