“I’m not going to make it tonight.” He made sure to speak loud enough for his words to carry to the hands-free set and be heard over the sound of his cranky old engine. “We had quite the day out here and I have some things to take care of.”
“No problem, that frees me up for something tonight, too.”
Justin gave a snort of laughter. “Brunette or blonde?”
“Neither, idiot. I work, too.”
Justin’s gaze shifted from the road to the phone, as if he could see Jordan through it. Sore subject all of a sudden? What the hell was that about? “Just a joke, man, just a joke.”
“Sorry. This financial stuff is something else. You’ve got it easy.”
“Yeah? I almost got killed by a half ton of falling lumber today. I win.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Faulty cable.” Justin glanced in the rearview mirror. “At least I hope that’s all it was.”
“Are you kidding me? If there’s a chance you could be killed out there, I don’t think—”
“Jordan, accidents happen all the time on job sites. I run the same risks every day in Toronto.”
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“Bullshit. When’s the last time you had an accident on one of your sites?”
Justin’s hands tightened on the wheel. Of course, Jordan didn’t know. No one knew the real truth except him and Granddad. And Granddad was dead now. He didn’t want to think about it—about his own rookie mistake that had cost Greg Johnson his life almost ten years ago.
It was the reason why, as the boss on his own sites, he put safety above all else. “Look, I didn’t call to talk about this. You still at the office?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need you to look up Marley Wade’s home address for me.”
There was a moment of silence. “Why do you want your boss’s home address?”
“Technically, I’m her boss.”
“Doesn’t answer my question.”
“She runs in minutes before work, and she’s always wearing a business suit that she immediately changes out of.” Ugly ones and no shoes. “Since she’s the only one who currently matches the note in Granddad’s hand, I’m going to follow her in the morning and see what’s up.”
“Good idea. I’ll text you the address.”
“Thanks. One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll need your car—she knows my Jeep.”
****
Justin drove past the small cabin-like log house at 621 Ridge Road to figure out where he could park unseen, then flipped Jordan’s Lexus around and settled in. It was almost six a.m. and the sun’s rays reflected in his rearview mirror as it began its daily climb.
Marley’s truck sat in the drive, Nate’s right alongside it.
The door opened as he poured his first cup of coffee from his thermos. Marley exited the house with a briefcase in one hand and a pair of shoes in the other. Even as he pulled his baseball cap lower over his face, his brows rose at her outfit.
Her choice of clothes didn’t come close to doing the body underneath justice. A lime-green skirt hung on her hips and the plain white blouse she’d paired it with was shapeless. Man, why did she hide underneath such unflattering clothes? In the right curve-hugging-cut-down-to-there dress, she’d stop traffic.