Love by Association

They’d made that very clear. Which was why she was there.

“Jill went under once,” Chantel said, “at a strip club. Waitressing only, but it was still a strip club.”

“She had men sticking bills in places that...”

“This isn’t anything like that,” Chantel inserted quickly. Max was as protective of her as he had been of Jill, though in a different way. And where Max relaxed, Meri took up worrying.

She told them what she could—that she’d infiltrated the world of the rich and famous—and nothing else. She couldn’t talk about an ongoing case. And couldn’t mention her specific cover. So there’d been no point in coming to them with polish on her nails.

“How are you doing with being two people at once?” Meri’s soft blue-gray gaze rested on her.

Then Chantel knew why she was there. “Sometimes, I’ve got it down pat,” she said. And added, “How did you do it, Meri? How did you keep up the facade of being one person when your real heart was so ripped up?” Through the years of running from her abusive ex-husband, Meri had taken on a number of different identities, but those had just been name changes. This last time, the time Chantel had been involved, she’d actually pretended to be someone she was not, leaving Max and Caleb and starting a different life in order to protect them from the danger following her.

Chantel’s situation was not nearly as desperate. But at least one life—Leslie Morrison’s—might depend on it. How did she keep her heart at the precinct when she went to work with Colin?

“I don’t have an answer for you,” Meri said. “I was desperate. And protecting Caleb and Max. I honestly didn’t care if I lost my life as long as it saved theirs.”

“You were shut down,” Chantel guessed. “Like when I’m at work and it gets dangerous. You just do what you have to do.”

Her statement was directed completely at Meri. Max didn’t like hearing about her job. He’d hated being married to a cop. And didn’t like that their closest friend was one.

“Exactly,” Meri said.

When Max sat back down beside her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped, Chantel knew more was coming.

“I’m taking it that you’re not confident about your ability to keep your cover separate from who you really are.”

“Maybe.”

“Then get out, Chantel. Now. Before someone is hurt.”

“Before I’m hurt, you mean.”

“Okay, yes. Before you’re hurt. Don’t be like Jill...thinking you’re invincible. You don’t have to take on every single challenge that comes your way. You don’t have anything to prove.”

Like Jill did. She heard his words and partially agreed with his assessment of her best friend. But only partially.

Jill and her...they’d been born to the job. Neither of them had realized it at first, but for some reason being cops had been something they’d both wanted to do.

“I can’t get out,” she said now, emphatic. “You’re right that I’m not as solid as I’d like on my ability to keep myself out of the cover, but I’m here to figure out how to do that, if I can. I won’t even consider getting out. It’s not on the table.” She’d been tough with Max before.

“What about the case?” he asked, looking fierce and unbending. And incredibly sweet in his need to protect. “If you get personally involved, you risk the case.”

No, she solidified her cover. “The only thing that risks this case is blowing my cover. Or getting out. I’m not the one in danger, here, Max. And if I get out, chances are nothing else will be done until someone is in danger. Or a life is lost.”

She was on the verge of saying too much. She stood to go. She wasn’t going to be waylaid a second time.

“Look, I’ll figure this out,” she told them as they rose to follow her to the door. “But...I just want you both to know—this might be a long assignment. Weeks or more. And no one on the job, other than Wayne and the captain, know about it.”

“When you’re dealing with money, or threatening to bring down someone who has a lot of it, you’re in danger.” Max wasn’t letting this go.

“I’ll be careful, Max.”

“Just stay alive.”

Chantel didn’t know what to say to that, so she turned to Meri, gave her a hug and let herself out.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

FAIRBANKS AND FAIRBANKS had class-A season tickets to Pantages Theater in Hollywood, where nationally touring casts performed the best of the best Broadway shows. He’d seen a lot of theater productions but had yet to see Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, which was what was showing.